Wooden Tailpiece Posts

[grandmainger]

I was looking at various wooden tailpieces, such as the one below. I was wondering what the string posts are made of, and how they are attached to the tailpiece...



Cheers
Germain

[otterly2k]

Germain... I'm not totally sure, but this looks like it is a wooden overlay on top of a metal tailpiece.

[grandmainger]

Hi Karen, I thought about this, but I'm not sure... How about this one for instance:

[revray]

That's the tailpiece to my new Brian Dean F4 currently being finished. It is ebony and I believe the posts are brass. As to how they are attached I'm not sure.

[otterly2k]

Germain- I don't think they're all the same... the first one you posted looked like an overlay. #I know that the floating tailpieces that Brian is making are ebony with metal posts. #You could email him to ask how he does it.

[mandroid]

The cord of one material or another around the end button has worked well on the violin family of instruments for quite a while.

a wooden face on metal tailpiece works well too. ive seen the common slide off covers
on some very nice instruments, John Sullivan's as one builder.
Frank Wakefield has a extra flowerpoint inlaid on the wooden surface of his Gibby.

An ebony wood face, epoxied on my bill james TP is an armrest, now, too .
being soft, gold and silver plating goes away in such situations, anyhow, with use.

[LeonEvans]

Hi Germain,

In the case of the Holst in your first image, the tailpiece is solid ebony with metal pins mounted in the wood. Here's a shot of my Holst C5.

[LeonEvans]

Here's a shot during the build with two tailpieces in the works.

Leon

[otterly2k]

Thanks for the clarification, Leon... I couldn't see the underlying wood in the first picture.

[grandmainger]

Hi Leon,
Thanks for the info. Your mando look great! Do you know if the posts are screwed on? Are they custom-made? I just love the look, and while i can see how to make the tailpiece itself, I can't picture anything I could use as a post...
Germain

[LeonEvans]

Hi Germain,

I'm not sure if they are screwed in or not. I'll pose the question to Steve and see what he says.

As far as my mondolin goes, it just keeps getting better the more I play it. I also loved the look of the wood tailpiece and finger rest. It was one of the things that led me to Steve to build my custom. He was a pleasure to work with and really kept me in the loop over the entire process. He was excited to try new things and his prices are outstanding.

I'll let you know what I find out.

Leon

[LeonEvans]

Here's a better shot of the tailpiece.

Leon

[LeonEvans]

And from the end pin.

Leon

[LeonEvans]

Hi Germain,

I just got a reply from Steve:

"For my tailpieces I use several pieces of ebony to make up the whole part. There's a base piece that's got the overall shape of the tailpiece and is about 4 mm thick. This part holds the string pins and the metal threaded inserts for the mounting bracket. The other pieces are cut and epoxied to
the base piece and are shaped to the correct form with files and sandpaper. Then I drill for the string pins. I use 1/8" polished brass rod for the pins. Each pin sticks up about 2.5 mm. Each string rod is glued with thin super glue into a very tight fitting hole so as to keep them in place. Then I glue a thin piece of ebony veneer to the underside of the tailpiece to keep them from pushing through. Next I drill for the strings and finally buff the whole tailpiece on a dedicated ebony buffing wheel. The last step is to make and attach the bracket."

So now you know how he makes those beautiful tailpieces.

Leon

[grandmainger]

Leon, thanks a lot for that! Excellent description.

Cheers,
Germain

[Amandalyn]

How does the ebony Tp compare in tone to a metal TP?

[LeonEvans]

Hi Amandlyn,

The only way to answer that is to try both on the same mandolin. Since the Holst doesn't use the standard hole pattern, it would not be possible to do a direct comparison without altering the instrument. As I am very happy with the sound, and looks, of this instrument, I won't be doing that kind of experiment.

With that said, the C5 is loud, woody, full, even, with good mids that are sometimes missing on some instruments. It's a richer, fatter tone than my Breedlove K5 cascade. I think that's much more a factor of hand voicing than just the tailpiece. The C5 also has a red spruce top vs the sitka on the Breedlove.

Leon