Tailpiece for L-12

[doc w]

My L-12 is still in the mail so to speak, held up by CITES. I am hopeful that it will be here relatively soon.

In the meantime, I want to get a fancier tailpiece for it. I don't think that mine has the original tailpiece and I am not even sure what that tailpiece might be. It would have been great to get that gorgeous L-12 art deco tailpiece but they didn't appear until 1937 and mine is a 1935 or 1936. I have been advised by experts that such a tailpiece never turns up unless there is a guitar attached to it. They are extremely rare, perhaps even unobtanium. I think that the next prettiest one might be the one with the three raised paralellograms.

In any case, I don't even know where to look for such a part. Any suggestions on what might work and where to find it?

In the meantime, a friend has loaned me his L-50 archtop. I have never really played archtops so I have nothing to compare, but this L-50, while very modest, is a really nice guitar and plays really well.

[nopedals]

Picture? If it is original I would leave it alone.

[Hammertone]

I am aware of four versions of the L-12 tailpiece, as shown below. All were gold-plated.

1 - upper left - original version - standard tailpiece with no special markings, used on several Gibson archtops in the '20s and early '30s in gold-plated and nickel-plated versions;

2 - lower left - second version - custom crossbar showing double trapezoids to echo the fretboard inlays; I have seen L-7 nickel-plated tailpieces like this with a different custom crossbar.

3 - upper right - third version - custom tailpiece with crossbar showing double trapezoids to echo the fretboard inlays; the L-10 used a nickel-plated tailpiece like this with a different pattern brazed onto the crossbar to echo L-10 fretboard inlays.

4 - lower right - fourth version - tailpiece with crossbar showing three trapezoids. This is the standard post-war tailpiece for several Gibson archtops, including the L-12, ES-5 & ES-350 in gold-plate, and the L-7, L-4C, ES-300 & ES-175 in nickel-plate.

[KirkP]

If you’ll google the following:

site:www.archtop.com L-12 - Google Search

You’ll see a few L-12s of different years including descriptions of tailpieces and whether they are original. I vote for keeping it original unless there is something functionally wrong with it.

[Jabberwocky]

I have a 1947 L12 with the goldplated tailpiece in the lower right of Hammertone's photo montage.

[doc w]

Thanks for all the input. I don't make any big decisions until I actually have the guitar in my hands. I like the idea of going all original but this guitar is not a top-grade collectibile. If it was, I couldn't afford it. It is pretty beat up cosmetically. I think I got a good deal because it has been play a LOT.

L-12's of this vintage are pretty classy with that beautiful art deco inlay in the headstock and double parallelogram fret markers but the tailpiece on L-12's from this year is pretty drab. I may tart it up with the tailpiece Hammer has on the lower right. Archtop.com appears to have repros for sale.

[Jabberwocky]

doc, the repros won't look right. Too shiny and often chromeplated, not nickelplated, and definitely not goldplated. If needs must, go for the single diamond crossbar AB Müller ES-150 tailpiece in goldplate, if you can find it.

[doc w]

doc, the repros won't look right. Too shiny and often chromeplated, not nickelplated, and definitely not goldplated. If needs must, go for the single diamond crossbar AB Müller ES-150 tailpiece in goldplate, if you can find it.

Have you seen the ones Joe has at archtop.com? Look at the one with the three parallelograms in antique gold. I checked out AB Muller and it looks very good too but I can't seem to the one you suggest in gold. Also, it looks like they are out of stock anyway.

ac accessories

[Hammertone]

For some reason, this style is being produced in China these days. Not sure if all of these are the same, or if there are several makers. I can't speak to the quality of these, but here are a few listings:

Bridge Tailpiece Birdland Gold Style for Archtop Guitar 6 String Instrument | eBay
MagiDeal Bass Jazz Trapeze Bridge Tailpiece for 6 String Archtop Guitar Gold | eBay
Fine Quality 6 String Jazz Archtop Guitar Trapeze Tailpiece neck New Pro S9B8 | eBay
Gold 6 String Trapeze Tailpiece Hollowbody for Archtop/ Bass Jazz Guitar | eBay
Gold 6 String Trapeze Tailpiece Hollowbody for Archtop/ Bass Jazz Guitar | eBay

I think the standard Allparts Gibson "diamond" trapeze tailpiece is made in Japan or by ABM in Germany:
Here it is in gold-plate:
https://www.allparts.com/collections...18579895681081

If it's available from ABM , the Model is 1504g (for gold-plated).

Advanced Plating makes them for Gibson as well - not sure if they sell them separately. Not sure if Gibson sells them through their dealer network.

[doc w]

I have looked at quite a few now and I have found an enourmous price difference. Most of them I found were around 20 bucks but the ones Joe sells at archtop.com and the ones made by ABM in German were much more expensive.

Archtop.com sells the one with the three parallelograms for USD 199 in antique gold and, at least in the photo, it looked really good. It's not that I like to spend more money just for fun, but I trust Joe in these things. He has seen an archtop or two.

The only one I could find at ABM was a nickel-plated version with one raised diamond for USD 136 but it was not antiqued. ABM proudly states that they make these out of the correct bell brass. These are out of stock at the moment but I expect that they will be back again.

I get the impression that the cheaper ones are made of some kind of zinc alloy whereas the more expensive ones are bell brass. In any case, this is all speculation and research until I get that guitar in my hot little hands. I have received acknowledgement for my request for a permit from CITES in both the US and Canada. Things are moving along!

Thanks for the help.