I recently acquired this tailpiece on a Vega Whyte Laydie plectrum banjo. It is definitely a pre-war Presto, but it is chrome plated. The hanger bolt isn’t original and some filing was done to the back, however, this filing was done post plating. I’ve never seen a chrome pre war presto. Has anyone seen one or have any thoughts as to weather this is original plating or not? Thank you!
Edited by - Karl Smakula on 06/07/2026 18:33:20
It looks original to me. Your dad would probably know as well as anyone else would. Chrome plating was rare in the prewar years, but it was done to some parts. Grover supplied parts to Gibson and Vega, as well as several other makers. The Gibson RB4 was chrome plated, and so were some of the Vega Vox models If I remember correctly. It's entirely possible that this was chrome plated from the beginning.
I have seen at least 2 chrome plated prewar presto tailpieces in the past (and that's in a time period of probably 40 to 45 years!) - I also have no doubt that at least those 2 were in fact original. This is probably the rarest of all the prewar Grover tailpieces that might be seen.
Edited by - GStump on 06/07/2026 07:12:59
The prewar Gibson Style 4 came in both the two piece flange, and later one piece flange. (I recall there are 4 or 5 tpf FON series that had chrome hardware -- I own one of the examples).
While the one piece flange later Style 4 was cataloged with a chrome plated "eagle claw" or "clamshell" tailpiece, my TB 4 has a chrome plated 4 string Presto just like the nickel plated tpf Style 4s had a Presto in the catalog. Just as shown in the photos above.
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