#1
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Identify Tailpiece 1931 Gibson L-4?
I purchased an oddball 1931 L-4 last year and am wondering where the tailpiece came from. It has DOUBLE parallelogram design, which I cannot find any record of online.
The guitar itself has a label serial number of "L-4 / 88627", which indicates 1929, and a FON of "274", which indicates early 1930's. It has an F-hole top, curiously. I've heard that 10% of instruments that left the Gibson factory during this period were "odd", so this is probably one of them. Can anyone help me identify this tailpiece? |
#2
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this 1939 L12 has the same tailpiece. https://www.vintageandrare.com/produ...04#prettyPhoto
When the tailpiece base has the exact same hole as the end pin, you know it's the original tailpiece, as a rule. Yours does. https://www.vintageandrare.com/uploa...jpg?1580741340
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Brian Evans Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia. |
#3
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Thank you!
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#4
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Quote:
IME the first tailpieces with the parallelogram design on the crossbar didn't appear until the mid/late-30's, with the appearance of the double-parallelogram fingerboard inlay as illustrated on the link to the '39 L-12; from what I've seen they enjoyed a relatively brief lifespan, giving way to the heavier design that would characterize the postwar L-12/L-7/ES-175. As archtop rim depth was fairly standard at 3-3/8" during those years, it's not surprising that a tailpiece intended for a Gibson would have an endpin hole that matched up to an existing guitar... There's also the possibility, given the incongruity between the serial and factory-order numbers, that the instrument in question may have been assembled/finished on a leftover platform, after the final transition to f-holes on the L-4 (had more of the original top finish been visible it might be easier to make a determination); according to at least one source I've read a number of unsold early-Depression-era models (including several examples of the Style O) were discovered in the Gibson warehouse, finished where necessary, and dumped on the market on the eve of WW II - and if this is one of them the tailpiece would in fact be original... Don't you just love this stuff...?
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"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool" - Sicilian proverb (paraphrased) |
#5
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Quote:
Also, my guitar has an oddly high fretboard at the neck joint, and almost no neck "angle" at all. The strings are nearly "parallel" to the top, if you can imagine anything being parallel to an arched top. The string height at the bridge is only about 5/8", and the bridge itself has obviously been whittled down to fit. It could be that this instrument was assembled, perhaps experimentally or carelessly or by a junior craftsman, around 1931-ish, deemed unfit to ship, and thrown in the back of the warehouse. Last edited by acutchin; 02-03-2020 at 03:27 PM. |
#6
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Quote:
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"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool" - Sicilian proverb (paraphrased) |
#7
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Quote:
https://www.archtop.com/ac_41L4.html
__________________
"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool" - Sicilian proverb (paraphrased) |