Ebony tailpiece

[Steve206]

Hello folks,,

I am considering changing out the stock metallic tailpiece on my Wash J6.

I have an ebony fretboard and headstock with ebony buttons. Ebony colored pick guard. Thought that one of those ebony tailpieces would look pretty good.

Went to Stewmac to look at the Bennedetto item. $100.00 seems a little high for a cosmetic change. Found an almost identical piece on Ebay for $9.00.

Has anyone here had any experience with this kind of upgrade?

Looks like, by losing the stock piece, I will have two visible screw holes on the back of the guitar, near the end pin.

Any help???

Steve

[just strum]

Steve, do you have a pic of the tailpiece you are considering?

[Steve206]

No Strum. Stewmac has one in their online catalog.

The others I found by searching for tailpieces on the old e bay.

Stew mac did send me an email with a diagram and a tip or two.

Steve

[Adrian30]

For $9, I would get the used one from ebay right away.

[luvmyshiner]

Hey Steve, I'm going to throw in with Adrian here. For nine bucks you can't go wrong. If you don't like it, or it doesn't work out, you're out the cost of a set or two of strings.

[pie_man_25]

I agree, 100$ for something you can get for nine, kinda expensive.

[Dreadman]

I suspect that there's a signficant difference between the two. I assume the ebay ones are from Bruce Wei and/or Inlaid Artist and from what I've heard their work, while beautiful, can usually use some final touches. I'd risk the nine bucks and plan to do some fit and finish work.

[Steve206]

Hey Dread,,

I heard from a guy who changed out a tailpiece on a J9 and said that he lost a lot of tone and sustain in his guitar.

Not knowing much of the physics involved, I just assumed that the tailpiece was an anchor point and that the tone and sustain occured between the nut and the saddle.

He also said that by painting the original tailpiece black could cause some sonic changes?

Just want as much info as I can gather, before I start taking things apart.

And yeah, the $9.00 piece comes from some kind of inlay artist from Taiwan. I think that I have to do some measuring first, as to string spread.

although the stewmac item is just what you see. Buy it or don't.

Steve

[Adrian30]

He also said that by painting the original tailpiece black could cause some sonic changes?


Steve, with no intentions of playing an expert here, I think the thickness of the layer, and the actual material/base of the paint (poly, nitro, epoxy, acrylic, or something else) have a greater chance to affect the tone than the actual pigment/color. If the tailpiece is unfinished, you can always go with Tung oil, or other alternatives that will give you a very thin and transparent finish. Ebony is a beatiful wood. Anyway, there are quite a few knowledgeable fretters that can elaborate in this topic deeper than I can.