I don't have a signed Loar, but I've seen a lot of TP cover wear caused just from being carried around in a case. The cloth on the inside case lid in contact with the tailpiece, combined with years of vibration caused by carrying by hand, by car, by aircraft, by train, etc... This combined with a little bit of aged fine dust, sand or dirt can turn that soft fuzzy cloth into fine sandpaper which has worn the plating of a whole lot of tailpieces.
I'd agree with Timbofood though, your work is showing great progress Spruce. If I had a Loar with a missing TP cover I'd be watching this thread pretty carefully.
Might benefit from a little custom hand touch-up pretty soon. Bicycle chain?
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