Martin Luxe Liquidmetal Bridge Pin Set

[Hank T. Tone]

Wonder if anyone has tried the Martin Luxe Liquidmetal bridge pins and if so what's your opinion. Thanks.

[Rosewood99]

I used them a couple years ago on a guitar that was a little too quiet. I found that it did improve the volume a bit, but as far as tone I found no difference.

[Osage]

I've put them in a few guitars for customers and I hear absolutely no difference in either tone or volume. They claim a 3db boost in volume, which is basically the lowest amount of increase that can be heard by someone with good hearing. Can I hear a 3db boost? In a vacuum, probably. In my shop which isn't dead quiet, I just can't.

[Dave in Olympia]

There are scads of previous threads on this very subject.

[abn556]

I replaced the stock pins on a 2022 Martin 000-18 with the Liquid Metal pin set. It seems to have made the guitar have a little more zing on the high end - I know that sounds silly, but I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it.

The difference is subtle though. If you’re looking for a dramatic difference, you might spend your money elsewhere.

+

[Corndog]

Originally Posted by Osage

I've put them in a few guitars for customers and I hear absolutely no difference in either tone or volume. They claim a 3db boost in volume, which is basically the lowest amount of increase that can be heard by someone with good hearing. Can I hear a 3db boost? In a vacuum, probably. In my shop which isn't dead quiet, I just can't.

Definitely NOT in a vacuum

[Russ C]

Just bear in mind that pins cannot add sound energy to your guitar. If there genuinely is an increase somewhere in your sound spectrum you’ve lost it from somewhere else eg. sustain instead of volume .. but those trade-offs are not necessarily bad.

[Wierzchoś]

I tried them out of curiosity in my Martins (Standard 00-15m and Standard 0028).
The change in tone was noticeable, not subtle. Wether the tone with these pins was better or worse that's for you to decide once you try them. I personally did not like them and returned them through Amazon.
Here are my observations:

00-15m - Obvious effects: Guitar became louder, tone became drier, undertones became less prominent.
Subtle effects: Slight increase in sustain, the tonal profile was slightly shifted to the right (towards the brighter side).

0028: Obvious effects: Guitar became louder, tone became more "mahoganish"; The tonal effect of having RW back and sides was subdued. Again undertones less prominent.
Subtle effects: Slight increase in sustain, the guitar became brighter, attack became quicker; the note would jump out of the guitar really quick once plucked.

The physics of how these pins work checks out. With ebony pins you basically have a soft porous material that is unable to store elastic energy and has a high dissipation factor. The liquid metal pins are basically the opposite. Due to the microscopic properties of the liquid metal pins these have a very low dissipation factor; in other words they can store elastic energy and immediately release it (what has been described as reflection of the sound in some marketing materials that I read).
Basically these reflect (and thus propagate) the vibrations of the soundboard, whereas ebony pins absorb them.
I hope this helps.
Kacper