Your opinion of top wrap to string a Les Paul

RaymondLin

Was putting on some new strings today and thought about putting it reverse, read something about the shallower break angle is meant to give a more slinky feel.  I almost tried it before I realise that in order to do that, the string needs to come round the tail piece at an even more extreme angle to do a 180, there is a sharp 90 degree up immediately at the tail end.  I feel the hole where the string exits the tail piece would cut into the strings just as much and that point beomes the anchor.

Do people have a preference? 

rico

I've always top wrapped on my guitars. It allows me to screw the tailpiece right down to the body and it feels slinkier with heavier strings. It does chew up the tailpiece but that doesn't bother me.

I doubt you'll find a more divisive topic!

Babones

I've never had any issues with the standard method ie not top wrapping. If you want to wrap grab the ball ends of your previous strings and thread your new string through it. That will give you a little more length over the tailpiece so that there is no bad breakage.

ICBM

RaymondLin said:

Was putting on some new strings today and thought about putting it reverse, read something about the shallower break angle is meant to give a more slinky feel.  I almost tried it before I realise that in order to do that, the string needs to come come round the bridge at an even more extreme angle to do a 180, there is a sharp 90 degree up immediately at the ball end.  I feel the edges of the bridge would cut into the strings just as much.

No, but the strings do cut into the tailpiece... and leave marks on the top of it too. This may bother you, it may not.

Personally I don't like it at all, I don't like the sound or feel it gives and I don't want marks on the tailpiece - and although a very few players have been doing it for decades it's really just become a fashion thing now in my opinion.

If you want a slinkier feel without damaging the tailpiece or it looking like you've done it wrong, simply raise the tailpiece a bit. Don't adjust the studs under full string tension, and use a coin not a screwdriver - that's what the slots are designed for.

stickyfiddle

It’s completely unnecessary. Any “slinkier” is because of the ems light increase in total string length, rather than any changes in angles. 

I don’t like it as it means you have to push the string slightly further to bend the same amount in pitch. 

roberty

I prefer the sound and feel personally. It's a marginal preference

RaymondLin

stickyfiddle said:

It’s completely unnecessary. Any “slinkier” is because of the ems light increase in total string length, rather than any changes in angles. 

I don’t like it as it means you have to push the string slightly further to bend the same amount in pitch. 

Good point about bending.  I guess I would need to adjust the saddles too to get the intonation correct.

ICBM

RaymondLin said:

I guess I would need to adjust the saddles too to get the intonation correct.

It shouldn't make any difference if they're set correctly already. The difference in bend down to the fingerboard - rather than sideways - should be too small to matter.

RaymondLin

ICBM said:

RaymondLin said:

I guess I would need to adjust the saddles too to get the intonation correct.

It shouldn't make any difference if they're set correctly already. The difference in bend down to the fingerboard - rather than sideways - should be too small to matter.

I am going to stick with the old fashion way.  It's done now, set everything up, action where i want it and perfectly intonated too.  Quite proud of myself. lol

ICBM

Is that the incredibly rare Les Paul Octave Bass?




I notice it has a nice proper low neck angle and bridge height too, so no reason to top-wrap it at all. 

RaymondLin

ICBM said:

Is that the incredibly rare Les Paul Octave Bass?




I notice it has a nice proper low neck angle and bridge height too, so no reason to top-wrap it at all. 

That wasn't quite done yet, I did have to raise the saddle a bit when it was all strung up but not too much.  Didn't touch the tail piece at all.  I was very happy with the action and intonation when it was all done tbh.

danishbacon

ICBM said:

RaymondLin said:

Was putting on some new strings today and thought about putting it reverse, read something about the shallower break angle is meant to give a more slinky feel.  I almost tried it before I realise that in order to do that, the string needs to come come round the bridge at an even more extreme angle to do a 180, there is a sharp 90 degree up immediately at the ball end.  I feel the edges of the bridge would cut into the strings just as much.

No, but the strings do cut into the tailpiece... and leave marks on the top of it too. This may bother you, it may not.

Personally I don't like it at all, I don't like the sound or feel it gives and I don't want marks on the tailpiece - and although a very few players have been doing it for decades it's really just become a fashion thing now in my opinion.

If you want a slinkier feel without damaging the tailpiece or it looking like you've done it wrong, simply raise the tailpiece a bit. Don't adjust the studs under full string tension, and use a coin not a screwdriver - that's what the slots are designed for.

Taking the last bit of advice even further, I use The back end of a 1.14 ulterior plectrum to do this after detensioning the strings. It’s a downer to see nice guitars with mangled up tailpiece studs. Note studs, not screws. 

roberty

danishbacon said:

ICBM said:

RaymondLin said:

Was putting on some new strings today and thought about putting it reverse, read something about the shallower break angle is meant to give a more slinky feel.  I almost tried it before I realise that in order to do that, the string needs to come come round the bridge at an even more extreme angle to do a 180, there is a sharp 90 degree up immediately at the ball end.  I feel the edges of the bridge would cut into the strings just as much.

No, but the strings do cut into the tailpiece... and leave marks on the top of it too. This may bother you, it may not.

Personally I don't like it at all, I don't like the sound or feel it gives and I don't want marks on the tailpiece - and although a very few players have been doing it for decades it's really just become a fashion thing now in my opinion.

If you want a slinkier feel without damaging the tailpiece or it looking like you've done it wrong, simply raise the tailpiece a bit. Don't adjust the studs under full string tension, and use a coin not a screwdriver - that's what the slots are designed for.

Taking the last bit of advice even further, I use The back end of a 1.14 ulterior plectrum to do this after detensioning the strings. It’s a downer to see nice guitars with mangled up tailpiece studs. Note studs, not screws. 

I have a fat flathead which I use through a thick cloth

hyperben

I don’t like it. On the earlier CS Les Pauls the neck angle was quite often way out. To avoid the strings touching the back edge of the ABR1 you had to raise the tailpiece, on guitars a lot! On those particular guitars I can see why top wrapping would be neater than a jacked up tailpiece, but on guitars where the neck angle is right like the newer CS models the tailpiece can be screwed all the way down and still pretty much avoid contact with the ABR1. My top wrapped 2011 had the same slinkiness as my non top wrapped 2017 due to the neck angle issue.

midlifecrisis

couple of years ago i bought a used epiphone 339 and the owner had topwrapped the strings, i didnt think anything of it but noticed how well it seemed to stay in tune and the strings felt slinkier. so when it was time to restring my gibson LP i thought id give it a try and , yep it definately stayed in tune better so ive been topwrapping ever since.

TTBZ

I do it on my SG but it's purely because I prefer the look of the tailpiece all the way down, and if I string it normally they catch on the back of the bridge unless the tailpiece is really high. I don't think it makes any difference to the feel of the guitar at all. Makes restringing more awkward too.

Funkfingers

I only top wrap on guitars with a wrap-over combined bridge/tailpiece. 

Schnozz

Funkfingers said:

I only top wrap on guitars with a wrap-over combined bridge/tailpiece. 

Yep - Same.

Voxman

My 2 cents is that it's a nonsense thing to do because it needlessly damages the tail piece. As @ICBM said, you don't need to do that to get the same feel, if that's what you want. I'd never ever do it.

DrJazzTap

I did it on my SG once, hated it. It made the strings feel like rubber.

Neil

I top wrap my Les Paul simply because I like the stop bar right down and if it is strung normally the strings will catch on the back of the bridge.