been reading up on titanium floyds a bit, now, they do make all titanium floyds, and offer replacement saddles, but by and large it's the blocks that are titanium.
Just found a review of some of floyd upgrades sustain blocks, but the titanium one read like this. (from guitar world)
"Titanium is prized for its light weight and incredible strength. Reiver also discovered that when the highest grade of this metal is used with an undisclosed alloy, it has unique resonant qualities. Although top-shelf titanium is fairly expensive, it has outstanding sonic benefits. The Titanium block I tested approximately doubled the guitar’s sustain, and the entire frequency spectrum became more intense. Note definition and focus were vastly improved, and previously unheard overtones gushed through the speakers. Upper frequencies in particular were intoxicatingly effervescent, with no loss of midrange punch or low-end power."
When i see language like this and also "exotic overtones" i simply think
bo****ks
sorry, but thats just the effect b******t has on me....
they do tungsten blocks now too
think this is floydupgrades as well, but their own marketing spraff
""Our exclusive tungsten sustain blocks for Floyd Rose tremolo bridges offer the highest density available in block that conforms to the original size specifications of your Floyd Rose bridge. When it comes to sustain, the single most important property of a metal is density followed by hardness. Tungsten is over 4 times denser than titanium and more than twice as dense as brass. To equal the mass of our tungsten sustain block, you would need a titanium block 4 times the size and a brass block double the dimensions of our tungsten block. Most standard tremolo spring cavities simply aren't large enough to accommodate bulky sustain blocks sold by other companies. Ours is a direct replacement for the stock sustain block adding up to a half pound of mass to your bridge.
Why are density and mass important to sound and sustain? A fixed guitar bridge efficiently transmits string vibration from the bridge to the body through a large contact area but tremolo bridges are limited by a few very small attachment points. A great deal of resonance is lost to the bridge through the tremolo springs because the springs absorb and dissipate vibration very well. This is one of the reasons expensive studio microphones are suspend by springs to isolate external vibrations. A high density sustain block means greater inertia which means less string vibration transmitted to the springs and more in the bridge where it belongs.
Soft metals absorb sound and cancel sustain. Tungsten is much harder than steel and titanium and over twice as hard as brass. No other metal offers the perfect combination of mass and hardness.
With our tungsten sustain block, every note will be brighter with a significant increase in clarity and sustain."
They've started off with the misconception that more of something equals better (by their reasoning a nicely polished block of granite should make a good sustain block) then went on to misunderstand what inertia is (resistance to deflection or deceleration by an object moving in a straight line with constant speed) and finished it off by saying their own other highly priced sustain block is basically rubbish (titanium is less wear resistant and softer than steel, ever wonder why you don't see many titanium knives? so by their reasoning, it should be the least effective of their products). If soft = dampening properties then why do people use brass at all? hardness is not directly related to density. density is a more determinant factor in transmission of energy eg why a mine exploding underwater is much more damaging than in air. Glass is extremely hard (resistance to deformation and also resistance to wear) but will shatter reasonably easily.
gah...
Rant over..
