Walnut tailpiece?

[kmanley_29649]

I've been toying with the idea of getting into luthiery, and decided to try to make a tailpiece as a starting point. I went to a woodworking shop to look at some wood, and found a nice piece of walnut that was pretty cheap. Will this even make a good tailpiece? Does anyone have any pictures of walnut tailpieces?

[james condino]

Walnut has the potential to make a great tailpiece. Tonally, I prefer eastern to Claro, but that is probably just my bias from having made several dozen steel string guitars from it. The real test is how it responds on your individual bass.

j.

[kmanley_29649]

Originally Posted by james condino

Walnut has the potential to make a great tailpiece. Tonally, I prefer eastern to Claro, but that is probably just my bias from having made several dozen steel string guitars from it. The real test is how it responds on your individual bass.

j.

Great to know. I'll be using my father-in-law's workshop, but he just had surgery on his eye, so I'm going to wait until he's recovered a bit more so he can give me a few pointers about his tools and whatnot. I'll definitely post some pictures when I get it made.

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by kmanley_29649

Great to know. I'll be using my father-in-law's workshop, but he just had surgery on his eye, so I'm going to wait until he's recovered a bit more so he can give me a few pointers about his tools and whatnot. I'll definitely post some pictures when I get it made.

Walnut makes a great tailpiece. You can see pix of maple, cherry and Australian yellow siris tailpieces at www.thebassspa.com . I've made walnut tailpieces but I don't think I have any pix of them...

[Matthew Tucker]

First I've heard of Yellow Siris. Had to google it. The Indian variety is very useful

"Take equal amounts of siris seeds, sultanas, asafoetida, garlic, dry ginger, orris root, and Koot, and mix everything in goat’s urine to make a paste. Apply as a eye liner to cure madness."

Did you get any of the seeds?

[William Hoffman]

Originally Posted by kmanley_29649

Does anyone have any pictures of walnut tailpieces?

Mike Pecanic made this one out of walnut for me a few years back...

[kmanley_29649]

Originally Posted by William Hoffman

Mike Pecanic made this one out of walnut for me a few years back...

That's great, thanks! I'm actually going to go for a graduated tailpiece, so it'll probably look a lot like that.

[Gearhead43]

Originally Posted by William Hoffman

Mike Pecanic made this one out of walnut for me a few years back...

+1 very nice looking wood there.

[William Hoffman]

yep, walnut is nice looking. this one was stained or oiled. also walnut is very light so fairly ideal for a TP. Mike even scooped out the back side of it to get it still lighter. last year, though, i took that TP off because it the string "frets" were breaking down under the string tension.

here's maybe a better shot of it.

[pathdoc2]

I've found that walnut can chip and splinter pretty easy. Not sure it would be a first choice for a tailpiece. I would think a dense variety of walnut would work fine.

[Heifetzbass]

I just made one out of Bubinga for my bass... my ebony was cracked. It is a compensated tailpiece and I have templates if you want to come by sometime and transfer them to your wood. I will post some pics when I get a chance.

Really liking the sound and the tension on the strings.

BG

[kmanley_29649]

Originally Posted by Heifetzbass

I just made one out of Bubinga for my bass... my ebony was cracked. It is a compensated tailpiece and I have templates if you want to come by sometime and transfer them to your wood. I will post some pics when I get a chance.

Really liking the sound and the tension on the strings.

BG

Thanks, but I've already got a template to work from on this one. I work with a great graphic designer, and he helped me out in making a template. Now it's all a matter of actually getting it done!

[Heifetzbass]

Cool! Enjoy.

[William Hoffman]

Originally Posted by pathdoc2

I've found that walnut can chip and splinter pretty easy. Not sure it would be a first choice for a tailpiece. I would think a dense variety of walnut would work fine.

interesting. the little "frets" that crumbled under the tension of gut strings would have been pulverized under something like Spiros. but the body of the walnut TP held up fine. Mike Pecanic later told me that he doesn't put the frets on TPs anymore. they certainly don't seem to be necessary.

[kmanley_29649]

Originally Posted by William Hoffman

interesting. the little "frets" that crumbled under the tension of gut strings would have been pulverized under something like Spiros. but the body of the walnut TP held up fine. Mike Pecanic later told me that he doesn't put the frets on TPs anymore. they certainly don't seem to be necessary.

That's good to know. I've been wondering if that is something that I absolutely have to have, or if I can get away without them. I'm going to leave them off for the time being, and I suppose that if I decide I need them later, I can add them or build a new tailpiece.

[forester]

you need so little,look for something figured, straight grain clear walnut can be quite boring. make an accoutrement as well as a funtional piece.

.02

[kmanley_29649]

Here's the piece of wood that I got. Does it matter which direction the grain runs? I mean, obviously vertical, but does the wider part of the grain need to be at the top or bottom, or does it even matter?

[forester]

if the sizing works... the line is the spine,toe to the west,heel to the east.
again just my .02

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by forester

Attachment 183671

if the sizing works... the line is the spine,toe to the west,heel to the east.
again just my .02

+1

[kmanley_29649]

Originally Posted by forester

Attachment 183671

if the sizing works... the line is the spine,toe to the west,heel to the east.
again just my .02

That's what I figured. It's not big enough on that side, but it seems to be on the other side of the wood, but the grain just isn't as interesting.