James Tailpiece instructions.

[Lou Giordano]

I was moving some papers around my bench and this popped up.

The tinkerer OCD kicked in. I pulled the tailpiece adjusted it . Then I checked the Cumberland bridge fit and adjusted the fit. Then I lightly touched up the nut slots, just a light debur with some 2000 grit sandpaper Then gave the LM 700 a complete detail. Put it all back together and installed a set of DR medium PBs . 4 hours later I'm done. No blood shed.
Sounds great. Seems louder and the DRs are nice and clean sounding.

Looks great too.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Then there's this :-
Ivan

[Lou Giordano]

Then there's this :-
Ivan

Hi Ivan ,

I guess the installer didn't think step 5 was important. Step 5 is what mine needed. I adjusted it just as it says using vice and not on the mandolin. The angle was to low, nearly touching the top, and it was not dampening the strings. I may redo it next string change as the string tension changed the angle a bit. It's still needed a little help with the dampening. I think the low angle may have caused the strings to put too much pressure on the bridge. I'm guessing that's why it is sounding louder and better now.

[Lou Giordano]

Double post sorry

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Lou - My Ellis "A" style has a James tailpiece,& i found Roger Siminoff's info. page whilst looking for general information. Roger was as thorough as usual in his instructions,
Ivan

[707erich]

Lou and Ivan thanks for the post. I’ve been using a piece of leather to dampen some of the strings on my James tailpiece thinking the rubber o-rings had reached the end of their life. I replaced the rubber o-rings during the last strings change which didn’t help. After reading this and taking the measurement with a small straight edge I can tell that the front of the tailpiece is to low by about a 1/16” and needs to be raised, a couple of the strings are not even making contact with the o-rings. Thanks again.

[Lou Giordano]

Lou and Ivan thanks for the post. I’ve been using a piece of leather to dampen some of the strings on my James tailpiece thinking the rubber o-rings had reached the end of their life. I replaced the rubber o-rings during the last strings change which didn’t help. After reading this and taking the measurement with a small straight edge I can tell that the front of the tailpiece is to low by about a 1/16” and needs to be raised, a couple of the strings are not even making contact with the o-rings. Thanks again.

Glad to help. I was hoping someone could benefit from this info.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I replaced the 'O' rings on my James t/piece after finding that closing the cover didn't stop the A & E strings from coming off the 'hooks',but they still come off. Thank the Lord for Bluetak !,
Ivan