Martin's new Liquidmetal bridge pins?
 

This just published on Musicradar.com, on a feature article about Martin guitars: "The pins are going to be fitted to a new line of Martins that will be revealed in January, Tim says, along with other progressive features, such as titanium dual-action truss rods for lightness and composite bridge plates for yet more volume and sustain."

Full article can be read here: https://www.musicradar.com/news/a-ce...in-dreadnought

Some interesting claims are being made about the new type of bridge pins in the article. Does it seem that the bridge-pin debate is about to intensify?

Sounds interesting.

I know the discussion is always intense.

Big Rock Engineering has been touting their Power Pins for a while now. The debate always gets very heated.

As an engineer (with past work in both the metals and the vibration industries) I understand both sides of the debates.

I will be curious to learn what Martin's "Liquidmetal" is.

I've been putting ebony and rosewood bridge pins in my guitars for 30+ years. I'm not an expert, but the biggest difference in sound that I can hear is that I'm not cussing those cheap plastic pins any longer. LOL

''These are very new. These alone give a 3-4dB increase in volume. You definitely get an increase in sustain - but you don’t lose the rich bottom end of the tonal spectrum, as you would if they were aluminum. So it gives you all the really good attributes of a bone pin, but more so.''

I'd say that the ''bridge pin debate'' is about to be settled. I don't know why there is a debate anyway. Most of the ''bridge pin deniers'' will tell you that everything on the guitar affects tone, but bridge pins don't matter.

Liquid metal pins, what's next; self tuning tuning machines? Oh wait, Gibson already tried that and they failed!

See the "Terminator" movies.

Reid

Liquid metal pins? MIM (Metal Injection Molding) would be my guess. Now as to the exotic alloy...no clue, MIM raw stock is available in many alloys.

Or it could be something else entirely since I’ve been wrong before;)

FWIW a change is sound pressure level of 3 dB is barely noticeable, and only under ideal conditions. Increases in loudness are generally judged as follows. Decreases in sound level follow the same scheme.

+ 1 dB -- measurable using a quality sound meter, but not perceptible
+ 3 dB -- noticeable if you are actively listening or expecting a change
+ 5 dB -- noticeable without prompting
+ 10 dB -- subjectively twice as loud as the original sound

The character of the tone might change - that is WAY harder to quantify -- but the loudness will not be perceptibly different.

More marketing fluff from Martin, who is faced with the reality that there are lots of small builders building better Martins than Martin ever has or will.

The composite bridge plate interests me far more than the bridge pins do.


whm

Bah. For one thing, only Martin builds Martins, and they are the only ones who ever has. The others are just imitators.

Not MIM. Amorphous alloy.

"Liquidmetal® alloys belong to a class of highly engineered materials called Bulk Metallic Glasses (BMG)."

"Amorphous alloys are unique materials that are distinguished by their ability to retain a random structure when they solidify, in contrast to the crystalline atomic structure that forms in ordinary metals and alloys. Liquidmetal Technologies is the first company to produce amorphous alloys in commercially viable bulk form, enabling significant improvements in products across a wide array of industries. For more information, go to www.liquidmetal.com. ​"

It's old news since they were already used on the CEO 8.2. https://www.martinguitar.com/guitars...itions/ceo-82/

Bridge pin threads. I predict that this one is three pages by noon tomorrow.

I just lost a bet with myself that Vindibona had chimed in already on this thread. ;( :)

Also; I think it will be 3 pages before noon tomorrow. You're being very conservative.

My opinion(not that it matters) is .. ok.. the pins are in contact with the strings.. and the guitar.. then yes of course they can make a difference. I used to think that difference to be negligible and had switched sets several times. I finally got around to switching to bone on my Washburn and *wow*. Totally different guitar. I'll never be a doubter again.

Cheers :)

I'll contribute post #14, or whatever it is when I hit the "submit" button.

Guess we'll need to compare the tonal qualities of metals with random structure vs an orderly crystalline structure.

Actually, having pins that look good, don't get bottom slot spread, don't impact the sound in a negative way and last a good long time is always a good idea. I'll be interested in trying a set or two