Welcome to our forum. A Message To Our New and Prospective Members . Check out our Forum Rules. Lets keep this forum an enjoyable place to visit.
Private messaging is working again.

AAA
Avatar
Please consider registering
guest
sp_LogInOut Log Insp_Registration Register
Register | Lost password?
Advanced Search
Forum Scope




Match



Forum Options



Minimum search word length is 3 characters - maximum search word length is 84 characters
sp_Feed Topic RSSsp_TopicIcon
Wittner fine-tuner tailpiece
After length
Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 (0 votes) 
Avatar
zpilot
Kansas City, Mo.

Regular advisor
Members

Regulars
November 14, 2017 - 10:19 pm
Member Since: September 29, 2017
Forum Posts: 100
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I installed a Wittner tailpiece with integral fine-tuners on my Holstein Red Mendelssohn fiddle today.  Here is how it went.

The Wittner is about 5mm shorter than the tailpiece it replaced so the bridge needed to be moved back about 4mm to maintain the proper 1:6 ratio between the after length and the sounding portion of the string.  The soundpost was also moved along with the bridge.  

Attention must be paid to the ball-end of the strings during installation in the fine-tuners to make sure they seat properly in the slots.  You either need to make a bend in the string or use some sort of tool to guide it in the slot.  Either way you will need to look underneath the tailpiece to make sure they are located properly before putting final tension on the strings.  The fine-tuners work smoothly but don't have much travel so you will need to tune the G, D and A strings within a few cents with the tuning keys.

I didn't know about the difference in length between the tailpieces before I started this.  Wittner also has an "Ultra" version of this tailpiece which has a 5mm adjustment of the tail-gut length which can be accessed after the tailpiece has been mounted.  That would allow me to move the bridge back to the original position.  I will probably eventually opt for that one although I don't notice that this "upgrade" has harmed the tone of my fiddle at all.  That is just me being picky.

   

Avatar
Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
November 17, 2017 - 12:32 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
Forum Posts: 16537

Being picky is not a bad thing :)
How was the result? Did the sound change?

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

Avatar
zpilot
Kansas City, Mo.

Regular advisor
Members

Regulars
November 18, 2017 - 12:43 am
Member Since: September 29, 2017
Forum Posts: 100
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I believe so.  It's hard to describe.  I think the open E is not as strident.  Also, the G string may be a little more focused.  There is a piece in my first book where on that string I slurred from a B to an open G.  When I did that I got a weird harmonic on top of the note that was not pleasing to me.  It is now much less noticable.  So I suppose there is some comb filtering from the new tailpiece.  Again, I also moved both the bridge and soundpost so I'm sure they have have an effect on what I'm hearing.

Forum Timezone: America/New_York
Most Users Ever Online: 696
Currently Online: Mouse
Guest(s) 82
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Members Birthdays
sp_BirthdayIcon
Today CarolineNH, JamesRSmithJr
Upcoming fryserisnon8, Picklefish, Shell, Schaick, GlassTownCur, Violinista Italiano, VirginViolinist, Cearbhael, SethroTull86, eugenephilip572, celeigh87
Top Posters:
ELCBK: 8823
ABitRusty: 4303
Mad_Wed: 2849
Gordon Shumway: 2731
Barry: 2690
Fiddlestix: 2647
Oliver: 2439
DanielB: 2379
stringy: 2365
Mark: 2272
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 3
Members: 31779
Moderators: 0
Admins: 8
Forum Stats:
Groups: 16
Forums: 84
Topics: 10855
Posts: 137968
Newest Members:
joanie, hunmari01, lydia.vertu SP, Thavence SP, tcaron21, Ustiana SP, DennisRathbone SP, Dan, JoeCase, r0n
Administrators: Fiddlerman: 16537, KindaScratchy: 1760, coolpinkone: 4180, BillyG: 3746, JoakimSimplePress: 0, MrsFiddlerman: 2, Jimmie Bjorling: 0, Mouse: 6091