Tailpiece

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Tailpiece

The tailpiece, found on many musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
s of the string instrument

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....
family, anchors the tail end of the strings, the end opposite the scroll

Scroll (music)

A scroll is the decoratively carved end of the neck of certain String instrument, mainly members of the violin family. The scroll is typically carved in the shape of a volute according to a canonical pattern, although some violins are adorned with carved heads, human and animal....
or headstock

Headstock

Headstock or peghead is a part of guitar or similar stringed instrument. The main function of a headstock is holding the instrument's strings....
.

Function and construction
The function of the tailpiece is to anchor the strings

Strings (music)

A string is the Vibrating string that is the source of vibration in string instruments, such as the guitar, harp, piano, and members of the violin family....
, so it must be strong enough to withstand their combined tension.

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Encyclopedia

The tailpiece, found on many musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
s of the string instrument

String instrument

Scroll (music)

Headstock

Headstock or peghead is a part of guitar or similar stringed instrument. The main function of a headstock is holding the instrument's strings....
.

Function and construction

The function of the tailpiece is to anchor the strings

Strings (music)

Violin family

The Violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy in the sixteenth century. The modern violin family consists of the violin, viola and cello, along with the double bass....
of instruments, as well as acoustic bass

Acoustic bass

The term acoustic bass could refer either to;*Double bass - an upright contrabass violin*Acoustic bass guitar - the acoustic version of the bass guitar...
es, are suspended with a "tailgut" looped around the end pin or end button. Originally made of animal gut

Catgut

Catgut is a type of cord usually prepared from the intestines of sheep or goat. It can also be made using the intestines of a Hog , horse, mule, pig or donkey....
and adjusted with difficulty by means of a knot

Knot

A knot is a method for fastening or securing linear material such as rope by tying or interweaving. It may consist of a length of one or more segments of rope, string, webbing, twine, strap, or even chain interwoven such that the line can bind to itself or to some other object?the "load"....
, tailguts are now usually made of wire

Wire

A wire is a single, usually cylinder , elongated string of metal. Wires are used to bear mechanical Structural loads and to carry electricity and telecommunications Wiktionary:signal....
or nylon

Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides and first produced on February 28, 1935 by Wallace Carothers at DuPont....
monofilament, and more easily adjusted with threaded

Screw thread

A screw thread is a helix structure used to convert between rotational and linear movement or force.A screw thread may be thought of as an inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder or cone ....
collars, usually made of brass

Brass

Brass is any alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties. In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin....
, on the ends.

The tailpiece itself may be made of wood, usually ebony

Ebony

Ebony is a general name for very dense black wood. In the strict sense it is yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but other heavy, black woods are sometimes also called ebony....
, rosewood

Rosewood

Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining but found in many different hues. All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for Parquetry, furniture, Woodturning, musical instruments, John Parris, and chess piece ....
, boxwood

Boxwood

Boxwood may refer to:* Boxwood , a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxace?* Boxwood Public School, a school located in Markham, Ontario...
, or rarely pernambuco

Brazilwood

Brazilwood or Pau-Brasil, sometimes known as Pernambuco is a Brazilian timber tree. This plant has a dense, orange-red heartwood that takes a high shine, and it is the premier wood used for making bow for string instruments....
. Other materials include cast light metal, and composites including plastic. Choice of material may have more than just cosmetic effect; a well-made instrument is sensitive to tailpiece weight, mass distribution, and tailgut placement on the saddle.

Tailpieces may be seen in various shapes, resembling a tulip, a goblet, or the Hill style, which has a central longitudinal ridge, giving it a faceted appearance. Decorative features such as shell

Nacre

Nacre, also known as mother of pearl, is an organic-inorganic composite material produced by some mollusks as an inner seashell layer. It is strong, resilient, and Iridescence....
inlays, as well as ornate stylized or figurative carvings, may occasionally be seen.

Devices called "fine-tuners" are sometimes used to assist in the tuning

Tuning

Tuning can refer to:*Musical tuning**Guitar tunings**Piano tuning*Radio tuning: see tuner*Tuning properties of neurons: see neuronal tuning...
of the instrument; they may either be affixed to the tailpiece or built into its design. Most modern violinists, regardless of what other strings they use, play an E with a solid steel core, which may be overly touchy to tune with the traditional tuning peg

Tuning peg

A tuning peg is used to hold a Vibrating string in the pegbox of a String instrument. It may be made of ebony, rosewood, boxwood or other material....
s. For convenience in tuning, the added mass of a single fine tuner is a tolerable trade-off. Four fine tuners are advantageous when tuning a set of metal-core strings.

Setting up tailpieces

An instrument from the violin family which has been well set up will have a tuned afterlength; string length on the tailpiece side of the bridge

Bridge (instrument)

A bridge is a device for supporting the strings on a stringed instrument and transmitting the vibration of those strings to some other structural component of the instrument in order to transfer the sound to the surrounding air....
will be 1/6 the playing length, or length between nut

Nut (instrumental)

The nut of a string instrument is a small piece of hard material which supports the Strings at the end closest to the headstock or Scroll . The nut marks one end of the speaking length of each open string, sets the spacing of the strings across the neck, and usually holds the strings at the proper height from the fingerboard....
and bridge, sounding two octaves

Interval (music)

In music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitch of two notes.Intervals may be described as:*vertical if the two notes sound simultaneously...
and a fifth

Interval (music)

In music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitch of two notes.Intervals may be described as:*vertical if the two notes sound simultaneously...
above the open note

Pitch (music)

Pitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the three major auditory system attributes of sounds along with loudness and timbre....
of the playing length.