Martin's "liquid metal" bridge pins - hype or improvement?

ICTGoober

ICTGoober

New member
One of my high rolling clients brought me one of his acoustics for some work on the action, and he was raving about these pins he'd installed a week before. He claimed better sustain, and improved tone. I have no idea if it did any such thing because I had no "before" reference.

They are heavier than any wood, bone, or plastic pins so it stands to reason they'd add mass to the bridge and top. At $99 a set I'll pass, but it floats his boat. On the other hand - he loves anything expensive and buys (and then discards) a lot of high dollar gear. By the way - Martin says the "liquid metal" is a zirconium alloy that reflects vibrations without absorbing them.

Any thoughts, opinions, or comments from those of you with actual experience with these Martin pins?
 
While there's a (very, very tiny) difference in sound between plastic, bone, and metal bridge pins, I can't imagine these being different enough from any other metal bridge pin that it would be worth 99$. Bridge pins are not going to take an average acoustic and make it stunning, or a stunning acoustic and make it average.
 
Well, I guess they found their market.

Anything to become a better player (except playing), huh?
 
My high rolling client is a Nashville studio ace who has played on records since the 60's.

So, to be clear - no one with actual experience here? Just opinions that don't answer my question?
 
I've found "high rolling" people to be among those most susceptible to confirmation bias

Maybe there is a change in sound, I don't know, haven't played them.

But none us need to in order to refute the basic idea that something can reflect energy instead of absorbing it. There is always some amount of absorption. Perhaps there is much less of it with this fancy metal, I mean, their weird video of a ball bouncing on different metals (not sure how this relates to a guitar string at tension across two points of contact of conventional materials and an anchorpoint of fancyboy metal) does last the longest on Liquid Metal, but it does slow down. Energy is being lost.



imo the nut and bridge would be better locations to use this absorption-less wonder metal since those are the break points of the tensioned string. Wouldn't that be where you want the energy to stay? The main, actual friction spots?
 
I've done some quick math. Roughly $3 a gram wholesale and 3 grams a pin equals the cost in materials alone for a set is $54
 
The liquidmetal stuff has a cool manufacturing process - it allows for precision injection molded parts made of hard metal:
 
My overall opinion is that bridge pins as a whole are stupid. :rolleyes:

I will say that I've used TUSQ ones over basic plastic and they do sound better. I can't put a percentage on it, though. And I didn't buy them myself, they were given to me.
 
Sound comparisons don't seem to show much difference from regular pins . . . maybe a hint brighter/louder?
 
My current acoustics have a string-through-the-bridge system, so no more pins for me.
 
If these are heavier than other metal pins, their mass alone will be mitigating the highs a bit.
And if that brings out the right midrange it might even seem louder to our ears.

They won't 'absorb' vibration in the same way that a softer material would - I suppose that could be considered 'reflecting.'
Still, these are attaching the strings to the bridge - there's absolutely no way they aren't vibrating themselves.

I'm intrigued, as I am by most novel ideas. But I don't think I'll pony up $100 to try 'em out.​
 
eclecticsynergy said:
If these are heavier than other metal pins, their mass alone will be mitigating the highs a bit.
And if that brings out the right midrange it might even seem louder to our ears.

They won't 'absorb' vibration in the same way that a softer material would - I suppose that could be considered 'reflecting.'
Still, these are attaching the strings to the bridge - there's absolutely no way they aren't vibrating themselves.

I'm intrigued, as I am by most novel ideas. But I don't think I'll pony up $100 to try 'em out.​
Click to expand...

That's the big thing about these I think, all that mass would damped the top quite a bit.
 
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