My experience.
I resisted changing any original parts on my '01 Gibson Sam Bush 5 for a couple of years, remembering Randy Wood's advice to me many years ago: "leave 'em the way you find 'em". But the original tailpiece had tarnished badly over time and Gibson wanted over $100 for the replacement which is made of stamped metal. They didn't consider that I am the original buyer or that there was a lifetime parts warranty (normal wear ??). So I took the leap of faith and bought a James tailpiece in gold from Red Line Acoustics through Reverb.com. I installed it myself in about 30 minutes - it was really easy with a Phillips screw driver to remove the old screws and flat-head for the new ones. The holes lined up perfectly. After the install, I detected a noticeable volume increase. Maybe it's due to the new strings, but I don't think so. There's a noticeable increase in sustain too. Whether that's a good thing is obviously a personal choice. There is indeed a tonal difference - but the jury is still out on that subject until the new strings wear in. I'm not sure if the tonal change is due to new strings and the increase in sustain, or the tailpiece. Overall I have no regrets so far. I certainly wont put the original back on.
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