Will changing tailpieces affect my tone?

VergDan

VergDan

New member
I've got a cheap Tokai SG and it has some nasty high end within the distortion tone, especially on the low E and A string, making my power chords really thin. My Ibanez and Epiphone sounds fine going into the same amp setting.
I've already changed the pickup but it didn't help much. So I started to wonder could it be the cheap bridge or nut?
 
Re: Will changing tailpieces affect my tone?

Replacing bridge (or saddles), nut (and tuning machine) from a cheap/obscured guitar is necessary.
 
Re: Will changing tailpieces affect my tone?

There are a lot of elements in tone. The bridge is one of the most influential hardware items, and the tailpiece whilst less influential can have easily audible tonal effects.

However well cut slots for the strings are just as important.

Tonepros (if you can still find them about) are a good maker and well respected. They have combos of both parts in the one package.
 
Re: Will changing tailpieces affect my tone?

Careful with bridge selection. If it's a Chinese (or Korean) Tokai, it's probably got a Sung Il made bridge. TonePros is a Sung Il brand. Not saying that all the TonePro's branded hardware is the same as the OEM Sung Il. Just that some of the TonePro's hardware may not be an upgrade. http://www.sung-il.com/

Is it ABR style with the retaining wire? If so, make sure the wire isn't buzzing. I've replaced a couple of cheap OEM Sung Il ABR style bridges with rattling retaining wires with Gotoh ABR style that use the c-clips instead of the retaining wire. I don't know how much better the base metal is, if at all, but it got rid of the buzz which is what I was after. They are in the $20 range. If you are in the states, check Amplified Parts. They carry them. They also make a Nashville style.

If you really want an upgrade, there is Faber which, I believe, does make some hardware for imports. But you're going to pay for it.
 
Re: Will changing tailpieces affect my tone?

Also worth noting, changing the bridge will change your tone, but it can also change sustain and other aspects, depending on what the bridge and the saddles are made of and the design/assembly, e.g. how much contact various parts make with each other.
 
Re: Will changing tailpieces affect my tone?

TonePros is a privately held company and their parts are manufactured by Gotoh.

Changing out the bridge is a good place to start. I would also swap out the mounting studs.
 
Re: Will changing tailpieces affect my tone?

Not worth the argument but Sung Il makes much of the Tonepros stuff, the Wilkinson stuff and much of the Floyd Rose stuff ... not including the OFR. That's not an exhaustive list. You can check into it, or not. That said, I'm happy to concede that you may very well be right in so much as they don't own the brands. They may just have some type of agreement with those brands that allow them to list them because of the manufacturing that they do for them.
 
Re: Will changing tailpieces affect my tone?

Not an argument, just pointing out that Sung Il is a supplier and manufacturer. Floyd Rose products are manufactured by Schaller or Ping. TonePros bridges and tail stops are manufactured by Gotoh.


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Re: Will changing tailpieces affect my tone?

Interesting about the Floyd. Ping supplies the non German models to Fender, but that is the first I have read about the “original“ vs “the original”.
 
Re: Will changing tailpieces affect my tone?

Ayrton said:
Interesting about the Floyd. Ping supplies the non German models to Fender, but that is the first I have read about the “original“ vs “the original”.
Click to expand...

The thing is that there are a lot of similar posts on web. I've come across at least one or two that stated that Sung Il was stamped underneath a Tonepros bridge, or tailpiece as well. My suspicion is that FR, Tonepros and others have licensed sung il to manufacture some (or a lot) of the "OEM" hardware. In other words, if an import is marketed as coming, stock, with Tonepros bridge or Floyd Rose licensed or Floyd Rose Original (again, not an OFR) etc., then Sung Il very well may have been the manufacturer. The cheap Sung Il hardware is adequate, at best, but I have no doubt that they are very capable of producing better quality product than what would usually come on a $350 import LP copy. I don't know how much Tonepros or Floyd Rose stuff or other brand, outside of the OEM parts, is made by Sung Il. Maybe some, maybe none. Call me cynical, but it at least makes me a bit leary. But again, if Sung Il puts more quality into it than on their cheaper parts, then maybe it's not a big deal. At any rate, given the choice to pay 50 bucks for a Tonepros ABR versus 65 bucks for a Faber, I'd pay the extra 15 bucks for the Faber.
 
Re: Will changing tailpieces affect my tone?

I don’t use anything but German Floyds, so I can’t say much about who might have built what. However I have ordered close to a hundred Tone Pros tails/studs/bridges and have never seen anything but Gotoh stamped on them.

YMMV
 
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