<HTML>My rule of thumb on braid is that if I pluck the tail = and it goes "tnk" I don't braid, and if it goes "tnnngk" I do. Tails can act= like short, inharmonic rods, particularly in the tenor and bass; and if the= y get excited by a note or even a particular combination of notes, they can = add an unpleasant, hard to find resonance. I service a D in a dead hall. This particular one had braid unusually far up= the scale, from the factory. I undid the braid down to the bass-tenor strut= and the tone livened up and relaxed noticeably. I went one note too far, th= ough, as there is a jump in the tail length where they go on the other side = of the strut, and the howl was audible. I rebraided that one note and it is = satisfactory. Bob D </HTML>