The dreaded rattling tailpiece

constantine

Hi All, I have a very lively DR tailpiece, Ive tried the velco around the strings and also cork under the tailpiece. Still rattling.

Ive used DR tailpieces without issue before but this guitar (Eastman DM1) is super loud, lively and snappy.

Any other techniques I should try?

Thanks - Dean

Buco

Poster putty underneath across the whole thing?

But tell us more about the Eastman...?

constantine

How did I know you'd jump in first Buco! You rule brother, thanks for the tip. Im not sure what specifics you'd like about the The Eastman but its a great axe. Its my "cheap" guitar second to my Geronimo Mateos. Eastman is at a similar pricepoint to Altamira but placed side by side the Eastman crushes it and others in its class. You know that "gypsy snap" you want from your High E & B strings, theres no better out there in the lower price point category. Im staring at it now as Im supposed to be working out of my home office (I mean music room lol)

MichaelHorowitz

A little piece of cork inserted snugly between the tailpiece and top will stop it from rattling. However, if a more general sympathetic resonance is happening that's usually impossible to stop. Most people would just upgrade the tailpiece to fix that.

Keep in mind there isn't just one "DR" tailpiece. The ones on the Eastmans and the ones that Dell Arte used were Asian made ones of lower quality which were prone to breakage and sympathetic resonance. The Dupont DR tailpieces are much more robust (I've never seen one break) and they never create weird overtones.

'm

constantine

Thank you Michael!!

Buco

I know, when I talk to people about these guitars, I usually say there is no other acoustic guitar design that can make that kind of snap. That and the growl they make when you play something like C9 with with low E in the bass, it's the best. Sounds like you got a great outlier on a top of it.

I thought of putty because that's what I was using when I troubleshooting something on the guitar too.