Take a look at the standard stud tailpiece on our Les Paul Deluxe…
If you’re into your guitar forums, you’ll have definitely seen a debate or three on the benefits of ‘top wrapping’ your Les Paul’s stud or stop tailpiece over sticking with the standard stringthrough method. Does it really make any difference? Well, plenty of people have strong opinions on both methods. While the string-through method is by far the most common, author Robb Lawrence in The Early Years Of The Les Paul Legacy: 1915-1963 states that “originally these items [the stud or stop tailpiece] were depicted in the catalogues and shipped normally with the strings over the top of the tailpiece (the way it was designed).” Exactly when the stringing method changed I have no idea, but in The Beauty Of The ’Burst by Yasuhiko Iwanade, of the 80-something ’Bursts pictured only two are top wrapped –one of which is Billy FGibbons’ ‘Pearly Gates’.
With the stud tailpiece screwed right down onto the body, which many people believe to maximise string-to-body vibration, the string angle of the stringthrough method is at its steepest. If the tune-o-matic sits quite high (neck angles do vary), especially if your guitar has a wider Nashville-style tune-o-matic, the strings might catch on the back edge of the bridge, which looks a bit untidy and may cause some tuning problems, not least on the wound strings. Subsequently, you might then want to raise the stud tailpiece a little.