Paul's stoptail

vchizzle

Zomb!e Nine, DFZ
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Most of us are aware of the brass inserts on this stoptail. I always thought one of the big point on the stoptail was that it was one piece? There's been a good deal of bridge talk lately, so it got me thinking(dangerous, I know). I get the idea of the brass here. Does it help? Does Paul go into any detail anywhere on this? I should've asked him last week. :mad: Would be a good question at one his upcoming dealer stops. I just kinda blew it off when I first saw it, now I'm curious.
 
When I met Paul at a meet and greet a few years ago, he touched briefly on the brass inserts which at the time was still fairly new. He said something about the string coming in contact with as much brass as possible would result in even less "subtraction" to the energy a player puts into the string. Hence the move years ago to the brass posts on tuners.
 
When I met Paul at a meet and greet a few years ago, he touched briefly on the brass inserts which at the time was still fairly new. He said something about the string coming in contact with as much brass as possible would result in even less "subtraction" to the energy a player puts into the string. Hence the move years ago to the brass posts on tuners.
Right. Makes sense as brass has long been a material used to transfer "energy" of a guitar string's oscillation. I'm just curious as to whether it's an improvement over a solid, one piece chunk of metal - that is the original intent of the stoptail. I realize there's not really a way to easily measure that. Maybe if you were to put 2 bridges on the same guitar, record how long the notes sustains with each bridge. Of course there's variables of how hard the string is hit, if the amp is running exactly as it did in the previous test, etc, etc.
 
Right. Makes sense as brass has long been a material used to transfer "energy" of a guitar string's oscillation. I'm just curious as to whether it's an improvement over a solid, one piece chunk of metal - that is the original intent of the stoptail. I realize there's not really a way to easily measure that. Maybe if you were to put 2 bridges on the same guitar, record how long the notes sustains with each bridge. Of course there's variables of how hard the string is hit, if the amp is running exactly as it did in the previous test, etc, etc.

It pretty much is one piece of metal -- the brass isn't an "insert" as much as "forged-in". The insert is right at the "saddle" edge, and is partially machined. There's no gap at all, and looks like molten brass is poured into a machined hole in the aluminum.

In other words, if your concern is that the inserts won't transfer as much energy as the solid aluminum bridges... have no fear.
 
I've never seen one but it's more than likely a brass insert pressed (slight interference fit) into the aluminium, then machined down. Aluminium has a much lower melting point than brass, so if you poured molten brass onto aluminium you'd end up with something resembling a shiny poo poo.

Lol. Good to know, thanks. :)
 
It pretty much is one piece of metal -- the brass isn't an "insert" as much as "forged-in". The insert is right at the "saddle" edge, and is partially machined. There's no gap at all, and looks like molten brass is poured into a machined hole in the aluminum.

In other words, if your concern is that the inserts won't transfer as much energy as the solid aluminum bridges... have no fear.

No... that is NOT correct.

The Brass pin is pressed into the Aluminium bridge and then finish machined. This is what is referred to in engineering terms as "press fit" meaning that the hole is sized just a tiny bit smaller than the brass pin which is pressed in. The end result is what you see... no gaps. This requires very precision machining to accomplish correctly.
 
I do realize there's no gap of any kind. I've seen the close up pics. Just curious on the end result being that one of the big concepts of the original bridge was that it's one piece.
No... that is NOT correct.

The Brass pin is pressed into the Aluminium bridge and then finish machined. This is what is referred to in engineering terms as "press fit" meaning that the hole is sized just a tiny bit smaller than the brass pin which is pressed in. The end result is what you see... no gaps. This requires very precision machining to accomplish correctly.
Thanks John, great info!
 
John, your new stop tail with adjustable saddles.... does it have more resonance than the stock CU22 stop tails? I sure like your strat trem I got from you a few years ago. Smooth play and sonics. The Mann design and machining.
 
John, your new stop tail with adjustable saddles.... does it have more resonance than the stock CU22 stop tails? I sure like your strat trem I got from you a few years ago. Smooth play and sonics. The Mann design and machining.

I think it does. I think adding beefier un-plated brass saddles, screws and posts added something.

I will do an A-B test shortly on a few guitars and post them when we get them done. Probably have video/audio in a few weeks (too may other pressing projects)...

Hopefully you will see some good feedback here from folks, once they get the updated versions up and running on the guitars.
 
I have one of the new Paul's bridges on my WL McCarty, like Wedge. I can report what I'm hearing that's different from my earlier stoptail McCartys, with the caveat that the neck on my new one is maple, and the others were mahogany and rosewood, which is in itself pretty significant.

I'll confine myself to a few details I'm hearing in this guitar.

First, I'm finding the sustain of a note to be maybe a little more even up and down the neck. Granted, maple is going to ring a little differently, but what really attracts my ear is the evenness. Maybe it's a combination of things, but the bridge is obviously not impeding the sustain.

Second, there's not what I have in the past called "plinkiness" unplugged or plugged into an amp. Notes seem to be very solidly ringing. The tone is very clear and there's good separation of the notes in a chord.

Again, there are probably lots of factors combining here, including the choice of woods, other hardware, and what-have-you, but this is the first one piece stoptail that I've felt holds its own against the 2 piece bridge in that regard (though it sounds different from the 2 piece).

But the more I live with the guitar, the more the impressions of evenness and solidity seem to be reinforced. What I can't say for sure is how much of a role the bridge plays in this.
 
When I met Paul at a meet and greet a few years ago, he touched briefly on the brass inserts which at the time was still fairly new. He said something about the string coming in contact with as much brass as possible would result in even less "subtraction" to the energy a player puts into the string. Hence the move years ago to the brass posts on tuners.


OK. if the above philosophy is true, why isn't everyone putting brass nuts on their guitars? I had one on a mid 70's strat in the 80's, when brass nuts were all the rage. or for that matter, why aren't we making the stoptails themselves out of brass along with the tuners?
 
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