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Looking at aftermarket Archtop Trapeze Tailpieces (Kluson and others), they don't appear to have any radius. The bridge radius I'm going to use is 12". I could go with the Benedetto which is made with the same 12" radius, but I don't want to do the all wood tailpiece look on my first build. Will the flat tailpiece radius really have that much effect on the sound as opposed to going with a radius that matches the bridge?

A radius is not necessary for the tail piece and in terms of it making a difference in sound that's highly subjective and a place I would not venture.

Tail pieces all though time have not had a radius in many examples or were not matched to the bridge making this moot. The purpose of the radius on the bridge is to match OR.... compliment the radius of the fret board.

Look at G*bsons from 335s with stop, unradiused tail pieces to L-5s also with tail pieces with no radius. I'm not sure that there is any objective purpose to a radius on an Archie tail piece beyond the astetic of repetition of shape and design or in this case curves.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

I agree. No radius needed. With all wood tailpieces it’s a little more work to devise a system to ground the strings.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Ok, thank you! That's a relief. I'm one of those who loses some sleep over details like this. You know, like questioning why Benedetto goes through the trouble of radiusing his tailpieces, as if that's the key to achieving superior tone. But yes, looking into it more, it appears a flat radius at the tailpiece is quite common. And I've just come across some makers who build the tailpiece so that it can roll to either the bass or treble side depending on how much downward pressure you want to a particular side. Very interesting stuff!

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post

I'm no Benedetto, but some of us like making really cool stuff with details only WE will know about.

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