TAILPIECE

The tailpiece makes a lot of sense from an acoustic standpoint. I came up with the idea after considering other stringed instruments and how much volume they produce despite being very small in size (e.g. violin, mandolin, viola, etc.). The bridge on a traditional guitar is very important for sound because it is what transmits the vibration of the string to the soundboard. The bridge is constantly being pulled up and away from the soundboard because of string tension. This is a counterproductive force since it would be ideal to have only downward force on the bridge. The tailpiece allows this counterproductive force to be eliminated almost entirely since the strings are now pulling on an inert object which is attached to the end joint of the instrument. The tailpiece hovers above the soundboard and does not add any mass to the soundboard itself. The second important benefit of the tailpiece is that the weight/size of the bridge can be decreased by approximately 50%. Since there is very little string pull on the bridge it does not need to have the gluing surface as a traditional instrument, thus reducing its weight. It is important to note that the geometry of the strings and bridge is the same, meaning that the ever-important break angle (where the strings leave the saddle and go into the tie block) is maintained. The break is important because it puts downward force on the bridge and is one reason that a classical guitar sounds like a classical guitar. The tailpiece configuration can be used with normal strings (I have not found any strings that are not long enough) and they are tied the same way as a traditional bridge.