Thin eared '54 wraptail?

Indiana Erick · Apr 8, 2009

Something came through today that I have never seen before, a very thin eared wraptail on a '54 GT.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3324/3424112757_47ea453efd_b.jpg
Were these the first versions of this bridge?

MapleFlame · Apr 8, 2009

Indiana Erick said:
Something came through today that I have never seen before, a very thin eared wraptail on a '54 GT.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3324/3424112757_47ea453efd_b.jpg
Were these the first versions of this bridge?

These were used on the first 53 wraptails. The neck angle was not quite fixed at that point, so the only way to have travel to get good string distance was to have the thin eared wraptails to compensate.

The picture of the guitar you showed looks to be able to handle a larger version. ie... space between the body and wrap ears.

Does the guitar in question have a 4 XXXX serial.

sunburst1 · Apr 8, 2009

MapleFlame said:
These were used on the first 53 wraptails. The neck angle was not quite fixed at that point, so the only way to have travel to get good string distance was to have the thin eared wraptails to compensate.

The picture of the guitar you showed looks to be able to handle a larger version. ie... space between the body and wrap ears.

Does the guitar in question have a 4 XXXX serial.

The thinner bridge was used well into '54 , IMO. :jim

Indiana Erick · Apr 8, 2009

Thanks for the info, it does sit high off the body and is leaning really bad. It has a 4 2xxx serial.

Rev.WillieVK · Apr 8, 2009

sunburst1 said:
The thinner bridge was used well into '54 , IMO. :jim

And on Juniors well into '55.

cjp54 · Apr 8, 2009

I have an unmarked 53 or 54 les paul that came with the thin eared tail piece and has the later 54 neck angle. It has plenty of room for a thicker eared wrap tail piece. I may be wrong but I think that the bridge inserts that go into the body are shorter for the thinner wrap tail bridge. This may be part of the reason that the earlier bridges lean forward more easily. I'll be removing my original inserts soon and will post my results as my bridge is leaning slightly forward also.

Another thought. Do you have the correct posts for the thinner bridge? If you are using the thinner bridge with the wider bridge posts you're bridge will appear to be leaning forward.

MapleFlame · Apr 8, 2009

Indiana Erick said:
Thanks for the info, it does sit high off the body and is leaning really bad. It has a 4 2xxx serial.

Shorter stud inserts were used up into 56. Without the longer one's, they typically started to lean forward from lack of support.

MapleFlame · Apr 8, 2009

sunburst1 said:
The thinner bridge was used well into '54 , IMO. :jim

True, but Gibson intention with the thin eared wraps were because of the low neck angle. When the neck angle on the 54 was corrected I am assuming they just put the thin ear one's on because they had a lot of tailpieces already made. It's really tough to say if a person put one on later in the guitars life, because it was all they had around. It's interesting that some early 54 have the regular sized one and others have the thin.

moonweasel · Apr 9, 2009

I think I randomly have some original thin ear studs (short length too). They were with some parts tossed in with a 64 MM I had back in the day.

Indiana Erick · Apr 9, 2009

This is good stuff, thanks guys!
The studs have not yet been pulled but we are are both guessing it will have the shorties.
This one has some problems.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3650/3424121337_d27cda8781_b.jpg

another shot....
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3336/3424108433_a6670d7c2c_b.jpg

Short bushings, from a '55 JR.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3365/3239981278_26ac1f2de9_b.jpg

MapleFlame · Apr 9, 2009

Take out the shorties and put some long one's in. I will bet you a P90 it even will sound better. More contact to the wood will really help it out. The maple top is starting to pull up. Also I see a tiny crack on one of the ears. That forward lean is part of that, with the tork on the set screw.

fretwire · Apr 9, 2009

The first gold plated examples for the LPC were thin ear TP's also. They showed up as late as early 1955.

kthesheep · Apr 9, 2009

Indiana Erick said:
This is good stuff, thanks guys!
The studs have not yet been pulled but we are are both guessing it will have the shorties.
This one has some problems.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3650/3424121337_d27cda8781_b.jpg

another shot....
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3336/3424108433_a6670d7c2c_b.jpg

Short bushings, from a '55 JR.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3365/3239981278_26ac1f2de9_b.jpg

Eric,
Shoot me an email.
It's not the studs that causes the leaning problems, It's the bushings for sure.

If you have original studs to fit the thin ear you won't be able to fit regular 50's long studs without the bridge ears having too much play.
The thin ear studs have a narrow collar for the bridge ears.
You will have to get longer bushings.

MikeSlub · Apr 9, 2009

Indiana Erick · Apr 9, 2009

We've got the right stuff for the repair. The short to long bushing swap is something we somewhat often perform.
Man, you guys are full of some great details. Any shots of the thin TP on a custom?

cherrick · Apr 9, 2009

Indiana Erick said:
We've got the right stuff for the repair. ...

Where is your shop?

moonweasel · Apr 9, 2009

The thin ear LPC bridge must be SOOO rare.

Indiana Erick · Apr 9, 2009

I'd love to see the LPC version. Cherrick, we're in Ohio.

RickN · Apr 10, 2009

Indiana Erick said:
I'd love to see the LPC version.

Here you go... 1955 Black Beauty.

The thin-ear stop bar ran well into 1955. I have a local customer here in the Phoenix area who owns a 100% original '55 goldtop that I authenticated when he bought it last year, and it has a thin-ear stop bar too. What a nice guitar - killer player and excellent-sounding example of a P90 goldtop. I was very envious. :wow

Here's a comparison picture I made to show the transition of the studs/bushings:

Indiana Erick · Apr 10, 2009

Thanks DV! Super cool stuff!

Thin eared '54 wraptail?

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