Archtop Ebony Tailpiece

[ozziebluesman]

Hi there everyone.

Does anyone have the Benedetto Archtop plan and can pass on some measurements of the tailpiece for me please?

The book gives you a template but no thickness measurement, the dimensions of the rounded part on the underside of the tailpiece that sits on the body near the butt saddle. Is the tailpiece carved to follow the contour of the top? Any other info you may think revelant when making one of these style tailpieces. I am going to use the assymetrical shape as per the book. The dvd set barely covers making the tailpiece.

Thank you

Alan

[P Bill]

I remember B.B. saying to make the tailp. the same thickness as the fingerboard. if you misbore slightly it's not enough, it happened to me. The little fulcrum block I guessed at .3 or 4mm sq., I can't measure because the guitar is sold. I'll see it at weekend and check.

[Nick]

Alan, just off the top of my head (I don't have the book or plans handy) I seem to remember the tailpiece blank starts at 9/16" thick, the little radius pivot block is 1/4" wide by about 5/16" high but you can take this down a bit if you want to increase the string break angle (it won't be that much of a change though ). The tailpiece is actually flat on the underside but you radius the top face to match the bridge radius so that the strings sort of follow the radius all the way through. Some makers do radius the underside purely as an aesthetics thing. I did on my brunette archie but only in the wider front area and back to where it sweeps into the parallel section (does that make sense?), I radiused the underside to match the top radius, it does look more streamlined when it's in place & will probably continue this trend if & when I build another.
Rod or Craig may be able to chime in with the exact dimensions but as I say that's what I can remember off the top of my head.

[rocket]

Alan like you on my first build i wasn't too sure on the dimensions of the tailpiece either so i just had a bit of a guess, it worked out ok' i carved the tailpiece and fulcrum out of one piece of timber, had no detail so got my ideas from a voilin tailpiece. Now i have the wall plans i can se that the fulcrum is a separate piece let into a trench,. measuring the drawings it shows the tailpiece at 7mm thick and overall the fulcrum and tailpiece is 13mm

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Cheers Rod.

[Mike Thomas]

The dimensions of the tailpiece are given on the Benedetto plan. The thickness is 5/16" (very close to 8mm), and the fulcrum extends 3/16" , so the overall thickness is 1/2'' measured at the fulcrum. As Rod says, the fulcrum is a separate piece inlayed into a shallow trench.

[ozziebluesman]

Thank you all gentleman for your valuable information. I am going to build another archie so I will buy the plan from Stew Mac and take the guess work out.

I had no idea what that thingy (fulcrum) was called under the bottom of the tailpiece so I have learnt something new today.

Cheers

Alan

[rocket]

There you go!!

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[rocket]

As far as that fulcrum thingy bit goes, i look at it as the meaty part of the tailpiece for the adjuster to connect to, i prefer to have a raised tail saddle similar to the viol family so that my tailpiece just clears the top of the instrument, therfore i don't have any nasty marks in the top, the break angle remains the same, about 14deg.

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Cheers
Rod.

[Nick]

Geez! what the best cure for bad memory? I wasn't too far out as long as I was building a bridge! Sorry I was wrong there Alan, good job you didn't forge ahead & build to my specs! Would have made a good Viola or cello tailpiece though

[ozziebluesman]

All good Nick! I'm down in Brisbane for a week so nothing happening in the workshop at the moment.

Cheers

Al

[ozziebluesman]

Back home now!

Rod: Thanks for your information and the pic of the tailpiece on the plan. Very helpful.

Mike: Thanks for your dimensions too.

Cheers

Alan