Pecanic Tailpiece

[bobwall]

I tune my afterlength, and it does do something, at least on my bass. I tune it to a 5th. There was one symphony rehersal that my bass felt "off," and I just idly plucked the afterlength and noticed it was not at a 5th. I changed it and there was an enormous difference - volume went drastically up, it was much easier to get a great tone, etc. I have a witness - my stand mate watched me do it and said that the entire nature of the tone became much "warmer" and the volume went way up. I didn't even tell him what I was doing - he just exclaimed after I was done. I am certain it has an effect. I did it by putting pressure up or down on my bridge just around each string.

Here's my take on it, though - you're not really "tuning" the afterlength alone - you're tuning the nut to bridge length, too, which is pretty important - scale length has a pretty measurable effect on sound. It seems to me that every bass has a scale length (or a "tuning") that it is most resonant at - mine seems to be really really happy when the afterlength sounds at 2 octaves and a 5th above the forelength. Other basses I'm sure are very different. I'm sure it's not a placebo - I can tell just with a couple bow strokes if the thing isn't "tuned."

[Bob Branstetter]

Originally Posted by bobwall

I tune my afterlength, and it does do something, at least on my bass. I tune it to a 5th. There was one symphony rehersal that my bass felt "off," and I just idly plucked the afterlength and noticed it was not at a 5th. I changed it and there was an enormous difference - volume went drastically up, it was much easier to get a great tone, etc. I have a witness - my stand mate watched me do it and said that the entire nature of the tone became much "warmer" and the volume went way up.

You did not change the after-length, you just changed the pitch - two entirely different things. After-length is not after-length pitch. If you had said you took the bass home, took off the tailpiece and replaced or shortened the tailwire, you would have actually changed the after-length. The fact you were able to change to pitch simply means that the string was not sliding freely across the bridge (which of course is perfectly normal).

[bobwall]

I don't understand - if I move the bridge towards the tailpiece, changing the length of the string between the tailpiece and the bridge, how is that not changing the afterlength?

[bobwall]

By the way, speaking of Mike Pecanic tailpieces, about 3 years ago I added one of his tailgut cords. Great upgrade, did actually improve the sound.

[Bob Branstetter]

Originally Posted by bobwall

I don't understand - if I move the bridge towards the tailpiece, changing the length of the string between the tailpiece and the bridge, how is that not changing the afterlength?

So you are saying that your bridge was not sitting in the correct spot or correct angle? If not, you are moving the bridge toward the tailpiece, then you are changing the string length and the relative postion of the soundpost to the bridge.

[bobwall]

Angle - no movement of the foot. But I don't know that it's about "correct" angle - we're talking about movement of a mm or so, well within the natural movement of the bridge. It's changing the length of the string on both sides of the bridge - adjusting this ratio.

Have you read Chuck Traeger's section on this subject?

[Bob Branstetter]

Originally Posted by bobwall

Angle - no movement of the foot. But I don't know that it's about "correct" angle - we're talking about movement of a mm or so, well within the natural movement of the bridge. It's changing the length of the string on both sides of the bridge - adjusting this ratio.

Have you read Chuck Traeger's section on this subject?

Most good luthiers go to great effort to get the bottom of the feet to conform as closely as possible to the table. If you tilt the bridge in or out from the angle established by the luthier, the feet are no longer going to have complete contact with the top.

And yes - I have read all sections of Chuck Traeger's book.

[Trevor Bortins]

I'd have to guess that bridge angle, like stated above, is what changed your sound. The bridge likes to tilt as you tune your strings--especially after you change your strings. If you don't have the bridge sitting firmly where it was originally set up (with a good setup), you're going to negatively impact the sound and feel.

I change strings nearly daily from solo to orchestral and back again. If I don't check the bridge assiduously every time I do that (and after I tune a few times), the sound and playability goes WAY down--even if the bridge is only a mm or two off. I left the tiny wax marks on the top of my bass, where my repairman put them, just in case I need to put the bridge back exactly where he knew it should be.

-Trevor