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string angle from tailpiece to bridge too shallow

The "Man O' War" is nearly complete. I'm finishing the bridge and saddle and then it just needs some minor adjustments and we're there. Due to the length of the box the distance from the tailpiece to the bridge is long and so the string angle is pretty shallow. Any suggestion on how to increase this angle, given the current positioning? The box is 6"x15"x1.5" and scale length is 25.5".

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Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on June 20, 2016 at 10:12am

Exactly! Nice visual thingy :)

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Permalink Reply by Rich on June 20, 2016 at 9:38am

...maybe, yeah. Try and eliminate the tailpiece as functional. Bring the strings through the box closer to the bridge. I like that solution.

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Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on June 20, 2016 at 10:16am

That's a major design change.

I've been thinking about that type of design for my next build. Using the soundboard as the bridge. It would mean a major tilt of design and a way to adjust angle of neck instead of adjusting the height of the bridge.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on June 20, 2016 at 11:40am

Hi, in my experience as a repairer a guitar that have been modified by the owner by screwing down the tailpiece into the soundboard, kills the sound and pulls the top out of shape. I always try to aim for a neck that is adjustable in my builds. there are ways to do it by using shims as needed, you'll need a bolt on system for neck attachment.

Or on this build have the bridge designed with holes for the strings {ukulele} or a wider bridge say 50mm with the saddle at the front and strings secured by pins at the back end. From the saddle to the back of course would be tapered to a suitable thickness. Would save going through the top. Just a thought.

This may be the build you learn from, we all get those.

Cheers Taff

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Permalink Reply by Michael Zack on June 20, 2016 at 5:11pm

Thanks. Good suggestions.

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on June 20, 2016 at 11:46am

What Wayfinder said...............

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Permalink Reply by Kigar on June 20, 2016 at 1:14pm

If the strings don't buzz, maybe you could just live with the shallow angle?

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Permalink Reply by Michael Zack on June 20, 2016 at 5:12pm

I'm going to adjust the bridge and nut and see how it sounds. So far I am not getting any buzzing.

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on June 20, 2016 at 1:41pm

Probably the best solution is to reset the neck at a (significantly) greater pitch (angle) this will entail making a replacement (taller) bridge. Best

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Permalink Reply by Michael Zack on June 20, 2016 at 5:12pm

Considering that on future builds.

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Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on June 20, 2016 at 3:15pm

A cool design change would be to drill 3 small holes in your soundboard that the strings could feed through from your bridge but not touch the soundboard and feed back through to where you put your tailpeice. It would be hard to change strings on it in the future but might look really cool.

That's hard to envision and might be hard to achieve..

Here's a head that I've built recently that you might get what I'm talking about from seeing..