Tailpiece Holes

Jerryc41

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I made a wooden tailpiece for my license plate uke, spacing the holes about the same as the spacing of the strings. Unfortunately, strumming knocked the A string off the saddle.

I made another tailpiece, and I'm wondering it there is a rule for spacing the holes. It will be sitting at the end of the 12" X 6" box, rather than overlapping the top.

Originally, the holes were spread out across 2". Now, I'm thinking of spacing the holes 1" apart, from G - A.

I'm open to suggestions.
 
I generally space the tailpiece on my can builds on 1/2" centers. Did you incorporate any back angle on your neck. I find a couple degrees is good when using a tailpiece Nd floating bridge. It keeps the floating bridge in place with down pressure from the strings and keeps them in the slot. If you didn't, try getting your string holes as close to the top as possible.

Out of curiosity, what is your bridge height?
 
It is very common for the string spacing at the tailpiece to be narrower than at the bridge. But I don't think it has to be. On my banjo uke, the tailpiece holes have the same spacing as at the bridge, and there has been absolutely no issues with that arrangement.

If the slots in the bridge are shallow, you could try making them a little deeper.
 
It is very common for the string spacing at the tailpiece to be narrower than at the bridge. But I don't think it has to be. On my banjo uke, the tailpiece holes have the same spacing as at the bridge, and there has been absolutely no issues with that arrangement.

If the slots in the bridge are shallow, you could try making them a little deeper.

No slots at all.
 
I generally space the tailpiece on my can builds on 1/2" centers. Did you incorporate any back angle on your neck. I find a couple degrees is good when using a tailpiece Nd floating bridge. It keeps the floating bridge in place with down pressure from the strings and keeps them in the slot. If you didn't, try getting your string holes as close to the top as possible.

Out of curiosity, what is your bridge height?

Originally, I had the strings attached to the standard uke bridge, but the string tension lifted the plate license slightly, and it made an bussing noise. People here suggested using a tailpiece. Since it does not have a floating bridge, there is no angle at the neck. I'm going to screw the plate down in a couple more places, and I might try it without the tailpiece first, although that require installing everything and possibly taking it all apart again. With the standard bridge, it's just sitting on the top, like a regular uke - no bridge height to speak of.

Thanks for your reply.
 
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