O.K. , gang......What the hell is this thing ?

[thefishinmusician]

Got this Taylor in for some work....They asked me to remove it....What is it ?

[Thomas James]

Looks like an arm for a string mute?  Look at almost any photo of George Van Eps.

[Ned Knepp]

This is a new one on me but I did a search and found this. 

  scroll down to the bottom of that page and you will find two pictures of this arm with the dampener attached to the end. It makes sense when you see the whole thing. 

[harrison phipps]

It is the arm on a string dampener with the dampener part missing. When engaged, it pushes a felt or leather piece against the strings between the nut and first fret. Its used mostly by jazz players who move around the neck quickly and do not want the last note interfering with the next note

[thefishinmusician]

Damper it is !

[Paul Verticchio]

This device was invented by jazz great Jim Hall, if I remember correctly. I remember seeing it on his ES-175 when he was in the house band on the Merv Griffin Show in the 1970's.

It is usually seen on jazz boxes. I've never seen one on a flat top. Different strokes for different folks. It's a benign device when not in use.

[David Collins]

One of our repair techs is a professional jazz player, and has the old 50's Van Epps versions on at least two of his guitars (just had to rebuild the spring/ball detent on one a few weeks ago). The tuner mount version isn't nearly as cool, but is less invasive and gets the job done if you need one. ;)

[Donald A. Fortune]

That thing doesn't look fimilar to me but my wife would call it a thingy---

[Kerry Krishna]

 This is pretty interesting timing. Jim Hall just died a few days ago...

 Jim Hall Dies

[Jelle van Tilburg]

Looks like one of these..  

 

The ultimate way to protect your guitar!

[RETROROD]

Bwaha-Ha-ha!!!

I would have to protect my guitar headstock fron a contraption like that also.....yikes!

[Mark Pollock]

A kickstand for after a nice afternoon ride on your guitar?