Silent Coated Springs…fodder?

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nevusofota

nevusofota

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In the never ending quest for sustain and “tone”, players using vibrato bridges look at every part of the guitar, most notably the bridge, to upgrade. Big sustain blocks, brass or titanium string retaining blocks, bigger brass spring claws, brass claw screws, titanium saddles, etc, etc. And what do many of these players top all this off with? Coated springs that deaden the propagation of vibrations and work directly against the benefits of all the other upgrades.
I understand that in some studio somewhere there is a high gain staccato track that’s tarnished by the reverberation of the trem springs. But I’ve been playing Floyd’s through high gain high volume amps for decades and can say without hesitation that spring noise has never been an issue….at least not enough to warrant the need to go against the number one rule of stringed instruments…to use materials that most efficiently transmit vibrations. Maybe if I ever did find myself in this type of recording quandary I would then just temporarily stick a rag in the trem route.
Not trying to be a dick but it’s one aspect of the guitar upgrade market that I’ve never understood or bought into.
Discuss…..or not
 
nevusofota said:
In the never ending quest for sustain and “tone”, players using vibrato bridges look at every part of the guitar, most notably the bridge, to upgrade. Big sustain blocks, brass or titanium string retaining blocks, bigger brass spring claws, brass claw screws, titanium saddles, etc, etc. And what do many of these players top all this off with? Coated springs that deaden the propagation of vibrations and work directly against the benefits of all the other upgrades.
I understand that in some studio somewhere there is a high gain staccato track that’s tarnished by the reverberation of the trem springs. But I’ve been playing Floyd’s through high gain high volume amps for decades and can say without hesitation that spring noise has never been an issue….at least not enough to warrant the need to go against the number one rule of stringed instruments…to use materials that most efficiently transmit vibrations. Maybe if I ever did find myself in this type of recording quandary I would then just temporarily stick a rag in the trem route.
Not trying to be a dick but it’s one aspect of the guitar upgrade market that I’ve never understood or bought into.
Discuss…..or not
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Agree 100%.

I mostly play Floyd guitars, and have never ever heard anything that warranted silent 'coated' trem springs. I have noticed a BIG difference when I've used Brass, or Ti blocks...and, Ti saddles/lock blocks, screws etc.
But never needed silent springs.
 
I had to have silent springs on my custom M-II with a brass block. I tuned it with 11’s in D standard and on palm mutes the springs would ring out like reverb. Silent coated springs fixed it. Never had another floating trem guitar need them but that one definitely did.
 
This is kind of why you have some stock models of strats or guitars that come without a cover for the back. You just have the body dampen the springs or either way one can put a bit of electrical tape over the springs or add whatever into the springs.

I like a little bit of that spring ping and don't apply too much electrical tape over the springs and just apply enough so it's there but doesn't feedback or screech. One strip of tape over all the springs is enough for me with a bit of slack between the springs, sometimes two but one usually does it.
 
glpg80 said:
I had to have silent springs on my custom M-II with a brass block. I tuned it with 11’s in D standard and on palm mutes the springs would ring out like reverb. Silent coated springs fixed it. Never had another floating trem guitar need them but that one definitely did.
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Did it have excessive spring noise when the Floyd was stock?
 
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thegame said:
Coated springs eliminate the reverb like pinging sound from traditional springs. They work and don't deaden the sound or negate other Floyd related upgrade part material substitutions at all.
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The physics of it says they do deaden the sound. It’s like grabbing a ringing pitch fork.
 
thegame said:
Yeah, the annoying pinging sound. That's the point. Not the fundamental or harmonic content of the notes.
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Sustain has to be compromised at some level. I must be lucky or just not sensitive to the ping frequency because I don’t hear it.
 
nevusofota said:
Sustain has to be compromised at some level. I must be lucky or just not sensitive to the ping frequency because I don’t hear it.
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Really? It HAS to be? It seems you're scrambling to find 'evidence' for a preconceived conclusion.
 
thegame said:
Really? It HAS to be? It seems you're scrambling to find 'evidence' for a preconceived conclusion.
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You’ve already experienced the “evidence”. This “ping” you speak of is being muffled by plastic dampening the vibrations of the spring.
 
nevusofota said:
You’ve already experienced the “evidence”. This “ping” you speak of is being muffled by plastic dampening the vibrations of the spring.
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I don’t know what else to tell you. Just spend the whopping $25 and find out yourself.
 
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