594 tailpiece. How is yours set? Does it matter to you?

[Herr Squid]

I just pulled the strings off my most recent 594 and noticed that the tailpiece wasn't tightly screwed down to the body -- it was slightly loose and "floating." The other one that I've changed strings one before has the tailpiece clamped down very tight, I tried casually to loosen the screws one day and they didn't seem to budge.

Have you paid attention to how your 594 tailpiece is set? Do you think whether it's down hard or not makes a difference?

 

[HANGAR18]

If you are speaking of the stop bar which anchors the end of the strings, it should be lowered as far as it will go without allowing the strings to make contact with the back of the bridge. I have some sample photos I can email you if you want to PM me your email address. When I set the height of the stop bar, I usually allow only a gap wide enough to allow a piece of paper to pass through between the string and the back edge of the bridge.

 

[garrett]

Mine is tight to the body 'cause that's how PRS does it. No complaints from me, but I guess you can adjust the height if you want to alter the break angle over the saddles.

 

[Herr Squid]

Thanks! Hanagar18, what you're saying makes total sense, no confusion there. On the two 594s I currently have strung, there's a few millimeters (at least) distance between the strings and the back of the bridge.

I pulled mine off last night and saw that the tailpiece isn't height adjustable per se, The studs don't have a ledge that the tailpiece sits on the way I believe Gibson tailpieces or a PRS stoptail do. In fact there's two collars on the underside that seem to be meant to make contact with the anchors in the body. That all leads me to believe that these are mean to be screwed down tight.

 

[garrett]

Thanks! Hanagar18, what you're saying makes total sense, no confusion there. On the two 594s I currently have strung, there's a few millimeters (at least) distance between the strings and the back of the bridge.

I pulled mine off last night and saw that the tailpiece isn't height adjustable per se, The studs don't have a ledge that the tailpiece sits on the way I believe Gibson tailpieces or a PRS stoptail do. In fact there's two collars on the underside that seem to be meant to make contact with the anchors in the body. That all leads me to believe that these are mean to be screwed down tight.

That's the same conclusion I reached. That may be the way it's designed, but there will always be people with personal preferences who do it differently.

 

[Guitpicky]

This would be the third most popular topic on a Les Paul forum

I like to keep the strings off the back of the bridge so I set my tailpiece at whatever height achieves that. On my 594 it's decked, on my LP it's raised about 3/16". I too use the paper trick.

They'll set up and play fine with the strings against the bridge, I just think tuning and intonation are a little more stable with a single fulcrum point at the saddle

 

[dkilpatrick]

I just checked my two 594s. I have not adjusted the stopbar since recieving them and one was tight to the body and the other was loose/floating.

 

[drdoom8793]

Maybe a silly question but is the 594 tailpiece the same as the 2 piece from late model 245s? Or has it been changed since then?

 

[Callan]

Maybe a silly question but is the 594 tailpiece the same as the 2 piece from late model 245s? Or has it been changed since then?

They look the same to me, but I may not notice the finer details.
Here's a side by side pic,

 

[Ironwolf]

the beauty of this question is, it is so wonderfully simple to try it out.
my 594 came fully down, I got it set up and intonated pefectly, and through learning curves on my Les Paul.(also raised up)
I lifted the tailpiece up three full turns on each post, I don't think it's a placebo effect, I noticed much more elasticity in the strings.
much easier playability I'm pretty convinced of it. all the way down seems to keep the power chords slightly tighter. up slightly more open chords.
I was convinced this was true because the intonation was then way off on the 12th fret every single string was now flat at the 12th
each and every saddle had to be moved up slightly to shorten the string.
it's like 5 minutes to adjust to taste it's actually fun.
So I have mine up 3 full turns
good luck