A stoptail
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
(sometimes also called a stopbar bridge) used on a solid body
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
or
archtop guitar
An archtop guitar is a hollow electric or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with jazz, blues, and rockabilly players.
Typically, an archtop guitar has:
* Six strings
* An ...
is a specialized kind of fixed
hard-tail bridge. Hard-tail bridged guitars use different bridges from those guitars fitted with
vibrato systems (which are also known as tremolo arms or whammy bars).
Construction and materials
The stoptail bridge consists of two parts: an adjustable fixed bridge piece, such as a
Tune-o-matic and a separate stopbar (or stop bar)
tailpiece
A tailpiece is a component on many stringed musical instruments that anchors one end of the strings, usually opposite the end with the tuning mechanism (the scroll, headstock, peghead, etc.).
Function and construction
The tailpiece anchors t ...
.
A stopbar tailpiece is, as the name implies, a bar-shaped formed metal piece commonly made of
pot metal
Pot metal (or monkey metal) is an alloy of low-melting point metals that manufacturers use to make fast, inexpensive castings. The term "pot metal" came about due to the practice at automobile factories in the early 20th century of gathering up no ...
or
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
alloys although
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
and
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
may be used. Many manufacturers claim that the use of lightweight metals and alloys, such as aluminum, provide a greater transfer of the string's vibrational energy or "resonant quality" to the guitar body since there is less mass to excite. Aluminum was also used in the early examples of stoptail bridges from the 1950s, so it carries the mantle of "vintage" vibe.
The "stop" part comes from the fact that the string ends are held in place or they "stop" inside the bar. The bar is mounted on top of the guitar body usually by means of sturdy threaded metal studs screwed into threaded sleeves embedded into the body of the guitar. The studs and stopbar are located behind the separate bridge piece.
The stopbar can either simply slip onto notches on top of the studs, or be held in place using
set screw
In American English, a set screw is a screw that is used to secure an object, by pressure and/or friction, within or against another object, such as fixing a pulley or gear to a shaft. A set screw is normally used without a nut (which distingu ...
s. One danger to be aware of is that the stopbar can fall out of the notches when changing strings and put a ding in the guitar's finish. When it is held in place using the screws, it is sometimes referred to as a "locking stopbar". In these designs, the Tune-o-matic bridge section is also usually fastened to its embedded studs by set screws. This fastening of the key components in a stoptail bridge system is claimed to impart more sustain and tone to the guitar's sound.
Function and advantages
The stopbar has holes drilled into it that allow the guitar strings to be threaded from the rear and out through the front. The string path then goes over the bridge saddles and the string nut to the
machine head
A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses and others, and ar ...
s located on the
headstock.
The stopbar tailpiece is meant to be adjusted for string tension. The threaded posts can be lowered or raised to increase or relieve the string tension at pitch. This is an important adjustment especially when changing the gauge of the string set on the guitar. There are practical limits to this technique: too high and you could bend the posts and the strings won't seat properly into the bridge saddles; too low and the string break will rest on the rear of the bridge, killing sustain and tone. Some players prefer to tighten the stopbar all the way down in an attempt to increase sustain and tone. This requires a different stringing technique.
Some players, like
Duane Allman
Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American rock guitarist, session musician, and the founder and original leader of the Allman Brothers Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame i ...
, deviate from the norm and "top wrap" their strings. This is when the direction of the string path is reversed so that the strings are threaded through the leading edge of the stopbar then come out the rear and wrapped over the top of the stop bar. The advantage is that strings are supposedly easier to bend because of the decreased string break angle. Also, the "nonspeaking" string length is increased, which may have an effect on the strings' harmonic vibration (''see
sympathetic resonance
Sympathetic resonance or sympathetic vibration is a harmonic phenomenon wherein a passive string or vibratory body responds to external vibrations to which it has a harmonic likeness. The classic example is demonstrated with two similarly-tuned ...
''). The increased tendency for the strings to produce
natural harmonics may make techniques such as
pinch harmonics easier to accomplish. This is the same way that a wraparound stoptail bridge is strung. Regardless of the technique used, the tension provided by tightening the strings to pitch is the only thing keeping the stopbar in place, unless it is a "locking" type.
The supposed advantages of using a stoptail bridge over a tremolo bridge are: greater ability to keep the strings in tune, especially under the duress of hard note-bending; better string path stability and ability to intonate; and, better sustain due to a more direct resonance of the guitar's
tonewood
Tonewood refers to specific wood varieties that possess tonal properties that make them good choices for use in woodwind or acoustic stringed instruments.
Varieties of tonewood
As a rough generalization it can be said that stiff-but-light softwood ...
excited by the transmission of sound wave energy from the vibrating string. This is not a universally accepted opinion and guitarists will argue over the virtues of stoptail, hard-tail and tremolo bridges probably for as long as they all exist.
Variations
Gibson Guitar Corporation guitars tend to be most often associated with the stoptail bridge, especially the iconic
Gibson Les Paul model, whereas
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation guitars are most often thought of as vibrato bridges like the famous
Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...
model.
Wraparound
A variant of a stoptail bridge is the "wraparound". Wraparound style bridges are used on less costly models such as the
Gibson Melody Maker and on expensive, high-end guitars like
PRS Guitars
Paul Reed Smith Guitars, also known as PRS Guitars, is an American guitar and amplifier manufacturer located in Stevensville, Maryland. The company was founded in 1985 in Annapolis, Maryland by Paul Reed Smith.
Products manufactured by PRS inc ...
. This style bridge combines the bridge and stopbar into one unit. There are a variety of wraparound bridge designs. They may have individual movable bridge saddles (adjustable stoptail bridges), a fixed compensated saddle similar to an acoustic guitar bridge, or simply a straight stopbar anchored in the bridge position.
Footnote
Bibliography
* {{cite book
, first = Terry , last = Burrows
, date = 2015-12-15
, chapter = Strings and Stringing
, chapter-url= https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Les_Paul_Manual/tY-1CgAAQBAJ?gbpv=1&pg=PA50
, title = The Les Paul Manual
, url = https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Les_Paul_Manual/tY-1CgAAQBAJ
, publisher = Voyageur Press
, isbn = 978-0-7603-4923-6
, page =
, quote =
Guitar bridges