The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

You can measure from post to post. Just rotate the post screws to where the slots are parallel to each other then measure from the center of one slot to the other. Not exact but accurate enough to tell a difference.

Even 1mm can mean the difference between the posts binding or worse cracking the top. That is if you can even slip the tail piece onto the posts at all.

Of course..............I don't have a workshop/shed sorry. I've always focused more on the playing side of things and never became much of a tinkerer/guitar tech like some of you guys and only do basic set ups on my guitars. I outsource anything beyond relief/intonation/tuners etc...... I am just doing the best I can with some very basic bits and pieces lying around here. The old wooden ruler worked better than a tape measure as at least it's not going to bend.

When I turned the screws as per Crusty's suggestion (to be honest I tried to avoid doing anything to the Prestige tailpiece initially) it does seem they are both in the vicinty of 73-74mm but they are very different screws and tailpieces - not sure if the thread/width match without dismantling. I think the only way to prove it would be to burn two new sets of strings, dismantle both and try the switch which I really don't want to do right now.......My main priority is to sort out the missing nut for the saddle screw on the PE-R80.

While researching all this I happened to stumble upon someone local who has a Thunder IIA (same tailpiece as the Prestige) and he would sell it to me for not much less than what the Prestige cost ..........can't do that right now financially but I guess that's another desperate option if someone needed a backup for a Prestige

No worries at all. I have enough info to do some digging and I have friends. . .
I'm almost willing to bet those bridges are the same post to post. I'd also not be surprised if the posts will interchange between guitars BUT not the bridges. After that, what happens between the posts is just cosmetic.

I would strongly suggest NOT playing around with your tailpiece if its showing ANY sign of failure.
Someone here is bound to have one in good shape that we could get info from or maybe one of them Westone boys. . .
I'm pretty sure they've documented everything by now, I just have trouble logging in over there.

As a side note, as I typed Westone boys I heard the tune West End Girls. . .

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

Lots of posts for sure in the Westone Forum, mostly from crying Prestige/Rainbow/Thunder III owners!
We have had more than a few well experienced luthiers and techs weigh in on the problem and to date there's no simple solution other than what's been mentioned already.

And for a time Tom Presely was a member and answered a lot of questions on a lot of topics, including mine about those awful barrel saddle bridges (!) but oddly, this design fail never came up AFAIK.

I think your hunch about the interchangeability of these stop tails is a good insight Chris, however, as I commented earlier, what can we do practically with that info? We're still dead in the water eh?

Sorry to hear you're having trouble logging in Chris. I'm still the Admin there, what can I do to help?

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"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
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At one time I had considered contracting a batch of the PE stop tails but the cost was prohibitive. If they were in great demand it might have been worth it.

Exact center to center measurements are paramount. Without this finding a suitable replacement is impossible. Most come in at about 82mm. If the center to center is off by even a MM it would be a tight fit. My R-60 measures approximately 73mm. Much narrower than a stock stop tail.

Billet aluminum might be an option but you would need access to a CNC machine.

I imagine it could be done by hand. I've been building custom motorcycles since the 80s so I'm pretty handy with a grinder and rotary file. I suspect it would look atrocious though.

http://www.therathole.org/bikes/bikes.html

I got two brass stoptails made some years ago. A friend in Shanghai had frequent orders to a local machine shop and they made copies of a 6 and a 12 string stoptail for me. The reason I placed the order was that I had an early 12 string tailpiece that collapsed under the string pull. The shop made a later version 12 string stoptail (and a 6 string one to match). I don't remember exactly, but I think I had to pay around 100 USD for each. I paid this much because I can use the 12 string side of my ST-1512 again.

Other than the ST-1512 I passed Aria guitars with that bridge/stoptail style, when either the bridge or the tailpiece needed more than a good cleaning.

Just to add to my earlier comment about one Prestige owners' solution to the broken stop tail, I found the Westone Forum post in which the current owner describes what the repair looks like.

It's a nice repair but unfortunately he couldn't identify the Ibanez part that was used. Any one here have an idea what this is?
https://westone.forumotion.com/t7250-tailpiece-replacement-for-prestige-250#65635

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"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

Isn't this that? https://reverb.com/item/65430036-ibanez ... R1EALw_wcB

Search Ibanez quick change tailpiece, there are several different styles.

Check this one: https://reverb.com/item/64685307-ibanez ... uLEALw_wcB

Also, somewhat related but not. . . https://www.armadilloguitar.com/product ... a-saddles/

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

I did find this and it indicates 76mm post spacing but I would double check at this price. Located in Germany. Not exactly cheap. Wont know if this will work until we have exact center to center measurements. Until then we are just spinning our wheels.

[EDIT] I was wrong. The Prestige spacing is 73mm so this probably won't work. Looks like the original poster found out they don't ship to the US anyway.

https://www.meinlshop.de/en/ibanez/spar ... 2tp2ja0001

This one says 73.5mm:
https://www.amazon.com/Chrome-Roller-Ta ... 169&sr=8-9

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday