String Angle;tailpiece To Bridge

[Mitzlflik]

Still pondering my design and thought I would throw this out for discussion. I am wondering how important the angle of the strings on the bridge is. Meaning up from the ferrule/tailpiece area to the back of the bridge. Most string-thru-body guitars have pretty severe angles (between 35-45 degrees). In a bridge/tailpiece situation you seem to have control over this angle but is it important? Does it create more downward pressure which could (or could not) add to sustain, potential for string breakage at the bridge ect?

[Bytrix]

I don't know exactly, I would guess more than the angle is the distance from the bridge to the tailpiece/stringthru that makes a difference to the overall sound perhaps?

[Mitzlflik]

I came across a copy of Dan Erlewine's "Make Your Guitar Play Great" and learned the following: The more severe the angle between the stop tail-piece and the bridge the more sustain the instrument will have at the expense of losing some of the harmonic richness (loss of upper harmonics in the tonal spectrum). Additionally a very severe angle can cause the tune-o-matic bridge to collapse (based on the photos, I would tend to decribe this as a bend) which among other things hoses your bridge radius but at the same time could be devastating to the value of a vintage instrument. Anyhow I gonna take the man's word for it but come to your own conclusions, I just thought you folks might find this useful.

[gripper]

I am sure it is a real personal thing but I have noticed that the guitars that attract my attention lately have very low string-to-nut and string-to-bridge/saddle angles. Low-angled headstocks, no string trees and trapeze tailpieces. Maybe I am finding my "grail", holy or otherwise. There is a whole world of thoughts about how the bending of the string at the bridge/nut and the downforce of the string at the same places affect tone/sustain/harmonics. It is not for me to say anything but what I am leaning towards.