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  #1  
Old 12-01-2019, 10:50 AM
k_russell k_russell is online now
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Default String jams in the tailpiece

I am playing a Guild a150 with D'Addario jazz medium flat wound strings.

The high E string jams very tightly into the tail piece. A few times, even with other strings, I have had to remove the tailpiece a use pliers to remove the high E.

Do you have any suggestions on how to avoid this? Some kind of spacer? A new tail piece?
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Old 12-01-2019, 06:55 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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I'm not familiar with the crossbar area (where the ball ends of the strings are attached) of the Guild tailpiece, but based on my experience with other archtop tailpieces this is a problem that's more common with the low E and A strings due to the thickness of the wrap/winding at the ball end. As a first fix I'd make sure that the ball end is properly seated in its receptacle and hasn't popped out/wedged itself where it shouldn't go before tuning to full pitch (FYI I have to do this regularly with both my Godin 5th Avenue and Carlo Robelli ES-5 knockoff); if the problem still occurs and you bought it brand-new, IMO a call/e-mail to the Guild customer service folks would be in order - you could probably fix it yourself with a file and some time, but why...
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Old 12-02-2019, 10:58 AM
mr. beaumont mr. beaumont is offline
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That's an interesting one, seeing t's the thinnest string...so it's NOT the string's fault in being "too fat," it's something with the slot at the tailpiece...

Next string change, what if you coated the ball end of the string with a little vaseline or something? You don't really want a spacer, any thing that's flexible will keep compressing and you'll have tuning issues...the string does need to be in there "tight." Just not "so tight."

As far as getting it out, I had a guitar once that didn't want to give up old strings, and I found using a thicker string and going in from the opposite end could often dislodge it...but I'm guessing if you've had to resort to pliers, you've exhausted possibilities like that already.

It's probably something, as Steve suggested, that could be fixed with some clever filing. Have you tried taking the whole tailpiece off and taking a look at what's going on underneath?
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