Stone Tone Sustain Block Review

[Jeff R]

As promised, I have received a Stone Tone sustain block for an original mid-80s Floyd Rose bridge for bench testing and a review. I'm going to do this in phases, simply because it will be at least two or three installments of considerable bandwidth when it's all done properly. And quite honestly, my friends, I'm a really busy guy right now. In the time between my agreeing to do this and the arrival of the Stone Tone, my shop saw a burst of repairs fly in and I have to take care of those guys. So just be patient if it takes me a few days to complete the bench test, and thanks for understanding my dance card is kinda full right now.

Anyway, here's the first piece of the bench test for you guys.

Received the Stone Tone block and installation instructions very promptly from Robert, the Florida-based company's owner. I then disassembled the guinea pig Floyd Rose, a circa mid-80s old school Floyd in black harvested from a period Kramer, complete with the old screw-in bar assembly and wood screws (not metal screws/bushings) for fulcrum studs, to pull its original nickel-plated steel block from the assembly.

Worth noting: This is the first time I've ever pulled a block on any Floyd or Floyd-license bridge in the last 30+ years with the intention to replace it with an alternative block. I've simply been in the "if it ain't broke" camp all this time.

The old school original block (nickel plated steel) and the Stone Tone block (granite). First glance at Stone Tone: Shiny and polished reminiscent of a piece of a modern tombstone to me. Well cut by a nice type of whatever kind of machine one uses to cut granite nice and precisely. Edges are defined, the shape is all proportionate, properly "boxy" if that makes sense.

 

The first difference you notice is a copper strip and a wire soldered to it atop the Stone Tone.

That's to complete your guitar's electronics' ground circuit. Guitar Guts 101: You have to "connect" the guitar electronics to the strings to complete the circuit and subsequently make it buzz free. In a traditional electric guitar with a spring'ed fulcrum tremolo, you ground the circuit to the metal claw, which conducts (think "transfers") the circuit to the metal springs, which conducts to the metal block, which conducts to the metal bridge plate and metal saddles and ultimately the metal strings. That's the chain of conductivity. The Stone Tone block, however, is granite, a non-conductor, so that copper strip's wire serves as a circuit-completing bypass. In a nutshell, solder that wire from the copper strip to the claw to keep things buzz free.

The second thing you notice are differences in the blocks' thicknesses and weights. Robert sent me the exact replacement for my variety of Floyd Rose. Block length and width were identical. In the case of block thickness, however, the granite block is about one-third thicker than the OFR block.

I also noticed immediately that while thicker, the granite block was substantially lighter in weight than the OFR block. This caught me off guard. Not only do I not know what kind of machine cuts granite, I really don't know shit about granite in general, outside of my periodically being around shiny tombstones. 

I assumed granite was a more heavy-weight material. So I immediately delayed things until I could get the blocks to a postal scale this a.m. The results ...

Stock Floyd Rose 42mm brass core block - 5.0 oz

Stone Tone 42mm granite block - 3.2 oz

So that's where we are at for now, until I can get back in the shop, reassemble the Floyd and get it installed in the guinea pig guitar.

Summary so far: The granite block appears to be well made or more precisely, well cut. The Stone Tone block is about one-third thicker yet about one-third lighter than the Floyd's stock block.

Next installment will cover the reassembly of the Floyd with the granite block (with special attention to the screw/inserts/granite functionality and I guess we'd say effectiveness) and the supplied installation instructions, particularly my assessment of their ability to walk the average DIY'er successfully through the process.

Stay tuned.

 

 

[kizanski]

You're the muthafukkin' man, Gator.

[Jeff R]

I subbed out the Floyd's original block with the Stone Tone block this evening and installed the entire unit. For you DIY'ers: Pretty easy gig. If you're competent enough to figure out how to get to the block's three mounting screws, you can handle this. The Stone Tone block comes with a one-page instructions sheet, of which 2/3rds of it talks about the copper/wire grounding strip (see my notes above for the Cliff's Notes version). The actual installation section is just six sentences. And if you have a basic working knowledge of Floyd or fulcrum trem systems in general, the only sentence you really need is the one that tells you to face the Stone Logo toward the claw. This is so the block's spring holes are positioned properly - face it the other way and the springs will fly out of the block under string tension.

Here are some pics from the conversion:

Here's a shot of the block inserts - which held fine under tight tension - and an original Floyd block mounting screw (black) next to the Stone Tone screw (silver). Probably a non-factor, but I kinda liked a longer screw.

 

Here's the Floyd with the Stone Tone block.

One tiny gripe I had as I was doing the assembly were the attachment bolt holes through the copper strip. They were enlarged compared to the actual bolts which made absolutely parallel alignment (enough to satisfy my borderline OCD) a multi-attempt task. In Stone Tone's defense, however, slightly enlarged holes are also the case to a degree with the stock Floyd steel spacer and the fine-tuner spring plate, all of which goes between the bridge plate and the block. Took me two or three attempts to get it bolted and positioned exactly where "I" wanted it, but I'm really nitpicking here.

Also worth noting, I noticed the block slightly overlapped the spacer plate. A critic will argue that there is not 100 percent contact between the block and the inserts. But playing devil's advocate here, remember that the Stone Tone block is one-third thicker than a stock block, so you can kind of expect a little overhang due to the extra thickness. My simple understanding of physics tells me despite the tiny overhang, I'm making good solid contact and it's a larger contact surface than before.

Here's some close-ups of the fit I'm describing. Note: What appears to be a gap, "loose" or airspace on the edges are the block's slightly rolled edges. Contact felt very good, very solid to me. There was no rocking or anything leading up to the last snugs of the attachment bolts.

Instructions say you can use Loctite as a security measure if you're a "heavy bar player." Since the unit didn't require or include Loctite and since I'm not Steve Vai or Brad Gillis circa 1986, I opted not to use any.

 

 

That's enough for now.

Summary takeaway on installation: DIY'er friendly. Use the instructions if you need to and you are fine. See my notes above about copper strip, steel spacer and fine-tuner plate alignment and possible block overhang. Assembly reaffirmed my opinion that the Stone Tone block is a well-made unit. The block inserts are sufficient, just don't go absolutely ape-shit with your torque as a precaution. What I felt under my torque'ing hand told me you don't really need Loctite for this job.

The final installment tomorrow ... the test-drive.

Actually, test-drive(s).

 

[aknapp]

3 hours ago, Jeff R said:

Actually, test-drive(s).

Or, test-dive(s). 

[Jeff R]

Before I divulge the test drives (dives), I want to get the tech part out of the way. I used two test guitars that I felt were excellent candidates:

1. My "Dorothy's Slippers" ESP/Musikraft parts mutt. This guitar was a no-brainer as a guinea pig because quite honestly, it is perfect already for my ears and hands' tastes - it neither needs nor seeks anything because it was built using my 30-plus years experience as a player and my many successful and failed experiments as blueprints. It simply has no deficiencies whatsoever in my mind and even more simply put, any part or component that can successfully infiltrate this instrument on a permanent basis is something special in some way.

Neck: Circa mid-80s ESP/48th Street one-piece maple neck, vintage (chunky) profile, thin gloss finish.

Body: Very-custom ordered Musikraft. Two-piece middle-seam lightweight alder, with all dimensions and contours to original San Dimas Charvel specs. I even spec'ed the degree of the pitch in the neck pocket cup to accommodate a non-recessed wood screw Floyd without the use of any shims. I told you I'm borderline OCD with this stuff. And one of a kind paint courtesy of Stike

Floyd: Mid-80s original Floyd Rose in black, steel block, wood screw studs, harvested from a period correct Neptune, NJ-plated Kramer.

Bridge pickup: Circa early 80s double-cream Duncan JB, wound by MJ and obtained from Murkat Jay, who I think performed additional internal hoodoo enhancements but he won't confirm nor deny and I simply quit badgering him about it. Don't question excellence.

Neck pickup: James Tyler "Hot Laura"-wind true single coil w/Alnico 2 magnet.

 

2. A client and good friend's EVH "Frankenstein" parts mutt that's in the shop right now for a wiring fix, a structural modification (I direct-mounted the pickup to a custom-made wood plate I added to it) and a general TLC/wellness going over. I picked this guinea pig for two reasons. It is also a Floyd'ed bolt-on with a one-piece maple neck, but it is a basswood body. I love the tone of alder strats, hence its use in the "Dorothy's Slippers" guitar. On the the other hand, I find basswood to be a somewhat bleh-vanilla tone wood that lacks any real character, complexity or coolness. Pardon the pun, but basswood just doesn't resonate with me as a player for my personal tastes. Mike's "Frankie," oddly enough, is a lively, bouncy instrument tonally and one of the only basswood strats I've ever been around that I actually enjoy. Simply put, it's a "good" example of a platform to which I don't normally gravitate, but it's a very prevalent platform in the world of Floyded shredderdom.

  

Body: Modified unknown origin stock strat body copy, basswood construction.

Neck: Some sort of maple strat copy neck, also unconfirmed origin. Stripped finish.

Floyd: We used the same mid-80s Floyd assembly as we used on the ESP to speed the test process. The guitar normally sports an original non-fine-tuner Floyd. Fulcrum points are metal screws/body collars.

Pickup: Some mad hybrid Mike got off The Gear Page or some other cork sniffery haven. It is a hybrid of a Duncan Custom 5 coil and a Duncan '59 coil or something like that. I don't know what the hell it is other than it attempts to mimic EVH's "Fair Warning" era tone. And it does just that and quite superbly in this guitar. It is a growling, harmonic-laced screamer. It is direct mounted to the basswood body via a 1/4" three-ply wedge of plywood with a thin ebony veneer sandwiched between the ply and the pickup. I would tell you the ebony is a tonal enhancement but I used it simply to cut the time it would take for black paint to dry on the ply platform.

Here is "Frankie" with the test Floyd.

 

For amps, I used my shop amps: For cleans, a Fender Supersonic 22 combo as a head only, driving a Mesa-Boogie Recto Series 2x12 widebody vertical slant cab loaded with 75-watt and 100-watt Celestions; for grit to British glory, that same rig with only the new Bogner La Grange OD/distortion box out front; and for modern gain, a current generation Line 6 75-watt 1x12 combo, set to what I consider a very pleasant and convincing factory-dialed Boogie Dual Rectifier series simulation. With the prevalence of modeling amps among my clients and the market in general (aka, why I have one in my shop), I thought this amp would make for an interesting component within the test drives.

Now that's out of the way. The actual results and my opinion(s) next time around. Stay tuned.

 

[hamerhead]

Jeezus Jeff, if you're not writing gear reviews for somebody's magazine, you should be. I'm no Floyd guy at all and you sucked me right in. Well done! Can't wait for the rest.

[kizanski]

1 hour ago, hamerhead said:

Jeezus Jeff, if you're not writing gear reviews for somebody's magazine, you should be.

This is what I'm sayin'!

[scottcald]

Yeah, no doubt.  I can't wait until you have the next installment up.  

[tomteriffic]

21 hours ago, hamerhead said:

Jeezus Jeff, if you're not writing gear reviews for somebody's magazine, you should be. I'm no Floyd guy at all and you sucked me right in. Well done! Can't wait for the rest.

^^^ This!

[Jakeboy]

Well done. You communicate in an easy-going, excellent manner that keeps us wanting more. 

A good writer you are.

[Jeff R]

Okay, final installment … the results.

Two things before I start. First, my test was based on my ears, my hands. Even if I had the means to record and share A/B tests, sonic wave analyses of EQ and output at various frequencies, whatever ... I won’t use recordings or videos for assessing a piece of gear because I think they are unfair. Most people’s computer speakers are at most the size of donuts. Then you YouTube a pickup for example, and you will see HORRID homebrew “demos” by self-proclaimed gurus (okay, morons) and their “reviews” negatively bias you, at least they do me. Inversely, you might find a certain HFC member who does Duncan pickups demos that are so perfect (including his bad-ass playing), that even a broken pickup would sound in his presentation like the voice of deity. That being said, I don’t want to be the moron, I can’t do it like Zen, so you get to read this instead.

Second, I hate to sound like a broken record or (worse) a cop-out, but really guys, this stuff is so, so subjective. Opinions and tastes are as many as the colors in the spectrum. I have over 30 years under my belt with Floyds and super-shredder guitars, playing them and working on them, I think I offer a valid point of view and I appreciate you reading this. You in turn may think I’m as full of shit as a campground porta-potty. It’s all good, really.

-------------------------------

Last bits of gear rundown I forgot in the last post ... The ESP strat was tuned to 440 and strung with D'Addario 10-46. The EVH "Frankenstein" clone was tuned to E-flat and strung with D'Addario 9-42. Both had relatively new, clean strings so I used the ones already on them. I did not solder the ground bypass on either guitar for the tests because your playing hands will ground the circuit and "quiet" much if not most of any circuit-related buzz. Worth noting: I didn't experience anything insane buzz-wise even without the block/spring bypass wire soldered. Go figure.

General:

• Compared to the stock steel Floyd Rose bridge block, the Stone Tone block to my ears accentuated low midrange frequencies and, in a more subtle way, upper midrange frequencies.
• I did not experience an audible boost in any perceived instrument volume, acoustically or electronically. If it occurred, it was not enough for me to adjust the amp’s master volume.
• I experienced no significant increase or decrease in overall resonance of the test guitars. I thought the test guitars were somewhat more resonant with the Stone Tone but it was subtle at most. Let’s say Stone Tone at the very least preserved what were lively, resonant guitars to begin with.

In an attempt to provide a visual of what my ears were hearing, I think if you took a guitar with an EQ range that somehow graphed out in an absolutely flat line, the Stone Tone block would shift that flat line graphic into a pseudo “M” shape kind of like rollercoaster peaks if that makes sense.

In the earlier breakdown of the two test guitars, you may have noticed I emphasized alder as the body wood on the “Dorothy’s Slippers” ESP and basswood on the EVH “Frankenstein” clone. You subsequently deduced my love for alder and my relative lack of love for basswood.

The Stone Tone contributed little, and nothing I deemed “gotta have,” in the case of the alder-bodied ESP strat. In gain settings, the low mid boost I attributed to the Stone Tone wasn’t a “low” boost, or “bottom” or “boomy,” but more “barky” in regard to where it sat in the ESP’s EQ spectrum, particularly in gain settings. It wasn’t as pronounced, or as barky, on the Line 6, but the sensitivity of the SS22/Bogner pedal combo magnified the bark.

The low-mid in clean settings was nicer and more musical. But guys who use Floyds for the most part are primarily gain players who stereotypically speed-bump their gain playing with spot-application cleans, not the other way around. My ESP is a Swiss army knife of tones, but it is Floyded and ruby red intense metal flake in color for a reason. Gain is in my DNA. Stone Tone gets the thumbs down here.

But that rollercoaster “M” EQ spike from the Stone Tone worked better with the basswood bodied EVH “Frankenstein” clone. Basswood, to me, inherently sounds like that flat-line EQ graphic I described. The “M” infusion actually worked nice in this case and (oddly enough) it worked more so in the gain settings. The Line 6 results were (sim)ular to the alder ESP in gain, but the SS22/Bogner set-up seemed to like the signal it was receiving. As with the ESP, the Stone Tone improved “Frankenstein’s” clean tones. This was particularly nice considering a one-bridge-bucker-only setup needs all the help it can get in the clean realm of things.

Putting it bluntly, the basswood “Frankie” sounds good for my ears because it has a nice “sizzle” layer atop its flat-line vanilla basswood. I attribute that to that monster hybrid pickup in it. The Stone Tone, however, balanced that “sizzle” with a much needed layer of “ass,” particularly with the SS22/Bogner. Not a booming low, not a bassy thickness, just some good, percussive, solid ass in its lower tonal range. In gain, I was reminded of Nuno Bettencourt’s rhythm tracks on the first two Extreme albums. I love that sound, I love the feel of that sound and resonance under my hands. I told you that “Frankie” was already an unusually good example of a basswood platform guitar for my tastes. It was better with the granite block. Stone Tone gets the thumbs up here.

One thumb down, one thumb up. Moving forward …

I stated earlier the ESP is perfect as it is and a hard fortress for any new guitar component to invade. But based on the test, I don’t think I’d be willing to give Stone Tone a run in my other trem-equipped alder-bodied guitar. It, too, suits me just fine like it is so I don’t have to roll those dice. Knowing what I know (okay, thinking what I think I know) about guitar woods and their inherent EQ properties, I’d also be somewhat reluctant to put Stone Tone in an ash platform (it tends to have a nice inherent boom to it already) and I’d be very reluctant to put it in an already mid-heavy EQ wood like mahogany or korina.

But playing Devil’s advocate on myself, I’d love to put a Stone Tone in a mahogany/maple bodied Les Paul Axcess, which loses much of its classic LP tone IMHO to the Floyd and the rout through its body core to accommodate it. And the Axcess in my opinion needs a boost in that “ass” department I’ve already talked about. I have a loyal client with like six Floyd’ed Japanese LP clones, and I probably should have gotten him to ship me one for the bench test. Applying that theory to our beloved forum, a Floyd’ed Sunburst might be a good candidate for the Stone Tone too. Maybe one of you guys can conduct that test.

I liked the Stone Tone in the basswood test guitar enough that I’d definitely recommend it as a tone shaping option for my clients who own Ibanez Jem and RG series guitars, MIJ Charvels and Fender Japan strats, of which all are predominantly basswood and are (shockingly enough) common with my clients. Similar but a few notches above basswood for my tastes is poplar. I’m inclined to also thumbs-up the Stone Tone in that case, which is prevalent in Fender Mexico builds and in many Jackson neck-through guitars. On that note, I know Stone Tone didn’t see set-necks or neck-thrus in my test group. There were no Floyded examples readily available for the tests. Plus I’ve typed enough already, you’ve read enough already. Time to wrap this up …

Summary:

Is Stone Tone the Alpha/Omega magic tonal wand for all guitars with a Floyd or Floyd-license bridge? No, it is not. But I’d definitely recommend it without hesitation as a beef-up option for basswood-bodied or tonally similar wood species guitars. That’s the gist of where I stand, my two cents.

Tonal subjectivity aside, the Stone Tone block is a high quality, well-made unit and I feel its asking price is fair for what it is, particularly when you consider precision granite cutting machinery alone costs tens of thousands of dollars, according to a quick Google search.

DIY installation is easy and the instructions are simple to understand and follow. All of the non-tone attributes one wants from a Floyd or Floyd-license bridge are preserved. It was completely compatible with all of the stock Floyd parts to which it mated. Tuning stability was as solid as a factory Floyd block. And even with a slightly thicker block, Stone Tone still allowed a very wide overall range of dive/pull on the bridge without routing.

I hope I helped out. I thank you guys for the opportunity.

[it's me HHB]

I wonder if these are just lopped off ends of tombstones

[Thundersteel]

Quote

just some good, percussive, solid ass

That's definitely sig worthy!

[murkat]

I hear ya. I feel what your throwin down. good right up.

Pass the stone?

[The Shark]

What matters to me, when assessing the "assessment", is a basis in the reality I perceive.  I'm right there about the difference between basswood and alder.  I hate basswood guitars.  They just seem lifeless to me.  I know there are dozens of great guitar players that play basswood guitars and sound great, but I just can't warm up to a basswood guitar.  It's not as bad as a solid maple body, but I can definitely tell the difference.  I'm a vintage Charvel guy from way back. 

So, I think this is really a fantastic review.  And please understand, if I were still a Floyd guy I'd have to try it for myself.  That's because I have refined what works for me over thirty eight years.  But here's my take away.

If this "tombstone" block offers a better tone to just basswood guitars, and I'm not saying it's limited to that by this review, that's a huge market to exploit.  I love innovative ideas by entrepreneurs.  And grass-roots feedback like this can be extremely valuable.  Cool. 

 

[diablo175]

Thorough and thought provoking review, Jeff! Based on your review I feel secure in my initial stance on this product, which is: I'm sure it does something to effect the sound quality of the guitar. Whether you need/want to shell out that much for those changes is clearly the issue. Completely subjective. The effect(s) that Stone Tone brings do not IMHO merit the price tag. Again, my opinion. I'd give one a try but I have no glaring sound deficiencies that I believe the Stone Tone could remedy. Certainly not at that price point.

 

 

 

[cynic]

It would be interesting to compare to a "big block" of similar dimensions and see if the added bulk is more the difference maker than the material.  I either case, I remain fine with stock blocks.

Thanks Jeff for the time and effort you put into testing these and sharing your findings.

[hamerhead]

I keep trying to come up with other shit for you to test, Jeff. You need to start 'Consumer Reports for Guitar Nerds'.

[kizanski]

12 minutes ago, hamerhead said:

I keep trying to come up with other shit for you to test, Jeff. You need to start 'Consumer Reports for Guitar Nerds'.

Like I said, he's the only one I know who is capable of performing this test while being 100 objective about it and then have the writing chops to communicate what he has found.
I don't know anyone more well-equipped, especially when you take into account the mad scientist level he has worked with all things Floyd over the past 30 years.

But back to the product.
What I'm reading tells me that while the block makes some tonal change, it seems to me this could also be accomplished with a few knob turns on your amplifier, which is to say, Free of Charge.

[Ting Ho Dung]

On 7/25/2016 at 8:12 AM, kizanski said:

Like I said, he's the only one I know who is capable of performing this test while being 100 objective about it and then have the writing chops to communicate what he has found.
I don't know anyone more well-equipped, especially when you take into account the mad scientist level he has worked with all things Floyd over the past 30 years.

But back to the product.
What I'm reading tells me that while the block makes some tonal change, it seems to me this could also be accomplished with a few knob turns on your amplifier, which is to say, Free of Charge.

Or just change brand of strings or string alloy. 

[Jakeboy]

A great review! Thanks for taking the time, Jeff!

[Jeff R]

A quick follow-up for you guys:

In the case of the EVH "Frankenstein" clone, my client's pre-job work order included not only me making the guitar play and sound the best it could, he wanted the bridge to "drop only" in pitch. His previous solution was tightening the springs to the degree that the bridge butted back against the body top and that back tilt, mixed with the intonation pattern of the saddles, threw their non-adjustable radius way off in relation to "Frankie's" neck's very round vintage radius. Here's the solution I employed:

"Play its best": Float the bridge parallel to the body to "best" the natural radius of those non-adjustable Floyd saddles. Then I used my bench grinder to remove about 1/64" off the bottom of each "E" string's saddle to create more "roundness" to the saddle's relative radius. That was a quicker and cheaper solution than me fabricating saddle shims to raise the middle saddles to varying degrees. Here's how that ended up. Action at the 12th fret of about 3-4/64" on the plain strings graduating to 5/64" on the low "E."

"Sound its best" and "drop-only trem": Before I did my bridge "float" and re-radius, I removed a shim someone put in the neck to get the most neck/body contact. I then measured out and cut a piece of raw rosewood from an acoustic bridge blank. Two dots of Titebond and into the trem block cavity to create the drop-only zero-stop and butt the trem block (not the bridge itself) in that body-parallel "float" position fully against the rosewood when the trem is not engaged. More 100 percent contact. Okay, kinda 100 percent contact. And should the client want to go back to a true floating bridge, my mod is reversible with a flathead screwdriver and one tap from a hammer. I also loosened the springs so that there was just enough tension to make solid rosewood/trem block connection, to keep the trem bar as "loose" feeling as possible under one's hand.

I share what went down because the contact chain I created between "Frankie's" Floyd's steel block, that hard rosewood insert and the basswood body got at least the same "ass" tone results (see above) for the guitar than the Stone Tone block, and my mod was substantially cheaper. I'm talking like $5 including the rosewood piece and my labor to measure, cut and install. Granted, the mod I applied won't work if you want a true floating trem, in that case the Stone Tone block may be your solution. But I figured I'd put this job on you guy's radar as a cost-effective alternative should circumstances be similar. I get a lot of gigging guys who want drop-only trem activity so their trems won't go haywire if they break a string mid-song. 

For what it's worth, the client and his son were SUPER happy with all the end results and I was told they literally they can't put "Frankie" down they are having so much fun with it now.

[Hbom]

Great review Jeff.

I guess in the long run it all goes back to what that Stoned guy said in the original spam post,

     On ‎7‎/‎14‎/‎2016 at 5:18 AM, Stone Tone said:

"That is correct. If there were a noticable difference it wouldn't make a difference either way . "