Tailpiece Snapped!

[Alan]

Unbelievably messing about with a cheap (under £300) reso; put the strings back on ( in open D) and the tailpiece snapped in half. Kind of a *Put Ting* sound as half of the piece flew across the room - and the strings were Newtones !

Interestingly looking at the tailpiece it seems to be made out of a bronzy/brass type material - its definitely not pure. Come to think about it I've never thought what they were made out of before, I'd have thought they were just stamped out of thin steel. Just got to get another.

[andys]

I'm amazed at this, because a tailpiece is under lateral tension rather than anything else. I know that StewMac do two types, one plain chromed brass and the other nickel plated brass. Where abouts did it snap? Was it at a bend in the tailpiece, or was it on a straighter section? Maybe it was just a piece with a fault in the metal.

I have used 1mm aluminium for tailpieces and never had even those snap.

StewMac or Resound will be able to sort you out with a new one.

Andy S

[Lee Holliday]

www.Stewmac.com in the USA offer a quick and with the £>$ rate economical replacement.
I have had one on the go for several years and its as good as the omi origionals.
Regards Lee.

[Alan]

I suspect so, it was on the bend

[Michael Messer]

I have had one or two go on 1920s Nationals - I am surprized, even though it is a cheap guitar. It may have been bent & straightened out before you got it. A decent replacement one should last 80 or so years.

I had a Danelectro U2 and one day when I was tuning up the bottom E string I kept winding the string not realizing that the bridge was being wrenched out of the body! I bought it in 1999 and it was over by 2001.

Shine On,
Michael.

[Alan]

I have a sneaky suspicion that they made this tail piece out of the same thing that they make the inside of Crunchie bars from - very brittle

[Michael Messer]

Or maybe even Dobro bars.....

[Mairena Red]

Hi Michael,

I've heard of Stevens bars (in fact I bought one off Richard) but I'd never heard of Dobro bars before. No doubt they're excellent for getting that "brown" sound . Perhaps that's what persuaded Lord Keef of Dartford to call the Stones' '71 album "Sticky Fingers" ;D

Speaking of Dano U2s, I still have Alan's dusky pink version which I bought in February 2006. After hearing about your experience I have it strung with 13-52 Newtone MM Electric Slide Classics and keep it in D or G and so far the bridge and the neck are holding up well.

Sorry I've been off the air for a while but February and March have been manic on the work front and we've got Tottenham Hotspur in town next week so there'll be no respite until that's out of the way.

All the best,

Joe (aka Mairena Red)

[Michael Messer]

Hi Joe,

Good to hear from you! I noticed you had been absent for a while.

I think I gave my Danelectro U2 a bit too much use in its two year career. I was stringing it with a string winder and I just kept winding and when I looked back at the tailpiece....it was coming out of the body! I am sure yours will be fine. I think professional use knocks the s*** out of cheap instruments in a few months. The body is just two sheets of hardboard and some batons. Great sound and playability. I loved mine until it collapsed :-)

Good luck with Spurs - I hope you don't get too many British maniacs rampaging their way around town.

Keep in touch Joe,
Shine On,
Michael.

[Colin McCubbin]

Paul Beard also supplies good solid National style tailpieces...

Many late 30's tailpieces were steel BTW, easily spotted by the plating peeling off;-) I haven't seen one of those crack!



Mandolin tailpieces from the 30's almost always fail at the 'bend', (8 strings was just too much) Steve Evans repaired some for me years ago. I haven't seen any of the modern mandolins, to see what they use...

[Alan]

Thanks all for the advice and chocolate bar; looks a bit like an album cover insert. Does the ingredients list have a set of song titles?

Found an old cheapo National style tailpiece in the bottom of a draw. Horrible plating, has that blue tinge to it , so I suppose its chrome plated

[Deleted]

Allparts in High Wycombe do a resonator tailpiece which is described as"Bent tailpiece for resonator style guitars, chrome,-21/8" string spacing, 45/8" long" (same size as my Vintage) Never seen or fitted one but I've had lots of bits from them over the years and the've all been good.

[LouisianaGrey]

I don't know what they do in the far eastern factories, but the correct way to do the bend would be to score it, bend it then silver solder it. That would be stronger than the original metal.

When you're ordering a replacement bear in mind that nickel is a different colour from chrome so you need to get the right one if you don't want it to show up. When you put the two together the difference is very obvious.

[Mairena Red]

Hi Michael,

Rumour has it that your U2 is gone but not forgotten as I understand that you recycled the neck pickup

Things are hotting up here for the Tottenham v Sevilla FC match tomorrow. The team arrive today and most of the fans tomorrow. It is the worst possible day of the year to hold a footbal match here in Seville as Thursday night/Friday morning is the climax of the Holy Week processions (see www.sol.com/semana-santa/index.htm). Something like a million people throng the streets at the height of Holy Week so you can imagine that the authorities are a little nervous about the addition of 4,000 Spurs fans to the mix. We are just keeping our fingers crossed that there will be no trouble. Better get your rosary out and say a few Hail Marys for me

All the best,

Joe (aka Mairena Red)

[Michael Messer]

Hi Joe,

It looks like you will have your hands full on that one - Spurs & Seville V God!

Yes I recycled the neck pickup & one or two other parts of the Danelectro U2, so in a way it is still going!

Take care,
Shine On,
Michael.