Adjustable Tailpiece On Les Paul

[elburromjf]

Hi All,

I apologize in advance for the long read.

I have two Les Pauls. One of them is a custom and the other is a standard. The Custom had great action and string bending is right about average for a les paul.

The standard has a different personality. It fooled me in the store because it frets nicely and was easy to play in general, just like a les paul should be. It wasn't until a few days later, after really playing the thing for several hours that I realized that it was noticably more difficult to bend notes on this guitar than it was on my other les paul.

Note: Both guitars are strung with the exact same string set. (Elixer NanoWeb .009)

I remembered reading somewhere that Les Pauls are ordinarily under a little more tension than some other guitar models and that is due in part to the angle of the strings btween the stop tailpiece and the tune-o-matic bridge. After examining the two guitars side by side, I was able to clearly see that the LP standard in question had a steeper angle than the other les paul, which bends nicely. I also noticed that the tailpiece on the lp which bends nicely was showing about three exposed threads at the mounting posts (as if it had been adjusted to reduce the string angle).

I opted to try the Billy Gibbons/Zakk Wylde/Jimmy page (there are so many stories) trick of wrapping the strings backward and over the top of the tailpiece. This reduced the angle significantly and made bending a whole lot easier and provides a generally "slinkier" feel. The neck went almost dead straight so I had to give it a little anti-clockwise tweak to give it some relief. I let it sit overnight and it was still in the same relief condition when I got up this morning which I take to mean success.

Heres my question ...

1. Could I have accomplished the same thing by unscrewing the mounting posts a couple of threads thus raising the tailpiece?

MJF

[Maiden69]

You will have to raise the studs almost all the way out putting too much stress on the holes in the body or risking not having enough threads to hold it in. I don't know why you have those changes in the neck feel, because the tension of the strings is the same, the only difference is the angle to the stop piece, maybe you tune different? I don't know. I got the same set up, had it for more than 4 yrs now, and I love it, I even feel it better to set the hand on top of the strings between the bridge and stop piece to help on palm mutting.

[elburromjf]

You will have to raise the studs almost all the way out putting too much stress on the holes in the body or risking not having enough threads to hold it in. I don't know why you have those changes in the neck feel, because the tension of the strings is the same, the only difference is the angle to the stop piece, maybe you tune different? I don't know. I got the same set up, had it for more than 4 yrs now, and I love it, I even feel it better to set the hand on top of the strings between the bridge and stop piece to help on palm mutting.

I tune to standard A440 with an electronic tuner. Gibson USA says that the string pressure on the bridge changes when you change the string angle and that effects how "slinky" things get. Check out this guide:

http://www.gibson.com/pure/exchange/gibsonretailguide.pdf

The guitar is totally different and way slinky with the strings wrapped over the top of the tailpiece. Personally, I think its too slinky so I'm gonna try something different tonight. I am going to re string the guitar normally and raise the tail piece a few threads like it is on my LP Custom (its less than a 1/4 inch and the bolts are about an inch long). In short, I dont think I needed THAT much bending ease. I probably could have done a slighter adjustment and strung the thing normally.

MJF

[Maiden69]

Yes the pressure "ON" the bridge changes, the tension of the strings remain the same.

If you could measure the tension of the strings you could see. What they are talking about use to be a big advertizing scheme that somebody used in the early 80's to advertize the angle neck guitar against Fender types, they used a weight scale like the one using to weight fish, and hook 1 string on his guitars at the neck, and then did the same to a fender and then said like "Our strings are hold at a the nut at a higher tension, which would you rather play"

But all that matters is that you like the feel of your guitar, so do as you must to get your Nirvana!