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Most mandolins come with a rather flimsy stamped tailpiece. Stamped tailpieces are generally made from brass and then plated with either nickel or gold. This is the traditional style, and due to tradition, they still exist even on high end mandolins. As of late we are starting to see more mandolins coming from the maker with a nice cast tailpiece.  This is great!  A cast tailpiece is typically solid bronze. These are much heavier than a traditional stamped tailpiece and normally have open access for string changes.

Adding a cast tailpiece to your mandolin is one of the best upgrades you can make. You will get increased sustain, more volume and improved clarity. All this while improving the looks of the mandolin and making it much easier to change strings.

There are two sides to the great mandolin tailpiece debate. Not only do players disagree, but even the makers themselves fall on both sides of the coin. Naturally, some players do prefer the stamped mandolin tailpiece.