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The latest offering from the enterprising folks at Floyd Rose. 🙄 Can't say for sure as I haven't tried one but this seems to fall in line with the Stone Tone. I get the added mass with all that bell brass but the physics of how that translates to better or more sustained tone thru the springs to the rest guitar is not clear. I also don't know if locking the springs to the claw has any bearing on the performance. 37 years of Floyd use and abuse and I don't know if during all of that time I could detect any undesired spring movement on the claw because it wasn't locked down.

Thoughts?

 

 

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They may be responding to two other newcomers out there who are doing the spring lock system.

 

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1 hour ago, Biz Prof said:

But what is the claw's acoustic voice? This, we must know....

Reverberant? I've always considered the springs to be tiny spring reverb tanks for the guitars they're in.

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Was chatting about Schaller's  Sure Claw with some fellow HFCers earlier. I had one on the HEL Willy G and while the convenience of adjusting the spring tension was noteworthy, I found it changed (I maintain it deadened it to a degree) the tone until I removed the rubber matting under the unit. Even then, it was definitely not an improvement on the tone, overall. This gives me pause to think that the Tone Claw really isn't gonna impart any thing discernible to the overall tone.

 

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18 hours ago, Biz Prof said:

But what is the claw's acoustic voice? This, we must know....

I just wanna know, is it properly centered? 😂

I'm no expert (and I did not watch the vid OR stay in a HI Express last night), but I'm betting if you do notice an improvement that it would be oh so slight in nature... Meaning indiscernible to any one feature difference versus a normal claw.

 

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3 hours ago, diablo175 said:

Was chatting about Schaller's  Sure Claw with some fellow HFCers earlier. I had one on the HEL Willy G and while the convenience of adjusting the spring tension was noteworthy, I found it changed (I maintain it deadened it to a degree) the tone until I removed the rubber matting under the unit. Even then, it was definitely not an improvement on the tone, overall. This gives me pause to think that the Tone Claw really isn't gonna impart any thing discernible to the overall tone.

 

 

1 hour ago, Drew816 said:

If it was made of Titanium I would be interested, brass is just so "pedestrian..."   😉

More mass, it might have a minor effect and; hard pass.

 

40 minutes ago, DaveH said:

I just wanna know, is it properly centered? 😂

I'm no expert (and I did not watch the vid OR stay in a HI Express last night), but I'm betting if you do notice an improvement that it would be oh so slight in nature... Meaning indiscernible to any one feature difference versus a normal claw.

 

When you’re talking about improving tone, the most audible improvements are achieved when upgrading hardware that mates directly with the body, neck and strings. Mass can be your friend if you’re looking for extra sustain, but only when its contact surface is significant. Too much mass and/or very little surface contact can deteriorate the tone by preventing the strings’ resonance from transferring to the body. In the case of this “Tone Claw”, the mass has very little contact for resonant sound transfer. The Tone Claw’s only body contact is two screws, and much of the resonance transferred by the springs will essentially be killed off by the large mass of the Tone Claw before any vibration makes it through the two screws into the body.

WIth respect to claws, the most effective claws for best tone, IMO will be lower mass, light weight metals that will allow the most string vibration to pass to the body.

Tone Claws, any high-mass claws, will take from your guitar’s sound.

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                             I remember back in the day they had a brass nut, brass bridges, brass stop tail, brass shaft tuners .The thought was the extra mass would increase the sustain, add better clarity to the notes being played and change the tone of the instrument to a overall better sound. Well............................................. look and listen to all the great rock music that was made and they didn't use any of this stuff to make it. A band mate had  one of THESE on his Les Paul and he claimed he could hear a big difference, I couldn't  but then again everyone hears something different so maybe to his ears it did. I never used any of it. g54LIUc.jpgj3UK6VW.jpg8TJRVra.jpg

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20 hours ago, diablo175 said:

The latest offering from the enterprising folks at Floyd Rose. 🙄 Can't say for sure as I haven't tried one but this seems to fall in line with the Stone Tone. I get the added mass with all that bell brass but the physics of how that translates to better or more sustained tone thru the springs to the rest guitar is not clear. I also don't know if locking the springs to the claw has any bearing on the performance. 37 years of Floyd use and abuse and I don't know if during all of that time I could detect any undesired spring movement on the claw because it wasn't locked down.

Thoughts?

 

 

well, it optimizes the vibrational transfer, init?

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11 minutes ago, ARM OF HAMER said:

back in the day they had a brass nut

Sustain wasn't a thought when these were first used. Brass nuts were originally used by jazzers, so that the open strings would sound identical to the fretted ones. Then of course rockers had their own ideas about it...

Funny thing of course, unless you're playing an open string, the brass nut means nothing for sustain.

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43 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

 

 

When you’re talking about improving tone, the most audible improvements are achieved when upgrading hardware that mates directly with the body, neck and strings. Mass can be your friend if you’re looking for extra sustain, but only when its contact surface is significant. Too much mass and/or very little surface contact can deteriorate the tone by preventing the strings’ resonance from transferring to the body. In the case of this “Tone Claw”, the mass has very little contact for resonant sound transfer. The Tone Claw’s only body contact is two screws, and much of the resonance transferred by the springs will essentially be killed off by the large mass of the Tone Claw before any vibration makes it through the two screws into the body.

WIth respect to claws, the most effective claws for best tone, IMO will be lower mass, light weight metals that will allow the most string vibration to pass to the body.

Tone Claws, any high-mass claws, will take from your guitar’s sound.

VERY well put and essentially what I was hinting at. My pitiful scientific acumen did not afford me the confidence nor the lexicon to convey it as articulately as gtrdaddy!

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I use bell brass claws with my Floyds. The ones I buy come with bell brass screws as well. I actually love the tone.

The tone of my guitars shifted after installing them. It went from a normal thin Floyd tone to being deeper, more round and warmer. More low mids, less upper mids and more resonant. I didn’t notice any more sustain, but the notes sang a bit more.

The guitars are louder acoustically... and the wood really vibrates in a way that I can feel when I play.

I actually prefer the sound of stock normal sized zinc blocks... so it’s not like I overlooked block replacement. I just actually prefer the sound of the normal sized zinc blocks.

I don’t know what to tell you guys... laugh all you want but I am actually crazy about them. Yeah you 100% need bell brass screws as well, no point in installing a bell brass claw without bell brass mounting screws.

The bell brass claws I use are a bit lighter than the stock claws. Bell brass has a higher bronze content and bronze is light.

All parts of the guitar contribute to the end result of “tone”. Yeah, I obsess over stuff like magnets, capacitors, the wire used in the pickups, body wood, neck wood, fingerboard wood... each one is a piece of the puzzle. When all pieces are in place, the picture is manifested into reality.

I started using bell brass claws over 7 years ago... right before I did the ‘59 Custom Hybrid video with my #1 Centaura.

Definitely not snake oil but... it works with how I want MY Floyded guitars to sound. I don’t dig a lot of upper mids and treble... I want more resonance. I want a deeper tone... I want bold punchy single notes and chords that sing. The brass claw was a complete game changer for me... laugh all you want.

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On 3/3/2021 at 8:16 PM, diablo175 said:

The latest offering from the enterprising folks at Floyd Rose. 🙄 Can't say for sure as I haven't tried one but this seems to fall in line with the Stone Tone. I get the added mass with all that bell brass but the physics of how that translates to better or more sustained tone thru the springs to the rest guitar is not clear. I also don't know if locking the springs to the claw has any bearing on the performance. 37 years of Floyd use and abuse and I don't know if during all of that time I could detect any undesired spring movement on the claw because it wasn't locked down.

Thoughts?

 

 

I change my strings every three years. That helps.

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19 minutes ago, Ting Ho Dung said:

I change my strings every three years. That helps.

Didn't I read recently that you also haven't picked up a guitar in 3 years or so?  :P

 

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1 hour ago, diablo175 said:

Didn't I read recently that you also haven't picked up a guitar in 3 years or so?  :P

 

Yeah, and I'm better than I was before. I also haven't fucked my wife in three years so here's hopin'. 

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26 minutes ago, Ting Ho Dung said:

Yeah, and I'm better than I was before. I also haven't fucked my wife in three years so here's hopin'. 

R46U.gif

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