tailpiece swap

[bassicsax]

sorry if this has been covered i did a search but couldnt find anything on the subject...

my bass is a carved bass that has a pretty good sound but im always looking for anyway to improve the tone. the bass came with a metal tailpiece and i was wondering what effect would it have on the tone if i swapped it out for an ebony tailpiece?

i know each bass is different and its hard to say what exact effect it would have on my bass, but if anybody has any wisdom in this matter i would appreciate the help...

[JtheJazzMan]

It could affect how different notes sustain, it may lessen or create conflicting frequencies which make notes sound strange, and the overall volume.

Hard to say really without just experimenting.

[TroyK]

I had a custom tailpiece made a few years ago and it made it a huge difference in the sound and playability of the bass. I don't know that simply swapping for a different tailpiece would get you that, it needs some expert attention. When Jake did mine, we looked at a lot of different woods and ended up using curly maple, which is more resonant than Ebony, which is actually really dead if you whack it with a drum stick.

The size, shape, weight and choice of wood are all factors that are a bit over my head and doubt that anyone could design the solution for you without having their hands on your bass, but if there's someone good in your area who does that kind of work, it might be worth talking with them about it.

[bassicsax]

Originally Posted by TroyK

I had a custom tailpiece made a few years ago and it made it a huge difference in the sound and playability of the bass. I don't know that simply swapping for a different tailpiece would get you that, it needs some expert attention. When Jake did mine, we looked at a lot of different woods and ended up using curly maple, which is more resonant than Ebony, which is actually really dead if you whack it with a drum stick.

The size, shape, weight and choice of wood are all factors that are a bit over my head and doubt that anyone could design the solution for you without having their hands on your bass, but if there's someone good in your area who does that kind of work, it might be worth talking with them about it.

thats kind of what i figured as far as it depending on bass to bass, thanks for the input anyways...

[Jake deVilliers]

If your bass has one of those really heavy metal tailpieces with adjusters, its definitely stifling your bass! The Wittner composite tailpiece is a pretty light piece and reasonably priced or you could get yourself a dyed pear one from Metropolitan Music.

Good luck!