STAR LETTER
TAKE IT TO THE BRIDGE…
I’ve been playing guitar since the mid-1970s but still consider myself an amateur. A few years ago, a good friend set up my trusty Squier Strat with some new hardware and, although it played well enough, a big chunk of its personality was gone. This puzzled me greatly and sent me on a voyage of discovery. About the same time, a book came out about Brian May’s guitar, examining it closely. I was suddenly hooked on how guitars were constructed, reading about the quirks and failings of different models.
I bought more books and watched StewMac videos. I’m an engineer by trade so I had to get ‘hands on’. I built a prototype, made wiring circuits, and at one point I had a Strat with 19 different pickup permutations. Your article in issue 506, ‘Lightning Strike’ [from The Mod Squad], reminded me of my nice wine red Westfield LP-type (none of my guitars are anything special). I got it in my head that the slack fit of the tailpiece may have an effect on the sound due to lost string vibration energy and the strings essentially being tethered to parts that could move, albeit by microns; what I call ‘micro-vibration’.
Wishing to prove that the string resonance could be improved, I asked a guy in the machine shop where I was working to tap a tailpiece for a couple of grub screws, which would grab the securing posts hard and prevent movement. Bingo, the thing resonated like a grand piano. You could actually feel it on your body while unplugged. The flat midsounding ordinary plank now had strong lows and much clearer highs when amplified. This was easily confirmed by slackening the grub screws. My theory was correct!
I know Epiphone tried something similar using spring loaded ends that were designed to grip the securing posts, but I have never seen that in my local shops. The other advantage if you’re one of these guys who changes all the strings at once is the tailpiece doesn’t fall off.
Thanks for continuously feeding my curiosity; maybe I can find more time to practise now on my Fender Mustang Micro I got for Christmas!
Graham Tait
Thanks for sending in the results of your adventures in tone engineering, Graham. Interestingly, it comes on the heels of last issue’s Raising The Tone feature about acoustic neck joints, which explored the importance of a large, firmly secured contact area between resonating parts of the guitar. Though your experiments concern electric guitar tone, there’s a parallel with the world of acoustic neck joints. These days, that secure contact between key components is typically achieved using high-precision metal fittings and bolts, though the old-fashioned glued dovetail joint still works well when well executed.
And there should be no surprise in any of the above, as every guitar’s sound originates from string vibration – and anything that dissipates the energy of those strings to no good purpose, such as unnecessary vibration at the junction of key parts, can sap the vibrancy of your tone. To congratulate you on your experiments in this area, you win this month’s Star Letter prize.