Tailpiece

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The bridge of a guitar is very important acoustically as it couples the strings with the soundboard. The bridge is constantly being pulled up and away from the soundboard due to string tension. The tailpiece allows the shear force to be significantly decreased since the strings are attached to the tailpiece rather than the bridge itself. The tailpiece hovers above the soundboard and does not add any mass to the soundboard. Another benefit of the tailpiece is that the weight and size of the bridge can be decreased as a large gluing surface is no longer necessary. It is important to note that the geometry of the strings and bridge are the same, meaning that the break angle of the strings are maintained. This configuration allows much more versatility with the design of the guitar as the guitar can be much more lightly built while retaining structural integrity.