BackPlaque™ Hole Cover Trim Plate for Gibson ES-335 ES-345 Trapeze Tailpiece Stoptail Conversion

Introducing the BackPlaque™! After decades of being irked by those ugly holes on the end of my ES-335 and ES-345 guitars that had been converted from trapeze tailpieces to stoptails, I finally did something about it and designed and produced these attractive plates to turn something unsightly into something pretty cool.

These trim plates are made in the USA out of 3-ply material with the center layer being a slightly-aged-looking parchment color rather than bright white so as to better match your old pickguard, and they come with two sets of gently aged, era-correct-style nickel-plated screws; a pair of #5s and a pair of #6s (gold screws for an ES-345 upon request), so you can use the smallest screws that hold tight in your guitar (you see how much I’ve overthought this?).

There are two versions available: The regular version has three holes — two for screws and one for the strap peg — with all three holes in the factory-original locations for a trapeze tailpiece, and with the holes being slightly oversized to account for small variations. HOWEVER! A fair number of these converted guitars seem to now have the strap peg in a non-standard location (more towards the center of the side of the guitar, probably for better balance), so I also have plates available with just the two screw holes so you can drill your own strap peg hole and get a perfect fit. Let me know which version you want when ordering (Is there a way to do that? Let’s hope so!).

This plate also serves a vital sonic function: Tone will no longer leak out of all the holes on the bottom of the guitar when you raise the headstock. You’ll notice you never see BB King with open holes in his guitar (anywhere, come to think of it); the man knew what he was doing.