Good Morning , just a thought/question to start the day....
I've just spent some time reading through posts about action, volume, tone etc.
There seems to be some agreement that increasing the strings' break angle over the saddle and the resulting downward pressure on the bridge usually/often is a positive thing and may result in more volume.
The downside always seems to be that this is achieved by increases in string height and loss of playability.
I've just looked at my two humble mandolins and noticed that the tailpieces are different and one has the loop ends much closer to the top plate. Surely this increases the break angle?
On many designs, the string courses pass under a part of the tailpiece before they head off to the bridge.
And, we're always concerned about damping the strings between the bridge and the tailpiece.
How about stuffing a 1/8 by 1/8 piece of rawhide where the strings exit the tailpiece.
Damps them, lowers them in relation to the top plate and increases the break angle without raising the action.
Of course this would only work on cast tailpieces?
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