Gitane tailpiece ?

nuages

Hello everyone,

I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed here. I'm sure it has I just couldn't find it.

I have a DG-250m and the tailpiece is bending towards the body where the D & G strings are (it's about 1/8" from the body now). Is there anything I can do to correct this short of buying a new tailpiece? Will this continue to get worse and eventually touch the body of the guitar and is this common for these guitars?

Could someone please point me in the right direction to find info about this problem? Any feedback from someone who has experienced this would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jimmy

CalebFSU

The tailpeice on my D-500 is similairly bent. I have never noticed anything adverse because of it and after almost two years of string changing and playing it hasn't done anything. I wouldn't worry too much although if you're nervouse about it just check it every so often to make sure it isn't continuing to bend.

Bob Holo

Mine is bent too... (on my $700 Gitane and on my $3,50 Dell Arte...)

... but it's my fault:

I figured out why (in my case, at least)

I was buying these loop end strings that were WAAAY too tight (IE< the loops were too small) and to get these loops off, I'd have to cut the string at the tuner, rotate the loop 180 degrees and pull up fairly hard to peel the string off of the tailpiece nub. Picture what that does... it makes the nub into a lever arm to bend the tailpiece. I caught myself doing it one day and bending my Dell Arte tailpiece and exclaimed ^&(@#($#^#*@(@#&amp;!!!

I don't remember which strings these were though I remember they weren't Dell Arte, Pearse, or Savarez. I now only use those strings (well, I use Dell Arte and Savarez... I've never used Pearse but have heard they're good.)

djangology

hey Bob, ALL of the DG-255's have the tailpiece problem. its not because of yanking off loop ends. some of the Gitanes come out of the factory this way (strung with bronzes at 150lbs of tension).

But, for the record, the DG-300 guitars do not have this issue (higher quality tailpiece) and neither do the first generation DG-500's (which have low string tension around the 110lbs level).

If you have one of the guitars that has this problem, just leave it alone. Its part of the character of the guitars and doesnt need to be fixed. Even the stock Argentine tension of 125lbs -130lbs will cause this problem over a small period of time). Its natural. If you buy a DG-25X then you should expect it.

Scotsman

djangology wrote:

But, for the record, the DG-300 guitars do not have this issue (higher quality tailpiece) and neither do the first generation DG-500's (which have low string tension around the 110lbs level).

The dg-300 has the same tailpiece as the other Gitanes just a different insert.

Bob Holo

True - my Gitane D250M developed that problem before I started expiramenting with strings.

However, I did bend the one on my Dell Arte in that way... saw it happen with my own eyes... watched my own hands do it.

I'm not saying it's everyone's experience. What I am saying is, that there is at least one other way to bend that tailpiece... regardless of whether it's a knockoff or a DR - none of them are made of thick bronze... all will bend if you're not careful with them, which, unfortunately, I wasn't.

zav

nuages,

I had the same problem with my DG-255. In "from factory" setup (with bronze strings and standard bridge), when tuned right, the tailpiece bended so much, that D-G part even touch the top of the guitar, and because of that produced terrible "tr-tr-tr-tr" on some notes. But I've put shims to make a bridge higher very soon, and even with the same bronze strings the tailpiece was bended much less (and D-G end became higher from the top). Now I have Savarez gauge 10 and I think that now it bends some less.

I have an idea of possible upgrade of the tailpiece - I think you may glue a piece of very density metall (still or something like that, 1-2 mm of thickness) with the form of the tailpiece, on its bottom, so the total thickness will twice at least.

Any comments?....

Good luck!
Anton

nuages

I appreciate the feedback. Sounds like this is very common, I'm not going to lose to much sleep over it.

NewcastleBud

If I may add my two cents... I'm pretty sure all these tailpieces have a bend on the D and G strings ( actually, if you look closely at Bireli's guitar on the inside picture of his Gypsy Project and Friends cd you'll notice his tailpiece has this same bend) The reason? I believe that a slight downward pressure in that area would keep the D and G strings from rattling in their respective slots. Again, it's just two cents worth.

djadam

Does the tailpiece affect sound? If I were to swap out my Gitane tailpiece for the $100 DR piece from gypsyguitars.com, would I see/hear a benefit other than knowing I had a well made piece on there?

djangology

The dg-300 has the same tailpiece as the other Gitanes just a different insert.

this is NOT true. The DG-300 has a "brushed metal" tailpiece (i think its bronze) with slightly heavier stock. The DG-25X models have tailpieces that are shiny (not brushed). Therefore, the tailpieces are not the same. The tailpiece on the DG-300 is far less likely to bend.

I might be wrong on this but I am fairly certain I am right. It was only a week ago that I noticed this while playing my friends DG-300.

If you do have a tailpiece that bends, don't worry about it. Its all kewl.