Tailpiece to bridge distance

[smokinbear]

What is standard, and how much can i increase this distance for string options, and finally what effect on string tension does the greater distance have?...... Thanks in advance for your advice/wisdom/knowledge/humor.  This is for my 1970 starfire project that is coming together soon. Has anyone ever put multiple mounting points for the tailpiece for the ability to change string tension and tailpiece lengths? Does this sound like a waste of time and a way to muck up a beautiful top?       Bear

[lbpesq]

As I understand it, tailpiece to bridge length doesn't change tension.  The critical variable affected by this length is the angle of break over the bridge.  A sharper angle is preferable.  The further distance between bridge and tailpiece, the less sharp the angle of break.
 
Bill, tgo

[David Houck]

I agree with Bill; the distance between the tailpiece and bridge does not affect string tension.
 
The tailpiece does need to be far enough away from the bridge so that the string, after passing over the saddle, does not hit the back rail of the bridge.
 
As Bill pointed out, the angle of bend in the string over the saddle needs to be sufficient enough to keep the energy of the string from passing over the saddle.
 
The saddle of the highest pitched string, which on a standard tuned four string bass would be the G string, is the furthest away from the back rail of the bridge, and thus might be the most important in determining the best distance for the tailpiece.
 
As you suggest, some tailpiece placements are chosen because the owner wants to use a particular set of strings on the instrument and needs to accommodate thread wraps and/or exposed cores.

[sonicus]

Here is my Guild Starfire .It had work done on it by both Alembic  and  Doug Irwin  .  The bridge and tail piece were done by Alembic In the early 1970's at the old the 60 Brady St. location and the then experimental HI-A pickups (now called Bartolini) were added by Doug Irwin who also made the nicely contouring pickup rings.  My tailpiece is set back far enough  to allow a setup with long scale Pyramid Gold strings . It works well. It does actually feel different then the stock bridge . My advice is to measure the tailpiece placement for long scale setup and leave it as such rather then multiple tail piece placements.

[smokinbear]

Long scale pyramids were one of my choices as are la Bella flats(light gauge not the Jamerson set :-) ) I just wanted a few more options than short scale strings. Sonicus what is the distance from g string saddle to tailpiece on your starfire? It looks like @. 3 I still have not decided if I am going to put a block of brass under the bridge, I kinda like a quicker decay(to hide sloppy playing or be more thumpy) but I'm still not sure how drastic the effect of it is. All my alembics had a block so I guess I could start with out one and see how it goes......

[sonicus]

Smokinbear ,
 
           The measurement from G string saddle to the hook of the tailpiece ; precisely where the string hooks in is 3 3/4  (3.75 ) .   I highly recommend the Alembic Bridge with brass block installed. In my opinion it was a worthy improvement.

[David Houck]

An option would be to order two blocks, a brass one and a thumpier one; maybe Ebony or Maple.

[peoplechipper]

Mr Smokingbear,
 
my observations...on bass, don't worry about it; on guitar it matters a lot; I used to break strings like crazy (even with graphite saddles) untill I set the tailpiece to a shallow angle; I was using 14-56 strings at the time...but I've learned that the bridge to tailpiece distance can have a huge influence on feel...Tony