Top Wrapping - Stop Tailpiece Height, Harmonics, Sustain, String Gauge, Etc.

fakejake said:

In all seriousness, the only reason I top wrap from time to time is I think it looks cool... eace2
When I get tired of it I go back to regular stringing.
I haven't noticed that much of a difference sonically and in terms of playability

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And like you in many cases, I would find the aesthetics the greatest (but not only) difference between the two methods.

The difference in how it feels may be different for everyone and their guitars of course, but the physical explanations do exist which make a difference (however large or small).

Personally I don't think it gives good break angle, unless your action is very high that the abr-1 is very high off the body.

Same reasons I like normal teles more than the top loader variants.

Over thinking this one IMO , Once again Height of tune - o - matic IMO = neck set angle neck pocket floor depth . The posted guitar has a high Tune -o- magic. Wrap of strings is way secondary .

AA00475Bassman said:

Over thinking this one IMO , Once again Height of tune - o - matic IMO = neck set angle neck pocket floor depth . The posted guitar has a high Tune -o- magic. Wrap of strings is way secondary .

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More like under-thinking this one.

People think high bridge = high neck set, low bridge = low neck set based on height alone are wrong.
The geometry of this is dictated by physics, not opinion.

The height of the bridge is very much affected by how one sets relief and nut height (even fret height). Thus, the height of the abr-1 in the photo tells us nothing about the rest of the guitar (nor any guitar for that matter).

Now, if the guitar in question as OP says, has minimal relief and about average action (probably with stock frets which should be about 0.045" height), then in fact the height of his abr-1 is actually pretty normal.

Even neck relief alone has a huge effect. Someone unaware of huge neck relief in his guitar and trying to lower his bridge to get "lower action" will be pleased at how low the abr-1 may sit, but that will give a false reading as to what the neck angle is. Irrelevant.

Once had a friend brag to me about how low the abr-1 was on his guitar and how his guitar must have that "coveted" low neck angle (which curiously enough, the 58 es335 comes to criticism for). Didn't brag much after later I told him the neck was bowed like an archer's bow.

when i first tried top wrapping and screwing down the tailpiece studs until tight, i couldn't fit in the tailpiece. i unscrewed the studs a bit, put in the tailpiece and then screwed down again and forced the tailpiece a tiny bit into the wood. the additional (acoustic) resonance is huge in my case and i LOVE the results ! ! ! the changes in sound also translate to the amplified sound and if i would have to describe it i would say "it opened up the guitar" or "it became alive"... as much as i hate those battered phrases, it best describes my results

I own many T.O.M historic Gibson guitars something is wrong with a bridge that high not one of mine is any were near that high . I play high action you are just plain wrong. You don't need to confuse this with your math . Done !

AA00475Bassman said:

I own many T.O.M historic Gibson guitars something is wrong with a bridge that high not one of mine is any were near that high . I play high action you are just plain wrong. You don't need to confuse this with your math . Done !

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There is nothing wrong with OP’s guitar except your false perception of it.

Do not confuse your opinion and experience with what’s actually real.

OP is trying to learn by asking the right questions and you are deterring from that by making reductionist and false claims with nothing more substantial than your opinion, which frankly the domain of geometry doesn’t ask for (yours or mine for that matter).

The math isn’t mine by the way.

AA00475Bassman said:

I own many T.O.M historic Gibson guitars something is wrong with a bridge that high not one of mine is any were near that high . I play high action you are just plain wrong. You don't need to confuse this with your math . Done !

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I own several TOM guitars as well, and that bridge seems fine. Maybe higher than average but nothing to worry about :salude
Advantageous actually for topwrapping.

We are now back to where we were when we started.
Good job everyone.

Zentar said:

We are now back to where we were when we started.
Good job everyone.

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Hopefully the OP can now see the neck angle is measured by actually measuring the neck angle and not looking at the height of the abr-1 like some do.