Question on Sustain Blocks!

[metalcore]

Hey guys ,
have you guys tried out Brass or Titanium Sustain blocks??? by changing sustain blocks in a floyd effect the tone and sustain??

what is the theory behind the blocks ?? The Mass of the block or the Material of the block??

....

[Cuthbert]

Theoretically more mass you add, more sustain you get.

Essentially, adding mass lowers the natural frequency of resonance of a structure in mechanics of vibrations, in the first attempts of Leo Fender to build a tremolo bridge there was no block, therefore he experienced a loss of sustain, because the bridge was excited by the vibration of the strings (its natural frequency of resonance was close to the frequencies of the strings) and therefore the the mechanical energy due to the vibrations of the strings was wasted.

Of course, Leo didn't have a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, but he smelt that a bridge, to work properly and to give sustains, had to be "as solid as the rock of Gibreltar" (his words, it seems...) therefore he added the block and solved the problem.

Now, with these new blocks...the problem is...that Titanium has a lower density than steel...therefore if the dimensions of the blocks are the same the Titanium one is 40% lighter.

[metalcore]

thanks buddy for the explanation..
ill will experment on that with a Brass or More Density alloys ..

[varador]

I have a 42mm brass sustain block from FloydUpgrades.com on an OFR installed in my Model 4. It works. Good stuff. The guitar has more balls as a result. See a review here:

http://audiozone.dk/index-filer/floyd-tremolo-tips.htm#trembigblock

I pretty much agree with what is said in the above review.
Don't bother with the titanium block, brass is good enough. Titanium should only be used for its properties of extremely low malleability, not density.

[metalhead28]

It's been discussed here a few times before.
I put one in my SL2H and I feel that the difference was pretty drastic. The guitar has noticably more sustain, and just a fatter, juicier sound.
It was a very satisfying upgrade.

[Vass]

That's it, I'm putting a gold sustain block on all my trem equipped guitars.

It can't cost that much- I mean, a gold floyd is only $40 bucks or whatever more expensive than a chrome one....right?

Vass

[dg]

I've never had a chance to try one, but the reviews I've read of the Ti blocks are pretty positive. The fact that it's so light definitely seems to fly in the face of everything we've been led to believe about more mass being the end-all of good tone. My first thought was that they're so damn expensive that maybe there's some kind of "Emperor's Clothes" effect going on with buyers, but some pretty credible people say they are the real deal.

[Aaronharmon]

What bothers me about this is that we are talking about something this is easy to measure and prove/disprove we just need someone who is willing to take the measurements and fill us in. Subjective experience is one thing. Numerical evidence is much more reliable.


Any takers?

[Cuthbert]

What bothers me about this is that we are talking about something this is easy to measure and prove/disprove we just need someone who is willing to take the measurements and fill us in. Subjective experience is one thing. Numerical evidence is much more reliable.


Any takers?

I think I already explained the problem from a physical and numeric point of view, but somebody still insists that these "update" are working against the laws of physics.

Personally I think a lot of people believe they are improvements just because they're told so.

[DHardmanJr]

I put one of the L-shaped brass big blocks from floydupgrades.com in my new Charvel So Cal. It did increase the sustain and deepen the tone. It was quite a noticeable difference.

[micha]

quite interessting topic...

isn't the standart size for sustain blocks 32mm on floyds? or is it just my floyd?
I had a look into my own guitar, a 37mm block could fit in maybe, but a 42mm block would stick out of the body for sure.
are these meant for non recessed trems which should have more space under the bridge anyway, or are there different types of floyds out there?

does a 42mm block work in a recessed trem guitar?
varadors model 4 should have a recessed trem, shouldn't it?

I could imagine a centimeter more mass could do a noticeable difference, but just changing the material, keeping the size... will it be that noticeable?

I thought about giving this a try, but I'd not like to have the sustain block stickin out of the guitars body and getting in contact maybe with my own, resulting the guitar to get out of tune, you know?

[DHardmanJr]

quite interessting topic...

isn't the standart size for sustain blocks 32mm on floyds? or is it just my floyd?
I had a look into my own guitar, a 37mm block could fit in maybe, but a 42mm block would stick out of the body for sure.
are these meant for non recessed trems which should have more space under the bridge anyway, or are there different types of floyds out there?

does a 42mm block work in a recessed trem guitar?
varadors model 4 should have a recessed trem, shouldn't it?

I could imagine a centimeter more mass could do a noticeable difference, but just changing the material, keeping the size... will it be that noticeable?

I thought about giving this a try, but I'd not like to have the sustain block stickin out of the guitars body and getting in contact maybe with my own, resulting the guitar to get out of tune, you know?

They are actually fatter, so more mass overall. So, if you had a 32mm one, you'd get a 32mm one that, for example is made of brass and fatter. That's why they call them "big blocks". They are fatter and a different material ... not deeper.

But yeah, a 42mm one would stick out the back of a recessed floyd guitar too much. Sometimes a 37mm one will work for a 32mm, but best just to get the same size depth-wise as the one you already have.

I think a Model 4 would not have been recessed. Not sure though.

From what I have seen the made in germany OFRs are all the same but have a different depth of block depending on the application (recessed, or not, etc.).

[varador]

To clear things up

My Model 4 does not have a recessed trem. There is absolutely no routing in the body for the trem, hence the need for a 43mm block. The JT-6 is a trem with a 43mm block, that's just the way things are

The OFR I got off ebay originally had a 37mm block and I knew this before buying, I knew it was too small. So as a solution to this problem I got a replacement 43mm brass sustain block from floydupgrades.com, and put the two together, threw them into the guitar. No problems

The reason why I insisted on getting this OFR with the 37mm block was because other JCF members confirmed that the ebay seller was legit and so were his OFRs - "Made in Germany" is indeed marked on the baseplate. Furthermore his prices + shipping were super

[micha]

thanks for clearing that up guys!
I'm sure I will give it a try, when I got some cash on my hands again to do some experiments with...