Domestic hardwoods for wooden tailpieces?

[Dennis Duross]

Are woods like maple, walnut, or cherry structurally sound enough for use as wooden tailpieces? Has anyone used them or others in a build?

[Steve Senseney]

For what kind of instrument?

I used some Osage, glued together cross grain, as a tail piece for an Upright Washtub type of bass. I had to reinforce it with some carbon fiber material to keep it from pulling apart.

For a 6 string guitar, I think you could reinforce any type of wood with the carbon fiber mesh (or carefully designed and placed metal) and make a tail piece. If it fell apart, you could redesign. It would not destroy the instrument if this part failed and had to be rebuilt.

[Dennis Duross]

Sorry, for an archtop guitar, hung from a Sacconi-type loop.

[Michael Lewis]

It depends on the individual piece of wood, but in general you should be safe with good maple, walnut, or cherry.

[Dennis Duross]

I guess in part I was wondering what qualities a piece of wood would need to be up to the stress. I don't know if tensile strength is measurable (or meaningful) when talking about wood, or if there's a toughness indicator, or if weight or grain quality make any difference.

[Mark Langner]

I have used maple and walnut for several tailpieces with no failures - some are now 13 years old. Don't use the Sacconi loop, but I know of one done that way with maple that has also held up that long.