These patented blocks are made of granite, and are designed to enhance and strengthen the sound of your tremolo-equipped instrument across the entire audio spectrum. Granite, when quarried in its natural state, is not only of an ideal density for the purpose of sustain, but also has a crystalline atomic structure which is ideal for sonic transference—it requires no factory processing or dilution, and the natural change in sound, upon installation, is so drastic that signal loss from the guitar to the amplifier will be decreased by at least 30%. The blocks are crafted from Volcano Black Absolute Granite, the compression strength of which is 19,000 psi/130,000 kpa and the tension strength of which is 700 psi/4,800 kpa; this is the 4th densest material on earth, just behind Diamond, Carbon and Quartz! Comes with stainless steel sustain block mounting screws. Since this block is larger than a conventional sustain block, it can also limit upward travel of the tremolo and can be set to rest against the body in a blocked bridge configuration. For floating bridge setup this block may require some routing in the spring cavity. "I couldn't play without a Stone Tone Tremolo Block now that I've started using them. It's like icing on the cake". -Chris Poland (Megadeth, Ohm) Other regular Stone Tone block users include Ira Black, Jeff Young, Jeff Loomis, Scott Gailor, Ronny North, Dave Reffet and more! Ground Strip Information For those of you who have single-grounded electronics in your guitars, we’re now including a .020 copper grounding strip that's recommended to be installed between the StoneTone Rock Block and your baseplate to counteract any possible grounding issues. A few users have experienced buzz in single-grounded guitars after installing a StoneTone block, especially if the only ground point on the guitar was at the tremolo claw, but were able to easily nullify it by adding this grounding strip. While this isn’t a particularly frequent problem, it is recommended that you install the strip on single and rarely double-grounded guitars with your block merely as a precaution, so that if you experience buzz or hum after installing your StoneTone block, you or your trusted tech can easily run an extra ground from the tremolo claw ground wire and solder it to the strip, after which your guitar is guaranteed to be quiet. If your guitar is triple-grounded, you can disregard this precaution. Grounding Strip Installation Details: 1. We recommend one side of the copper ground strip is in contact with the rock block. 2. We recommend that you ground this strip to the spring claw, tone pot or stud post for best results. 3. You can never have enough ground.. Installing the block 1. DO NOT use any type of drill to secure the mounting hardware of the rock block to the baseplate. 2. Make sure the Stone Tone® logo on the block faces the “spring claw” ( front ) when mounting to the baseplate. 3. Optional* You can dab a little Loctite in each mounting hole or on the threads of the mounting hardware for heavy bar players. 4. Start with the center screw to a light snug following same for the left and right hardware before final tightening. 5. Once all 3 screws are snug in the baseplate, start tightening to “hand tight” repeat evenly always starting from the center. 6. You’re all set! These blocks will fit the Original Series 6 & 7-string, Special Series & 1000 Series 6-string, and the 1000 Series Pro 6 & 7-string tremolos. To see what sustain block will fit your bridge, please see the Upgradable Sustain Block Fit Chart. Handmade in the USA
