Top Wrapping your Les Paul

[Henk]

I tried to search this forum on this subject, interested to know if people were doing this and what their thoughts were on the effect on their guitar sound.

I myself use it off and on, it improves sustain alot IMO and since i have my '73 SG i top wrapped my unusually bright sounding '92 LP standard(still thanking god in my prayers for it ). It does darken the sound somewhat, so its a toss really IMO.

For people who dont know what top wrapping is: Its when you scew the tailpiece to the body and since the strings would otherwise be too low to bend over the tune-o-matic bridge, you put the strings the 'wrong' way trough the stoptail end wrap them over the stoptail.

Hope i explained that right, if not check this site for explanation.

http://dominocs.com/AshBassGuitar/stoptailwrap.html

Greetings, Henk

[Will]

I think the general argument is that it has less downward pressure on the bridge, and so less sustain, but then more contact with the tailpiece and so more sustain  :?

I did it because I heard it decreased string breakage, like rotosounds, but they broke lots, now its fine.

Also I feel it produces a far 'richer' string rake behind the bridge
and also more comfortable to rest my hand on than between tailpiece and bridge

[WezV]

personally i like it when the angle of the strings behind the bridge is the same as the angle behind the nut - even downward pressure at both ends of the string is the goal!!  

I prefer not to top wrap  but i dont like it when the strings hit the back of the bridge so its all about getting a good balance

[Henk]

I did it because I heard it decreased string breakage, like rotosounds, but they broke lots, now its fine.

I dont have this, but im not using really hard strings (like steel cored ones) or really thick ones. I can imagine they would break easier due to lack of flexibility.

Apart from the sustain which IMO just improves or better said, sounds richer and fuller, the whole spectrum of string dynamics seems to be amplified a bit, like when you screw your pickups closer to the strings but then not (pickups are just at same distance). This at least to my ears, only small changes tho.

And yes WesV i also think its all about the balance, its like a bit of stress relief on the strings.

[hamfist]

Interesting discussion guys. I've not tried it yet but have also read that it makes the "feel" of bending strings rather different. Any comments on that ?

BTW, another thing it definately does is nicely scratch up your bright shiny tailpiece!  :D

Alan

[Twinfan]

I considered trying it one one of my Les Pauls, but it would have meant a pretty shallow angle over the ABR-1 bridge.  I kept it "regular" instead.  I may try it sometime on another guitar though.

[Henk]

Effectiveness also depends highly on what action you have set up for your LP. You can also do this with other gibson style guitars like an SG or Explorer or even a V as long as they have a stoptail and relativeliy high action. I personally would not do it on my SG though.

[WezV]

I've not tried it yet but have also read that it makes the "feel" of bending strings rather different. Any comments on that ?

yeah, thats straight forward to understand.  Its all to do with the excess string behind the bridge or nut.

if you have a really sharp downward angle there will be a lot of pressure at the bridge and nut.  when you bend a string or even just fret a note it is much harder to affect the excess string - so you are mostlybending with the string between nut and bridge and the excess is affected less.... it feels stiffer to bend.

If you have less of a downward angle there is less pressure on the nut and bridge.  When you bend the excess string will be stretched as well - so the extra tension is spread over a greater length of string and it feels easier, softer to bend.

Its important to note that there is no actual difference between the tension on a guitar with top wrapped or normal tailpiece - if there was the note would be different!!  but its hard to describe the effect without using the T word so 'percieved tension' might be a better term.  

This issue also comes into play when you look at headstock design - particularly comparing a righty fender head to a lefty one if anyone is trying to emulate jimi.

Thats how i understand it anyway - i am not claiming its 100% scientifically accurate or proven so take it all with a pinch of salt

[Henk]

I dont notice much change when bending other then setting my LP standard up this way improves playability overall, offcourse this is highly personal.

[WezV]

I dont notice much change when bending other then setting my LP standard up this way improves playability overall, offcourse this is highly personal.

Another way to describe it would be affecting the stiffness of the action, and therefore playability overall - it does affect every note you fret but for me it is more noticeable when bending.  Obviously its only one factor though and its hard to seperate out all the variables

[Ratrod]

You'll also get more string movement behind the bridge wich also affects the tone. Usually a brighter tone and a bit of 'kerrang'.

[Will]

nobody else has mentioned the nice bridge rake sound from it  :o

[il˙ti]

nobody else has mentioned the nice bridge rake sound from it  :o

That's a big reason for me too. Even though it's not something you'd use a whole lot, picking the string really hard behind the bridge (with either open string or fretted string) has a great timbre for some things. Adam Jones does that a bit in Third Eye, for example. And it's much better the longer distance there is to the tailpiece. I find that top wrapping just generally feels better, sounds better and LOOKS better. It's all about the looks, innit?

[Henk]

It's all about the looks, innit?

Owell OK, you have one more guess..... :roll: