Tailpiece Problem on Epiphone SG

It really shouldn't do that no matter what sort of strings you have. It almost looks as though, if you were to take the strings and the tail piece off - and leave just the bolt in there - you could rock the whole thing back and forth and remove it, doesn't it?

The first thing I'd do is to see if the stud is loose enough to do that. If it comes out, you might be able to put a small amount of epoxy or wood glue in the hole and then tap the stud back in with a padded hammer or something else that's covered with cloth or felt that won't marr the finish of the stud.

Let it dry a day or two and then put the tailpiece back on and string it up.

If the stud(s) aren't loose enough to easily pull out, you might just tap them back in till they're flat to the body again.

Perhaps a guitar repair person will answer and give you better advice, but for now, that's all I can come up with.

Best regards.

Well, Ive talked to a few of my friends who are decent guitar techs and they have confirmed my hunch that this is a very strange occurance indeed and that a guitar of this quality basically never has this happen. After class today I am going to bring it back to the shop and basically demand in the a polite but firm tone that they fix the thing straight up as I beleive this to be a fault in the manufacturing or materials since I use normal strings (.011 - .049) and keep it in a hard shell case or on a stand.

It both really crappy and suspicious that the guitar is less than a month out of the standard store warranty policy and it suddenly, literally begins tearing itself apart.

Ive taken pretty much all the tension out the strings in the interim until I can get it to the store later tonight.

Thanks for your help guys.

Wow, that doesn't look good and I would definitely take it to a shop and see what gives.

I can envision if this problem gets worse that the entire bridge could rip right out and leave a huge mess.

Good luck getting that fixed. Please keep us up to date on your progress.

Yah, I've been playing guitars of various sorts for about 30 years and haven't seen anything like that. The shop/store should do something about it, and if they tell you you're just a beginner and stuff like this happens, have them post on this thread and I'm sure there's way more than enough experienced guitarists here to set them straight on this.

Good luck!

So I went to the store today and the fellow at the front desk sent me to the technician. He took a look at it and basically said that he'd pull it out, re-epoxy it, and reinstall it. Too bad on the warranty he said - repairs come out of his own pocket and after the 12 month store warranty he has to charge me for it. At least $50 (he said he'd try to keep the cost down) but when I considered $50 he also said it might be more. He also said that there is some risk of chipping the enamel, etc. so in the end I took the guitar back home to think about what to do next. I did stop at the front desk first, however, and told him that tech said that he didn't think it would come out and I could just keep on using it. Does anybody agree? Should I expect this to stop in its tracks? He also said I could or should contact Epiphone to find out if they have any manufacturers warranty so I've sent them an email and the photo already.

Thanks for your help

Rick

It is strange, and in the absence of any physical trauma, I would say it's a material (body) or assembly (drilling) defect. Don't send Epi pictures, send them a link to this thread you've created on this "modestly public" website. You know: It's that website for guitar players that also happens to serve the very market to which Epi sells. If it's possible to get attention, that should do it.

BTW, epoxying the studs back into position is one way to fix this, but it is a "one-way" operation -- if it is screwed up: finito! The studs are usually just press fit into the holes -- no glue.

If the inserts come out easily, pull them straight up and out, then coat the knurled part with one or two coats of superglue and let it dry overnight. (the knurled part is the toothed outside edge that holds the insert in the wood)

After it has dried overnight, use a padded C-clamp to push it back into place.

The general idea is to increase the size of the insert slightly and the superglue will be hard enough to keep your tone and not screw up the body.

The other alternative is to fill the hole with a hardwood dowel and re-drill, not exactly an easy thing.

By the way,epoxy should be the last thing to consider in doing repairs,One,it usually doesn't set up hard enough, and two, it is almost impossible to remove if you screw up. With superglue, you can clean up with acetone or nail polish remover. (not the kind that has hand lotion or moisturizer in it).

I think that Stew-mac also has oversized inserts, at least they used too.

If the inserts come out easily, pull them straight up and out, then coat the knurled part with one or two coats of superglue and let it dry overnight. (the knurled part is the toothed outside edge that holds the insert in the wood)

After it has dried overnight, use a padded C-clamp to push it back into place.

The general idea is to increase the size of the insert slightly and the superglue will be hard enough to keep your tone and not screw up the body.

The other alternative is to fill the hole with a hardwood dowel and re-drill, not exactly an easy thing.

By the way,epoxy should be the last thing to consider in doing repairs,One,it usually doesn't set up hard enough, and two, it is almost impossible to remove if you screw up. With superglue, you can clean up with acetone or nail polish remover. (not the kind that has hand lotion or moisturizer in it).

I think that Stew-mac also has oversized inserts, at least they used too.

Good information!!! :D

I would very highly suggest contacting Epiphone before I did any work on this instrument. They have a limited lifetime warranty which will certianly cover this obvious defect as long as the guitar was purchased from an authorized Epihone dealer. Here is a link to the warranty terms on the Epiphone site. Yes, you may lose the guitar for a little while, but that is much better than shelling out money to repair it or worse yet, having to buy a new instument if the repairs fail and the warranty ends up voided because of it. Here is that link ... http://www.gibson.com/products/epiphone/warranty/warranty.html

This is the best advice in this case. It looks like a defect, and Epi should fix it. I you choose to work on this particular problem, any gluing, doweling/redrilling or similar will be obvious and any warranty voided.

Another note on gluing: You may very likely screw up the string grounding if you coat the inserts in any glue. The ground wire makes contact through one of the stud inserts, and it's only a pressure contact. If you insulate the insert with glue, that ground contact will be broken => hummmmm!

I have a strat with a 2 point trem that rests on 2 studs, sort of like a stop tailpiece. The studs started to pull out of the wood just like yours, and I think the reason was that the wood that the guitar body is made of is very soft. (I learned this when I refinished the guitar)
I ended up fixing it by chipping out some of the soft wood around the stud, and filling it with really really hard, expensive epoxy. (Tried cheap stuff first, and it didn't work) It doesn't look the best(which is ok because it matches the rest of the guitar), but it worked very well. The stud moved a tiny bit when I first put tension on it, but hasn't moved since.

Thanks very much for all the advice guys.

Ive been pretty busy with school since this is end of semester cruch time right now so I have only gotten as far as getting the contact information for the Gibson / Epiphone headoffice / distributor for Canada. The shop I got the guitar from is an official Epiphone dealer but they are doing precious little to help me out. (Will not be buying from them again!)

I dont think that I am going to try to attempt to repair it myself, I only have limited wood working skills, being more of a computer guy. Hopefully in a week or two once holiday break is upon us I will be able to work through the run-around that warranty process is likely to become.

Right now it appears to have stopped moving and is playing fine. Hopefully updates to come soon.

Thanks again.

Rick

Hi Rick,

I recently bought 2 Epiphone SG G-400 (OK one too many, my fault, anyway...) and after your post I decided to have a look at my SGs tailpieces. So one of them is fine (bought it from Thomann.de) but the other one has the same problem with the stubs (bought from DolphinMusic.co.uk). I had an Epiphone LesPaul Special Model which had a similar tailpiece, I don't remember it had that problem; I can't check though because I sold it recently.

I don't think the tailpiece will come off ever, and if I didn't see your post I wouldn't have noticed. Still I will contact DolphinMusic on this matter, they should refund or replace the guitar.

Cheers,
Felipe

Well, the saga of the Epi SG has come to a close for me.

Got some Christmas money and for a trade plus a little cash I've picked up a vintage Squier Telecaster. Normally I wouldnt have even considered a Squier but after doing some research the serial number ( first SQ series ) dates it to about 1982-1983. From what Ive read the guitars coming out of Japan were very decent back then. The tele Ive got is no exception. Plays like a dream and Im loving the tele tone so far.

Thanks again for all the help

cheers

ps. i can post pics if people are interested, or maybe even an audio sample

Well, the saga of the Epi SG has come to a close for me.

Got some Christmas money and for a trade plus a little cash I've picked up a vintage Squier Telecaster. Normally I wouldnt have even considered a Squier but after doing some research the serial number ( first SQ series ) dates it to about 1982-1983. From what Ive read the guitars coming out of Japan were very decent back then. The tele Ive got is no exception. Plays like a dream and Im loving the tele tone so far.

Thanks again for all the help

cheers

ps. i can post pics if people are interested, or maybe even an audio sample That goes without saying. :D

Congrats on your solution. :wink: