Guitar TechTalk is from Chip Wilson in New Orleans. If you have a question about guitar building, repair, or maintenance, send it to sam@guitarsam.com and we'll have Chip provide you with an answer.

Musician/luthier Chip Wilson lives in New Orleans, LA. Chip worked with Borys Guitars when master archtop builder James L. D'Aquisto served as a consultant, before opening his own business, Better Guitars. Better Guitars served as an authorized repair shop for most of the top US guitar manufacturers. Chip recently wrote a book review for Guitarmaker, the quarterly publication of ASIA.

Chip is now primarily a performer in New Orleans, typically playing 25 to 30 gigs per month, as a soloist, sideman, and with his own band A Jumpin' Somethin'. His 1999 release "A Jumpin' Somethin" was nominated for Best Traditional Jazz CD By A Louisiana Artist by Offbeat Magazine, the most widely distributed Louisiana music publication. Chip is currently working on a new CD for release in 2000. "A Jumpin' Somethin" can be obtained on-line:
http://www.jumpinsomethin.com

A reader asks:
Does the style of a tailpiece, as well as how it's mounted, affect the sound of an archtop electric guitar?

Chip answers:
Of course it does. Any part affects guitar performance. Electric archtops have been made with Bigsby vibratos, the trapeze (both ES-125 simple, or Byrdland elaborate), Epiphone Frequensators (two tailpieces, one much longer than the other), the early Les Paul combination bridge and tailpiece, the classic Gibson style stud mounted (or stop) tailpiece, and the violinistic creations of Bob Benedetto.

Many mid-60s Gibson ES-335 players with trapeze tailpieces replaced them with stop tailpieces in order to achieve the sound of earlier 335s. A stop tailpiece sustains longer and has a more definitive attack. The simple stop tailpiece is a small solid piece of metal on two posts.there is simply less string energy lost with the simpler, rigidly mounted setup. The long arms of the trapeze, and the way it is suspended by string tension, all conspire to rob it of sustain.

For those who prefer the tone of the trapeze, there are a variety of differing yet valid styles and materials. A large, heavily made brass tailpiece as seen on lofty instruments such as Gibson L5s, Super 400s or D'Angelico New Yorkers will sound different than an ebony tailpiece as seen on many D'Aquisto influenced modern archtop electrics. The brass is, well, brassier.more definition, more of that classic rhythm guitar "cut" acoustically and electrically, but not as round and mellow sounding as the wood. I've made a small cottage industry out of making wooden tailpieces for jazzboxes whose owners are looking for a fatter sound.

The tailpiece mounting is crucial to sound, as well. The Ibanez George Benson Models have a two-sided trapeze with adjustable lengths. The guitars I have built, and the models that inspired them, have height-adjustable tailpieces. The available adjustments in string tension and length can make a guitar tighter sounding, acoustically louder, and even affect playability, all through lengthening the string or adjusting the tailpiece height, and the subsequent angle off of the bridge. Stop tailpieces are usually adjusted flush to the guitar body, but try raising yours if you have that style: you might find some pleasant surprises in sound, playability, and frequency of string breakage.

Here's a vaguely related discourse on archtop guitars for this months "Tip of the Month" (Yeah, I know. I don't have one every month, but.). Do you have a problem with your wooden bridge base sliding around, messing up the string spacing over the neck and the intonation as well? I've seen them rubber cemented down, even screwed down, right into a nice spruce top (ouch!). Try scraping some violin rosin onto a piece of paper, and then grinding it up into a powder. Loosen the strings, put the powder on the top underneath the bridge, spread it around to level it (not too much is necessary), and set the bridge in place. The adhesion supplied by the rosin is just about right to keep the bridge from sliding, unless you really hit it hard. The rosin is okay for the finish, and it's just a better vibe altogether than hitting the thing with some big old woodscrews.

I love the responses from readers of this column to my new website at:
http://www.jumpinsomethin.com. I've been invited to write a lesson for one website, links are being offered, and it's great to communicate with other guitarists. I'll be away from my computer for a few weeks this July, playing with Michael Ray and the Cosmic Krewe at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, so if I don't answer immediately, picture me with a flask of Chianti, maybe some nice pasta.

Chip Wilson
jumpinsomethin@aol.com