Mangled tailpiece on Gitane DG-250M

djadam

Not sure what to make of this... I just re-strung my 250M and the A string sounded awful - quite muted. I had had some Pierce Nuages (ball end) on there as an experiment, but wanted to go back to the Savarez (loop ends).

After some inspection, I noticed that the area around the hole where the A-string ball end had been was mangled. I have no idea how this happened, but because the metal is bent, the loop end isn't making good contact and the string sounds like shit.

***EDIT:

Turns out the string was the problem. The other guitarist in my band told me he's had the same problem with the occasional Savarez A string and has solved it by winding the loop end four or five times tighter. This helped a little, but not enough, so I opened up my last pack of Savarez strings and took the A string, which sounds fine. Turns out the gnarly hole was a coincidence.

So I'd still like to know about replacement suggestions for the tailpiece, which is still crappy in my opinion and I'd still like to know why the hole isn't cleaner.

Bob Holo

Answers to the best of my knowledge:

1.) I don't know - probably some form of soft steel - my Gitane tailpiece hasn't tarnished, so it seems likely that it's stamped steel of some sort - don't know what the lugs are made of... probably more of the same...

2.) I took a piece of 320grit sandpaper - wrapped it around a matchbook cover and sanded the contact areas around the business-end of that hole to remove burrs - but in my case it was because sharp edges were popping loop ends...

3.) I've seen chrome ones without inserts - called "DB" instead of "DR" but have never tried them. Call Jacques at Gypsyguitar.com and ask him what he thinks of them... they're $40 after shipping, which shouldn't break your bank.

One other thing. Occasionally wound guitar strings sound dull because they have a place on them where the winds are loose. You can remedy this by loosening the string... then grabbing the ball end and twisting it three or four rotations counterclockwise. then hold it in that position as you tighten the string... tension will keep it from unwinding those 4 twists. Sometimes this will help a string that sounds dull. It's never worked for me on buzzy strings - I think that's because buzzy strings actually have some break in the outer wind - caused by rubbing against a fret / nut / bridge / etc...

djadam

Thanks Bob for your thoughtful response. As you can see from my edit, you were right on the money about the string. It was buzzy too, which is probably why, like in your experience, it wasn't salvageable. It's hurts to open an entire pack for that one string!

Now that it isn't an emergency, I can save my beans for a good tailpiece, so again, any recommendations would be appreciated... though that DR tailpiece looks great!

Thanks again,

Adam

drolling

Dead strings are quite common to several brands of 'manouche' style strings. I had a whole batch of Dell'Artes with dead 'G's and hadn't heard about the counter-clockwise twist trick at the time. I've since noticed that Michael stocks single strings with loop or ball ends. In a pinch I've used regular electric guitar strings to replace a dead one.

I swapped out the stock tailpiece on my 250M for a nickle-plated DR which is a tiny bit thicker, but still bends down in the middle when the strings are brought up to pitch. It looks much cooler with the snazzy red leather insert, and the plating matches the chrome finish on the sealed tuners, but I can't really hear any difference in the guitar's tone.

Both the stock & the DR tailpieces are stamped brass.