Tailpiece replacement for Prestige 250

I have an '82 Prestige 250 with a sunburst finish and it is just about perfect but for the same fate numerous have others have experienced, a broken tailpiece

fortunately the previous owner found a solution.

the replacement tailpiece is made by Ibanez. the post anchors have been changed as well as the rest of the tailpiece because as you can see in the last two pics, they are rather unique. most of this setup looks like an intentional replacement design, except the second set of threads at the bottom of the anchor means the anchors needed to be changed as part of the whole design. so if you have to replace the anchor, why not make a simpler post to secure the tailpiece to the body? the tailpiece does not need to be height adjustable the way a bridge would be, so it seems needlessly complex. and looking at how much thread there is below the sleeve piece, there is not much adjustment available anyway.

i don't know why this thing is made this way but it works!
check it out...

i don't know if there was any need to drill for the new anchors, but i was impressed when i noticed how the top of the hole was beveled so that when removing/installing the anchors the finish does not get damaged.

according to a previous post on a different thread, from forum member Westbone, the center to center measurement for the tailpiece posts is 73mm.

i have done a bunch of searching online for this part and have come up totally empty. looking for Ibanez parts i found a website in Germany that sells something close (part #2TP2JA0001). the given measurement for the anchors is 76mm, so not really exact. >>look here<< . the newer versions of this tailpiece fit the Ibanez Artcore guitars, but it does seem to be an upgrade part, not standard. it is also not the needed spacing for the Prestige, so not of any use. another problem is that due to contracts with Ibanez they do not sell to USA, Canada, or the UK, they are quite limited in distribution.

so i don't know if this helps anybody repair their guitar, but maybe at least it is a starting place for more directed research for a solution.

Very helpful.
Thanks for taking the time to document this Mike!


p.s. I made this a "sticky" in the Technical forum so it doesn't get lost!

Interesting approach, but that part is just as elusive as the original tailpiece 
The tailpiece on my 250 has the hairline crack so it's only a matter of time before it snaps, and I've searched everywhere without success.... apart from temporary measures like using an abr-1 type bridge..... or a bloody spanner