70's s-90 tailpiece vs. reissue

[joaniffer]

Hi there,
I just purchased a '74 S-90 and I'm stoked about it. However, I noticed that the original tailpiece has this quirk where particularly the high E string comes out on an angle towards the bridge instead of going straight, and I'm wondering if this is an issue that was rectified with the modern reissues (i.e. should i order a modern s-100 tailpiece and put it in there). Does anybody know if they have the same dimension/spacing or if the modern one is a big longer/better spaced?

 

[fronobulax]

Welcome. No answer other than the observation that on other models new Newark Street parts are not a "drop in" no modifications replacement for vintage instruments.

 

[GAD]

What tailpiece do you have? Pics would help.

Frono is right - there is no guarantee that a Newark St. part will fit on a vintage Guild.

 

[mad dog]

I had two S90s at various times. Remembering that the stop tailpiece position (relative to the bridge) changed at some point. With greater distance away early on. I could very well be mistaken on that. The tailpiece did feel too far away from the bridge, but the real problem to me was not string angles, but the roller saddles on the bridge. Not ideal, tonally or in terms of playing feel. On one of those S90s, the previous owner must have had problems with the bass strings jumping off the saddles, as the low E and A saddles had been modded, badly.

 

[matsickma]

I had one of the early M75 Solid body guitars that had the parallelagram stops at the distant location from the bridge. The downward pressure of the strings on the bridge saddle was marginal and with the Mueller bridge and little rollers the strings would occasionally pop out of the saddle. I found it to occur mostly on the higher strings.
Eventually Guild located the stop closer which made the angle sharper resuling in greater downward string pressure. The problem went away after this change.
I had sold that earlier guitar and eventually replaced it with a later built guitar with the shorter distance between bridge and stop.
By the time the S300 guitar series was released Guild had defaulted to the closer bridge/stop location.
M

 

[hansmoust]

Hi there,
I just purchased a '74 S-90 and I'm stoked about it. However, I noticed that the original tailpiece has this quirk where particularly the high E string comes out on an angle towards the bridge instead of going straight, and I'm wondering if this is an issue that was rectified with the modern reissues (i.e. should i order a modern s-100 tailpiece and put it in there). Does anybody know if they have the same dimension/spacing or if the modern one is a big longer/better spaced?

Hello joaniffer,

Welcome! It seems to me that the earlier posters did not understand what you were referring to.

The early '70s Guild 'slanted' tailpieces were slightly different as far as shape and spacing of the strings is concerned.

Here's a photo that shows an early and a later Guild tailpiece; notice how much closer the string holes are on the lower unit.

Depending on how well the tailpiece and the bridge were centered on the body (and how wide the roller saddles were set apart) it may look a little odd how the strings leave the tailpiece, as seems to be the case on your guitar.

During the second half of the '70s the tailpiece was 'updated' and did get a slightly wider string spacing; not a whole lot, but the same as the intonation screw spacing of the Muller roller bridge.

I have no idea how close the current re-issue tailpiece is, but I would think you can ask the current owners of the Guild name what the spacing is. Note that the spacing of the fastening bolts changed too on the '70s models, so you may want to check that as well, unless you don't mind drilling extra holes.

Hope this answers your question.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[joaniffer]

This is helpful - Thanks Hansmoust. Do you know if in the pic provided, the bottom tailpiece is the vintage one, and the top is the modern?
Otherwise I'm waiting on an answer from Guild (they seem happy to sell the tailpiece without providing any dimensions, ha). And I have mulled over replacing the roller bridge with a tune-o-matic but so far I'm not getting the strings popping out issue very much.
And here's a pic of the issue for those asking.

 

[hansmoust]

Do you know if in the pic provided, the bottom tailpiece is the vintage one, and the top is the modern?
Otherwise I'm waiting on an answer from Guild (they seem happy to sell the tailpiece without providing any dimensions, ha).

Well, I made the picture, so I should know! They're both 'vintage', but the bottom one is the oldest one and the same one as on your guitar.
String spacing on the top one is 51 mm, while the bottom one is closer to 49 mm.

I expect the spacing on the reissue tailpiece to be 51 mm, but like I said ...... better check with Guild first!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl