Extremely light and available in mirror-polished or aged finishes, and unplated raw aluminum. It is not necessary to change the existing tailpiece studss, because your existing ones can continue to be used. However, we recommend Faber’s German Steel “Vintage Style” tailpiece studs, or the best locking tailpiece studs available – the Tone-Lock™ studs, all of which are superior to the zinc alloy studs used by Gibson and most other guitar makers. In the 1950’s, Gibson used aluminum for their Les Paul tailpieces. For cost reasons, they then switched to the zinc alloy.
Zinc tailpieces are still standard hardware on all Gibson models to this day, with the exception of the Customshop line. All Gibson Style copies are also made of zinc. The aluminum tailpiece only weighs a ¼ ! of the zinc tailpieces and produce a much more refined sound.
The string vibration is transmitted voluminously and differentiated. Even played dry, the guitar sounds more “acoustic” and much more resonant. Plugged in – the sound is warmer and rounder, with more mid-range and with more overtones versus the dry and dull transmission of the zinc alloy.