Received an email with an interesting experiment that I had no reason to do myself. I have been skeptical about tailpieces in metal and my theory has been that the hard attachment of the ball ends is the cause of the less good sound in guitars with such. I have noted that many modern makers of jazz guitars often have an ebony tailpiece similar to that of a violin. I suspect that the reason for that is that the guitars sound better with such a tailpiece.
Nicklas Hedström who contacted me has done a test on his Levin with a standard metal tailpiece. Thank you! He writes:
“I have read your blog with great readiness. I have a Levin with floating bridge and the usual metal tailpiece. I read your thoughts that the problem is not the bridgel as much as the tailpiece itself with metal against metal. You are right that the tailpiece is the problem.
I decided to make a very simple variation in oak as on a minstrel banjo. The cord is attached to a output jack. I put the strings into the tailpiece from the top to get a slightly steeper slope over the bridge. It sounds like another guitar now. It can "exhale" and the bridge can vibrate freely. Just like a violin. With a bigger and more beautiful sound. Because of this and the longer string length behind the bridge, the feel when playing does not become as rigid either. ”
I always change from a tailpiece to a string pin bridge on old Levin parlor guitars unless the customer wants it to remain as original. Making a tailpiece similar to the one in the picture, like a violin, is perhaps an alternative to switching to a string pin bridge. The softer attachment of the strings gives less dissonant "zip" tone and better sound just as I suspected. If nothing else you can test yourself and do the comparison!