Raw Vintage Springs. Wow...

[Demioblue]

I tried the saddles here: http://www.thegearpage.net/board/sho...d.php?t=781332

I also just installed the Raw Vintage springs in 3 different guitars. The strat, my Silhouette Special, and a JPX 7 string with floating trem.

They are definately low tension springs, as 4 springs equated to almost but not quite the strength of the older 3, with some slight slack more. With a 5th spring, the tension seemed to be just a bit more than the previous 3. (They actually recommend you use all 5)

These had a pretty huge difference in tone too, but not entirely positive in all cases.

In the strat, the "bounce" seemed to be lost. The tone was tighter, and more "strong". Not exactly what I was after. The single coils I had in this were ToneRider Surfaris, which were nice and tight to begin with. Now the tones seemed to be beefed up a bit, but I wanted that "bounce" with the older springs. I installed the saddles in this guitar for sometime before installing the springs, so I know which contributes what.

But in the Silo Spec, where I'm running DiMarzio Cruisers, the tones tightened up very nicely, and that's where they worked well. The tones were sweeter, and they actually didn't sound as sterile as before (though not that I had a problem with this in the past, just that it's nicer now). They're also going in my other Silo Spec which is being assembled now after a respray job. It'll be interesting how those will work with the brass block instead of this one's steel block.

But the most interesting one was in the 7 string, where the tones not only tightened up, but beefed up quite nicely too! The 5 springs with the slightly increased tension, also made the trem move less when I did a 1 & half step bend. The trem was a lot more stable in tuning, as the bridge didn't move much, but of course, whammy abuse was still an issue, but that's no biggie for me. The clean tones are extremely sweeter than before, and is an absolute joy to play clean. Imagine that. A JPX7 played clean most of the time. Sort of an oxymoron. Hahaha!!!

This is pretty good stuff, to say the least, just that you'd have to take into account your current pickup's characteristics. Sustain was more prominent in all 3 cases, and the decay was not as long as the previous set, meaning you had more usable tone time length.

[Phoebe]

That's great.

[marsos52]

when i changed my trem springs to the raw vintage (used all 5 springs)
i found the guitar got louder..and as you say tighter,,but that went away after i lowered the pickups a bit..then the bounce and everything fell into place..

i just love them springs........