Why are we excited about a new stud tailpiece, a design that dates back to the mid-50s? Dave Burrluck spills the beans…
If you’re into your guitar forums, you’ll have definitely seen a debate or three on the benefits of ‘top wrapping’ your Les Paul’s stud or stop tailpiece over sticking with the standard stringthrough method. Does it really make any difference? Well, plenty of people have strong opinions on both methods. While the string-through method is by far the most common, author Robb Lawrence in The Early Years Of The Les Paul Legacy: 1915-1963 states that “originally these items [the stud or stop tailpiece] were depicted in the catalogues and shipped normally with the strings over the top of the tailpiece (the way it was designed).” Exactly when the stringing method changed I have no idea, but in The Beauty Of The ’Burst by Yasuhiko Iwanade, of the 80-something ’Bursts pictured only two are top wrapped –one of which is Billy FGibbons’ ‘Pearly Gates’.
With the stud tailpiece screwed right down onto the body, which many people believe to maximise string-to-body vibration, the string angle of the stringthrough method is at its steepest. If the tune-o-matic sits quite high (neck angles do vary), especially if your guitar has a wider Nashville-style tune-o-matic, the strings might catch on the back edge of the bridge, which looks a bit untidy and may cause some tuning problems, not least on the wound strings. Subsequently, you might then want to raise the stud tailpiece a little.
However, when you top-wrap the tailpiece with it still screwed fully down, the backangle of the strings is reduced, so it’s less steep. If you palm-mute a lot, you might find this marginally more comfortable and, in theory, there might be a slight difference in the perceived feel of the strings: steep, stiffer; less steep, slacker. Over time you’ll mark the top of the tailpiece, too, which could be a concern if you want to go back to the stringthrough method or sell on your guitar.
Chris Peace of UK-based Lightning Guitars has sort of combined the two methods with his Lightning Stop Bar, a beautifully CNC machined, lightweight aluminium stud tailpiece, which at 32 grams is actually four grams lig
