Replacing King bass chrome tailpiece with ebony tailpiece

[tellier]

This last year I bought a King Slap King double bass (http://www.kingdoublebass.com) which I really like. It came with a chrome tailpiece that looks great. But I am thinking of changing the chrome tailpiece to an ebony tailpiece because I think I might be able to get better tone and I think it might make the bass a lot lighter.

Has anyone done this? Did you get better tone? Did it make your bass weight less?

What is the coolest tailpiece you've ever seen?

[Chasarms]

I can't see the back of the aluminum tp on the King site, but I am assuming that it is nowhere near as thick as an ebony tailpiece. There would be no need for it to be structurally, and it would likely be on minds of the folks at King to make the tailpiece on a pizz-only bass as light as possible.

That being said, I would be surprised if that tailpiece is significantly heavier than an ebony one.

Tonally, I would not speculate. If you play mostly amped, I'd be surprised if you noticed a huge change in tone. Maybe. It's a trial and error thing.

[mister_k]

those things are pretty d@mn heavy. I've held just the tailpiece, and its a doozy. They call it a skullbuster at the shop (or something like that.)

K.

[tellier]

It has got to be heavier than an ebony tailpiece - it is pretty thick - looks impressive too.

It is a heavy bass (heavier than Englehardts I have tried which were also heavy) but I don't know how much of that weight is the bass or the tailpiece. Surprisingly, my 4/4 Czech bass feels twice as light.

I think I will give it a try - I guess I can always get the chrome tailpiece put back on later if I want.

Thanks,

Toby

[mje]

You might want to try a Wittner synthetic tailpiece (available from Bob G)- looks like ebony, costs less, and weighs only 5.4 ounces. I put one on my bass and I think it opened up the sound... although that may just be the drugs talking....