Gibson L-5 Tailpieces?

[Flat]

Makes me wonder what happened to the L5 that came from.

[Peter Alton]

If you still want an L5 tailpiece, Antone's Guitars,( 326 Beverley Road Hull, East Yorkshire HU5 1BA .Tel: 01482 445733,ask for Phil or Dan.) have one. I know, as I worked there for about 30 years, and there was one on the tailpiece drawer. I think it was made by Ibanez, but it's the same design. I know, because I compared it to my own L5 tailpiece. There are very minor differences. They may haver sold it of course in the short time I have retired from there. Try Antonesguitars.com

[nickyboy]

All this tailpiece talk!
I ended up mailing Gibson support Europe.
Sent them proof of purchase, pics of the brown marks appearing on my tailpeice etc.
They are going to send me a replacement!

And I can keep the old one - who wants it for tenner? ;-)
only joking, they want the old one back.

[Fred Archtop]

Daniel Slaman, in The Hague (NL), should be helpful. He works with a guy, Dirk van der Meij, who prepares for him all the metalic parts for his "new vintage" models, including tailpieces for Slaman's L5, ES 150/250, Super 400/Byrdland etc. I've seen a showcase in his workshop where Daniel keeps safe all these parts, they just look gorgeous. Upon demand, these parts can be aged.

See his site here:
Vintage Tailpieces - New Vintage Guitars
and this film:

Hope this helps.

[Franz 1997]

Daniel has some great tailpieces and other parts, but last time I looked, he only sells the parts with a Slaman guitar attached...

[lawson-stone]

It sounded like a good idea at that time... Never got round to it so no harm done. Wanted a Gibson L-5CES, couldn't afford it so thought that a Epiphone Broadway Elitist made a good candidate as an ersatz L-5CES.

A concept that has sold a ton of Broadways!

Mine is a Peerless-Made but not Elitist Broadway. I just gave it a Seymour Duncan/Seth Lover in the neck spot and a Stewmac Parson Street Golden Age PAF in the bridge spot… and I can close my eyes and imagine a different name on the headstock…

[icr]

I went the "$350 for the tailpiece and get a free guitar" route.

Look-alike L-5 tailpieces are out there. Not exact but some are very similar. I knew finding a tailpiece would be the rate-limiting step of my L5 look-alike guitar. I went to Guitar center Used site and searched under "HOLLOW," sorted by "Lowest Price First," scrolled through 700 guitar pictures until I found one with this tailpiece. Turned out to be a great guitar.

[nopedals]

Mark Lacey Custom Guitars

[lawson-stone]

I went the "$350 for the tailpiece and get a free guitar" route.

Look-alike L-5 tailpieces are out there. Not exact but some are very similar. I knew finding a tailpiece would be the rate-limiting step of my L5 look-alike guitar. I went to Guitar center Used site and searched under "HOLLOW," sorted by "Lowest Price First," scrolled through 700 guitar pictures until I found one with this tailpiece. Turned out to be a great guitar.

That was seriously a clever move. I just did it myself and was blown away by the number of really fine "starter" archtops out there for less than $500. I was kinda tempted…

[lawson-stone]

I went the "$350 for the tailpiece and get a free guitar" route.

Look-alike L-5 tailpieces are out there. Not exact but some are very similar. I knew finding a tailpiece would be the rate-limiting step of my L5 look-alike guitar. I went to Guitar center Used site and searched under "HOLLOW," sorted by "Lowest Price First," scrolled through 700 guitar pictures until I found one with this tailpiece. Turned out to be a great guitar.

BTW if you search these L5 copies like the Sebring JS20, it's amazing how many do NOT have that tailpiece but a common replacement. I wonder how many people bought the guitar, pulled the tailpiece, replaced it with an Allparts copy, and re-sold the guitar?

[plasticpigeon]

If anyone wants a repro L-5 tailpiece like the one above, I have one that I would sell for a reasonable price.

[Jasper6120]

There are the odd ones that come up on eBay and the like. Since mine is on a Gibson L5 I want it to be a Gibson tailpiece or at least a very good repro. I guess I'm just going to have to spend some money.

[MaxTwang]

Re-plating the gold is the only 'repair' but you risk the color not being correct and a re-plate could de-value the guitar more than the gold wearing off.