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lblake
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Posts: 273
(3/10/01 9:17:20
pm)
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Lightweight
Tailpiece?
On the endpin thread, somone else asked for opinions on tailpieces.
I had been thinking about the same thing, and am very anxious to
hear responses, so I thought I'd second the request by starting a
new thread on the subject!
So, let's have it - I hear a
lighter tailpiece may often improve the tone and/or responsiveness
on a cello.
So, what are the nicest (most
traditional-looking, but lighter) tailpieces and why, in your
opinions? Materials? built-in fine tuners? etc...? Thanks!
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Christopher
Chan
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Posts: 69
(3/10/01 10:38:45
pm)
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Re: Lightweight
Tailpiece?
This thread has been beat to death on this board i think, but i
don't mind rehashing it at all. I don't think there'll be any
disagreement that the lightest most attractive and highest quality
tailpiece is the Harmonie Carbon fiber tailpiece. Lighter tailpieces
can and do improve the tone and responsiveness of a cello. A metal
tailgut is also recommended as
well.
http://www.harmonie.net/
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Steve
Drake
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Posts: 259
(3/11/01 12:04:25
am)
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Re: Lightweight
Tailpiece?
I highly recommend the harmonie tailpiece. I've got one that's a
fabulously flamed boxwood (they're not normally flamed).
I
also have an akustikus on another cello, which works ok, but I keep
meaning to change it to another harmonie.
My MP3's
My Cello
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lblake
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Posts: 275
(3/11/01 9:42:19
am)
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Re: Lightweight
Tailpiece?
Thanks for not minding! Ya know, I actually DID a search on the
word "Tailpiece" in just the subject, AND in the entire message, and
got nothing. And I tried it on other boards, too - I dunno. Maybe I
was just having a bad search day.
Anyway, thanks! So, my
question about the harmonie ones are: are they really wood? And if
so, are they really so much lighter than my ebony tailpiece would
be? And, do they really make them of Pernambuco, too? (not that
that's what I would necessarily want, but...) Just want to make sure
I'm planning to get the right thing.
Thanks!
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Christopher
Chan
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Posts: 70
(3/11/01 11:20:22
am)
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Re: Lightweight
Tailpiece?
The harmonie tailpieces come are wood, either boxwood, ebony,
rosewood, or pernambuco, the tuners are made of carbon fiber which
makes them so light. i also must say they are the easy tuners i've
ever used.
www.johnson-inst.com/catalog/fouilhe.htm
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TerryM
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Posts: 336
(3/11/01 11:37:28
am)
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Re: Lightweight
Tailpiece?
The search function on this board does not do a very good job. You
can find one of the previous threads at:
pub1.ezboard.com/fcellofu...=717.topic
The
Harmonie tailpiece is great! I went from an ebony with add-on tuners
to an Akusitcus to the Hammonie with great improvments in sound and
sound projection. The Acustikus is ok, but the finish is awful and
in my estimation, looks "tacky." The real bonus with the Harmonie
was the fine tuners. These work very well, although I had to put a
small drop of oil on mine to get the action going. The Akusticus
tuners were not very good at all.
Terry
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PaulFM
Registered User
Posts: 14
(3/12/01 11:27:59 am)
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Re: Lightweight
Tailpiece?
I went through the same issue about 2 months ago (there are several
threads on the subject. Mine as well as others). Not having alot of
funds to invest I choose a Whitter Utra-light tailpiece ($25) and a
sarconni adjustable tailgut. I did make an improvement in tone and
increased the volume. The first rehearsal after I installed the
tailpiece I had to be carefull not to play to loud. I was also able
to tune the afterlength. Whether that helped remains to be seen.
Good Luck.
PaulM
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Duane
Nevins
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Posts: 14
(3/13/01 12:54:23
am)
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harmonie
tailpieces
I also have a harmonie tailpiece on my cello and I love it. I agree
with Steve Drake. They are the best tailpieces you can get. The one
I have is made of purnambuco wood and the craftsmanship is superb,
the appearance is beautiful, the weight is light, and the fine
tuners are the best you can get. They are also versatile. If you
ever want to remove the fine tuners you can. They just fall out of
the slot on the tailpiece because they are just held in place by the
tension of the strings and if you want to attach a string directly
to the tailpiece without the fine tuner you can easily do so. I hope
this helps.
Duane
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cellochris99
Registered User
Posts: 99
(3/13/01 3:58:51 am)
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tailpiece
What is the best way to do this tailpiece switch without the
soundpost moving out of place from the lack of string
tension?
Chris
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Steve
Drake
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User
Posts: 260
(3/13/01 12:01:32
pm)
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Re:
tailpiece
Have a luthier do it. If you do it yourself, you need to know how
to set up a bridge, and a soundpost in case it drops. It isn't too
complicated - I've installed a number of tailpieces, which is about
the most complex repair I'm willing to do. But if you're not sure
about what you're doing, don't try. Setting up a bridge is more
complicated than many people realize.
My MP3's
My Cello
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Andy
Hamric
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Posts: 29
(3/15/01 8:16:45
pm)
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tuners?
I'm not very impressed with my akusticus tuners, as they don't seem
to have a ver large range of motion and sometimes "stick". Luthier
told me this was becase the threads are getting damaged, by action
such as tightening too much.
He said the Harmonie tuners
would be just as susceptible to the same problems. Is this true? I
would thing carbon fiber tuners might be more robust, but I haven't
any idea if that's right.
Comments?
Thanks!
ah
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Steve
Drake
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Posts: 265
(3/16/01 12:09:44
am)
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Re:
tuners?
As one who owns cellos with both tailpieces, I'll comment. I'm not
sure what said "luthier" meant by thread damage - this can happen,
but I would think it would only be a problem for someone who isn't
paying attention to their instrument, someone who doesn't realize
they've reached the end of the tuners range. If your tuner is
twisted in all the way, it's not going to go any further - if you
keep trying to turn it, you're going to break something. With either
one of these tuners, it's a good idea to keep track of where your
tuners are, and tighten or release the pegs as needed to keep the
fine tuners in the middle of their range.
Yes, the harmonie
tuners have a wider range than the acustikus. And they may or may
not be more robust - but with the proper care, you shouldn't
experience these problems.
My MP3's
My Cello
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Manolian
Registered User
Posts: 25
(3/16/01 9:47:00 am)
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RE: Lightweight
Tailpiece
I installed the Harmonie Tailpiece
in rosewood on my cello
,
along with a Steiner Bridge ,and a David
Bice carbon fiber
rod.
and as a result the sound became louder
more open ,and
richer .
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elgee
Registered User
Posts: 15
(4/4/01 8:32:45 am)
Reply
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Re: harmonie
tailpieces
Can any one tell me the prices of harmonie tailpieces?
thanks.
Edited by: elgee
at: 4/4/01 8:33:46 am
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Andrew
Victor
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Posts: 249
(4/4/01 11:21:59
am)
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Approx
prices
I believe that at Johnson ( http://www.johnsonstring.com/
) they run $185 for Hill-style ebony, rosewood, or boxwood and about
$250 for pernambuco. The French-style start at $135 for ebony, but
are $185 for the other woods.
They claim their Hill-style
boxwood is the lightest weight tailpiece you can get at 2 ounces.
I've not seen it said, but since Pernambuco is known for its high
density, I would suspect it to be comparatively heavy.
Andy
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TerryM
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User
Posts: 361
(4/4/01 3:28:31
pm)
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Johnson Strings
Harmonie prices are too high
I think that Johnson Strings is highly overpriced on these
tailpieces. I bought the same ebony, French-style Harmonie tailpiece
in Toronto, for $125 Canadian, which is the equivalent of about
US$81, vs the US$135 that Johnson Strings is asking for it. If I am
not mistaken, Johnson has some kind of exclusive or a dealership
agreement in the US on these tailpieces. The company in Toronto does
a fair bit of mail order with International customers. If you are
interested in looking into this, e-mail me and I will give you the
Toronto company's contact information.
tpmauric@golden.net
Terry
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asgeirssone
Registered User
Posts: 7
(4/4/01 4:46:13 pm)
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"Pusch"
tailpieces
How are the "pusch" tailpieces sold at Shar? Are they light? How
are their aesthetics? Unfortunately, they don't have pictures of
tailpieces in their catalogue.
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Andrew
Victor
Registered
User
Posts: 254
(4/5/01 6:06:47
pm)
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Re: "Pusch"
tailpieces
I've seen the Pusch tailpieces for violin and viola - but not for
cello. But I think it's a fair assumption to extrapolate.
The
Pusch tailpieces are quite attractive, and they do have light-weight
composite fine tuners. BUT - the tuning mechanism is different than
that for any of the other tuner/tailpiece combos. On the Pusch, the
string "ball" goes downward toward the top of the instrument and
then the string is bent over a "round" to direct it toward the
bridge. This is difficult to insert a new string into, especially if
the tailpiece is already in place (espcially hard on the smaller
instruments) and it has you working very close to the top of the
instrument, that you could scratch. The Pusch tuning mechansm is a
bit flexible, and so seems flimsy, although it probably isn't. But
this means there are ways it can "slip" when you are first setting
up a string in it. Also, it was my impression that the mecahnism
does not give as much tuning range as otehr tuners, and the
flexibility of the tuner means that sometimes the tuning is not as
proportional to the displaceement as the other brands.
Andy
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Andrew
Victor
Registered
User
Posts: 255
(4/5/01 6:19:53
pm)
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Harmonie
tailpieces; How light are they?
I've just been trying two Bois d'Harmonie boxwood, Hill-style cello
tailpieces. I forgot to weight them before installing them
(advertisement says 2 ounces), but they are lighter than the JDF
(Ferwerda) that I removed, and it weighs 2-3/4 ounces, and it is
lighter than the Wittner (3-3/4 ounces), and that is much lighter
than the ebony with four fine tuners (5.5 ounces) and my other old
ebony plus fine tuners is even heavier.
The result of these
tests is that to me as a player one cello sounded better and the
other sounded worse - BUT - and it's a BIG BUT! "Out front" when I
used a microphone and played it back through my wireless headset,
the cello that had not sounded as good with the Harmonie was
incredible (YoYo Ma- watch out!) and also it did improve ease of
playing up the second ocatave up of the C string.
The other
cello, that had sounded great when playing (and also had improved
playability up the C string) sounded fine out front, but is probably
a good 10 to 20 db below the other one in power. And here, I'd
already called Johnson String Instruments to get approval to return
that second Harmonie - but I guess not!
If I had to make an
on-the-spot diagnosis, I'd say that the Harmonie increases the
strength of the higher partials without decreasing the lower tones
at all, making an incredibly resonant instrument (now to tune the
afterlengths).
By the way it will be interesting to see what
David Bice comes up with as a new tailpiece to allow on the cello
tuning of the afterlengths.
Andy
Edited by: Andrew
Victor at: 4/5/01 6:31:50 pm
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lblake
Registered
User
Posts: 310
(4/5/01 10:22:19
pm)
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does it make the
beast louder??!?
The beast, a new tailpiece?! I think you need a midwest girl to
come out & break it in for ya!
*sigh*
i miss the
beast.
Hmmm... yet another compelling reason to job-hunt out
there......
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lblake
Registered
User
Posts: 312
(4/5/01 11:00:31
pm)
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Re: "Pusch"
tailpieces - on Shar instruments?
Andy, your description sounds exactly like what I have. I believe
my tailpiece is basically a hill-style ebony tailpiece.
I
think the fine tuners are metal, and they do look shorter than some
I've seen, but they're also longer than others I've seen... I,
personally, think they're just right.
Anyway, I wonder if
Shar tends to use them on setting up their instruments. If so, then
that's probably what I have on my cello. Some ball-ends fit through
the holes in the tuners, but many don't. I have to thread the
strings through. AARRGGHH!!! I definitely HATE that about my
tailpiece. The other thing I hate about it is a little metal bar
that sits near the fine tuners. It's a horrible, vile little thing
that, after a while, decided it didn't want to stay bent the same
way, so it came loose, and rattled until I finally took apart my
whole setup just so I could take the stupid thing off! What a
relief!
Anyway, with that gone, and limiting my
string-changing habits, it's really a very pretty tailpiece, and the
tuners are very easy to use. It will be interesting to see how the
Harmonie compares.
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