Re: So, I have to bend this tailpiece I bought?
I think those tailpieces are made to be easy to bend because different instruments require different break angles. The entire tailpiece shouldn’t just lay on the top, rather most of it should be slightly above the top with only the back edge making contact. Bending in a vice is easy, as you state, but make sure you use pieces of wood for cauls or a piece of cloth as a cushion so that the metal jaws of the vice don’t mar the tailpiece. Don’t ask me how I know this. Like Yoda said in “The Last Jedi”, failure is the greatest teacher!
As for the stringing pattern and the lugs that seem to face the wrong way, as noted above, these are to put a 90 degree angle in the solid strings. You put the A and E strings in the corresponding sideways facing lugs then bring them around the backwards facing ones. I don’t have a diagram for illustration but surely someone here has one they could post. That said, it’s my belief that these are not necessary anymore. The loops on the ends of strings used to be a lot less reliable when this tailpiece was designed. They are much better now. I only have one instrument now that uses that type of tailpiece but I have owned others in the past. I have never used the sideways lugs and never had a problem as a result. And no one can see because the cover hides it. Now, before the purists come in and jump all over me, let me ask, if using those sideways lugs is so important, why don’t my Weber tailpieces have them? Or Allen? Or James? Or Collings? Or Eastman? I could go on but you get the point. I think those extra lugs in the “Gibson” tailpieces is a relic rendered moot by modern string technology. I’ll go even further by stating that, if you use them, you introduce a potential weak spot and breaking point in that string by introducing an unnecessary 90 degree bend.
I edited this post because I found an excellent article to pass along. Go to Frank Ford’s Frets.com web site and look for an article entitled “ Restringing Your Mandolin”. He has excellent photos illustrating both the traditional way with the 90 degree solid string bends and the more modern 8 strings straight stringing. He explains why the 90 degree bends used to be considered necessary, and why they really aren’t necessary now. Every mandolin player should read this article. As usual,Frank is the Man!
Don
2016 Weber Custom Bitterroot F
2011 Weber Bitterroot A
1974 Martin Style A
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