ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

7th Hell

7th Hell

New member
Hey!

After posting a thread a few days ago, my fellow SD Forum posters reached a verdict- the big black blocks screwed onto the back of Lynch's headstock is a tone-enhancing device. The additional mass has an affect on tone as well as sustain. See link to pic:

http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/vie...llow_track_link=1&track=0228ef9584-2e9c1&sp=1

I tried something while jamming today. I took off my rather heavy stainless steel Kenneth Cole diver watch, and looped it around the headstock of my LTD 7 string. The results were immediate and startling! It was similar to someone turning on the loudness switch on my amp! Deep thunderous bass from the low B, more bite and heft from the other strings as well. I did detect a hair more sustain too.

I repeated this experiment SEVERAL times to make sure I wasn't hearing things. Every time, I could easily distinguish the tone of the guitar with the heavy watch attached to it. Dang that Lynch! I'm off to Home Depot to find some thick plate steel or some washers to screw onto my headstock!
 
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Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

I'd do that, if I wasn't afraid of screwing up my Schecter's headstock finish. It's my only guitar, and my first actually good one. Maybe when I get a floyd guitar, I'll do that when I fill in some of the cavity with lead.
 
Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

3 packs of Stanley zinc-coated mending plates (3" x 5/8"), 1 pack of #6 1-1/4" wood screws, a pen, a drill, and 5 minutes later, my LTD 7 string absolutely SCREAMS!!! It sounds like the turbo button has been depressed. This is kind of my FrankenGuitar- lots of weird decals (skulls, mud flap naked ladies, etc...), drilled out clear yellow dice toggle knob, and chrome skull volume knob. I didn't feel the least bit hesitant to drill 4 tiny holes on the back of my headstock. Will I be doing this to all my guitars? Tune in later to find out!
 
Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

Lynch was using some kind of sustaniac system back in the day. Is this somehow related to the sustaniac?
 
Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

Lynch heavilly used a Sustainiac-equipped guitar on the Dokken "Back for the Attack" LP. Sustainiacs look like sideways mounted pups, and were (and still are, I believe) prominent in Fernandes guitars. This is an active system- from what I recall, the notes would ring for as long as you had it fretted on the neck!

The metal tone block is on Lynch's original Skulls and Snakes ESP, and dates to the Wicked Sensation/Lynch Mob period- well after Back for the Attack. This guitar has regular passive SD pups on it (prototype Screamin' Demon with red SD logo). I don't think this is related to the sustainiac systems at all. But I could be wrong...

Here's the link to the guitar someone was selling on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33038&item=3733347549&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Someone bid $6000 and the reserve was NOT met! Can you believe that! I'm curious how much that dude wanted? A nice $10K perhaps?
 
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Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

Cool! Maybe I'll mount a Boss Super O.D. Pedal on the back of my headstock & at gigs when I want to kick that shi(t) in I just smack the back of my headstock like a contestant on the "Family Feud". :)
 
Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

cool that is like the old fat head idea that one could buy for strats or L.P.s It is supposed to increase sustain. Lynch is a monster
 
Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

Yeah I was gonna say that's an old trick from the 70's. Maybe earlier. It's when people were into really heavy (literally) guitars. Les Pauls and strats were easily over 10 lb.s. The Fat Head thing was marketed and it never caught on well from what I remember. It did add sustain and loudness. But you can always up a notch on the amp. On some guitars, it makes it so damn top heavy that it's unbalanced. I never liked those things.
 
Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

i thought extra mass on the headstock robbed the string of its resonant energy....
but i'll stick something heavy one my head to see what happens...
 
Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

About 2 years back I posted about an unfortunate "drop" my main guitar took on a concrete driveway- cracking the body in two. Even after being reglued it seemed to lose a lot of resonance and had some dead spots that were pretty noticeable.....anyway.....I cut a brass bolt that my dad (the hoarder of all things weird and wonderful) had stashed in a box of junk and bolted it right onto the back of it's headstock....bam.....for a 4oz hunk of brass it sure made a huge difference to the sound AND sustain.....it never fully cured the dead spots but it made the guitar get a really 'solid and alive' tone
 
Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

7th Hell said:
Lynch heavilly used a Sustainiac-equipped guitar on the Dokken "Back for the Attack" LP. Sustainiacs look like sideways mounted pups, and were (and still are, I believe) prominent in Fernandes guitars. This is an active system- from what I recall, the notes would ring for as long as you had it fretted on the neck!
Click to expand...

The Sustainiac is essentially an Ebow system mounted on the guitar itself, "developed" (stolen?) by Fernandez, and IS available on most models ... When turned on, it surrounds the string/strings in a magnetic field that constantly vibrates the sting, giving you infinite sustain. Vai uses the Sustaniac a LOT, as well ... :)
 
Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

7th Hell said:
Here's the link to the guitar someone was selling on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33038&item=3733347549&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Someone bid $6000 and the reserve was NOT met! Can you believe that! I'm curious how much that dude wanted? A nice $10K perhaps?
Click to expand...

Gawd! I'm not a fan of the graphics, but a piece of history no doubt.

Wonder if Lynch man himself is selling it. A few months back on his website he was selling some of his gear.
 
Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

The ESP versions of the bones gtrs are total crap ... pieces are glued onto the body instead of being carved from a single piece ... did you try Altavista's Babel Fish?
 
Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

The big picture on the Japenese site looks like something that Randy Piper from WASP played back in the day. I know it is not, but looks like they "borrowed" the theme. The smaller pic at the bottom of the page looks like something that Akira Takasaki from LOUDNESS used to play. Where are all of our Japenese translating forum members?
 
Re: ESP Lynch Headstock Weights!

Makes sense....if I'm playing my electric unplugged late at night in bed, and it touches the wall, I can hear it throughout the room.
 
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