Gibson Tailpiece Experts; I could use your eyes

[telephone]

I just picked up a '51 ES-175. It has a, presumably, gold replacement tailpiece. Seller says it was on the guitar when the PO purchased it in 1980. The machining looks like other vintage Gibson tailpieces I've seen. There is a stamp on the underside that looks kinda like JB. Anybody know the origin?

[Will Box]

Absolutely no expert here, but that tailpiece looks exactly like the tailpiece on my 1947 L7. (Minus gold plating).

[Hammertone]

That looks like an old Gibson tailpiece to me. If it has been on the guitar since 1980 or earlier, it's the real thing, as used on the post-war L-12, ES-5 and ES-350. Here are a couple of real Gibson tailpieces, as used on various post-war archtops.

[telephone]

Thanks for the responses. Since posting, I found a sold listing for a similar tailpiece on Reverb that had the same stamp.

The plating on this one is rather bright compared to most of the others I’ve seen. Has me wondering if it was re-plated or just a well preserved example. Opinions?

[omphalopsychos]

Take a picture of the hinge from the side. The originals do not wrap around and connect. Replicas do.

original:


replica:

[telephone]

Take a picture of the hinge from the side. The originals do not wrap around and connect. Replicas do.

I had one of those replicas on my old 350. This one is definitely original.