The little metal ones change the balance and arguably the sound of the setup--especially if you have a dog's breakfast of different fine tuners on your fiddle. And despite the convenience, they're one--or four--more things that can screw up.

But I swear by the tailpiece with built-in fine tuners. For about thirty bucks you have all of the convenience and almost none of the drawbacks. (except you have to remember to loosen them all off once in awhile so the piece of metal at the bottom doesn't end up hitting the fiddle top and buzzing horribly.)

W-O