View Full Version : Modern "Loar" Tailpiece Cover Quality
goaty76
Jul-23-2015, 7:52am
David Harvey just posted some pics of a new F-5 facebook. Here is the tailpiece cover from it.
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How does this look compared to an original Loar cover? If you put it on an actual Loar would it stick out like a sore thumb or do you think it might take some thought on whether it's original or not?
Phil
There are some differences but the current Harvey version is nice to me. Even the Loar original tail pieces varied since they were hand engraved.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3948/15058408123_04268aec25_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oWEh7g)72055_tailpiece_1 (https://flic.kr/p/oWEh7g) by f5joep (https://www.flickr.com/photos/25046653@N04/), on Flickr
MikeEdgerton
Jul-23-2015, 8:19am
I have to look at my TP cover on my 2005 Gibson when I get home. I think it looks pretty much like the one in the original post.
Ken Waltham
Jul-23-2015, 8:21am
They certainly are reproductions, and to me, do not look right at all. However, they are just that, reproductions, so, perhaps it isn't that big of a deal.
A better option is to get your jeweler to make one. I have done this in the past, using German nickel silver antique cigarette cases for flat stock. Those will make you scratch your head....
MikeEdgerton
Jul-23-2015, 8:58am
The point I was making is that the new "Loar" model TP cover appears to be the standard Gibson TP cover on their higher end mandolins for the last several years. Ken's way of creating a new "old" TP cover is not unlike others using the blank pages of old books to create new "Old" labels. That would be the preferred method of making a real copy in my book. Use old materials to duplicate old items.
The new Gibson TP covers are very nice by the way they just aren't the same as the old ones.