Norton Custom's Endpin

More info from Brent's site for those of us who are lazy. http://www.nortoncustoms.com/mini_product_pages/endpin.htm

 

I am trying to work out whether I could use one of these in place of my Gotz endpin. Brent says:

I don't know if the specs of the Gotz are similar without loosening all my strings and pull out my endpin. Does anybody know the specs on the Gotz plug or does anybody have one handy they can measure? It's a pretty standard endpin sold by Lemur and lots of other places.

 

Adrian,
these look good Huh? But I'm telling you get the camelopard. Especially the way you play and with your set up, the Camelopard is of such fine craftmanship and the sonic enhancement is worth it. The camelopard coupled with a pecanic tailpiece cord makes a difference. That said, these nortons look like they work really well.

 

Man I just can't stomach (or afford) $330 US for a freakin' endpin.

 

yea I keep forgettin' I didn't pay for it..sorry.
These sure look nice...

 

If the thing is really that good, they could drop their price and they would then get tonnes of good reviews and could really increase their sales. At the current prices, I bet they don't sell many.

 

The thing is, they are made by one guy who is a cellist and is very busy with that and teaching and conducting and he only uses the very best materials and he really (as far as I can tell, is not too interested in the business aspect of it...more into the technology and fine workmanship thing...)
The filled titanium endpin made such a big difference in the sound of my bass, and the lock is like a swiss watch, and it is all gold plated. He went way overboard, but I gather that he figures he's only making them for career basses so he makes a few and goes all out.
Ya know, some of this new stuff that makes people roll their eyes, makes a big difference in the sound of a (at least my) bass.
for example I just put the bridge I have with the Full circle on (and normal adjusters), and the difference between that and the one with the MPM adjusters where there is a ball joint that the 2 halves of the bridge sit on (and have freedom of movement) is huge. Much more open sounding and loud.
My luthier kinda chuckles like i'm outta my mind, or too wowed by new ideas, but I play the thing everyday, and it ain't not there.
Same with the endpin. You can hear the difference in the tone of a bass, by just putting a variety of different endpins in (hollow aluminum, solid steel, graphite, titanium, wood etc.) on some basses it may sound better to have the instrument muffled because of its unevenness or woolf tone
but on a nice axe...

 

I don't follow this. Which was better?

 

FYI, finally got to compare measurements on my current endpin (Goetz) with the Norton carbon-fibre. Unfortunately the Goetz endpin plug graduates in size from 1 1/4" to 1 11/16" and the Norton is 1.1" at its widest. In other words, the widest part of the Norton plug is not even as wide as the most narrow part of the Goetz. The only way to use it would be to bush the current hole and re-ream for the smaller plug.

 

I was going to order one of these after xmas but now you've put a big doubt in my mind (but many thanks Adrian by the way). I don't know what the diameter of my exisiting plug is - but don't fancy getting one to find it requires major surgery - I've only got one bass - is Brent around to comment on this? Can a luthier tell us if plug diameters (and tapers) vary a great deal?

Happy Christmas/holidays

 

I got the Goetz dimensions from Lemur and I got the Norton endpin dimensions from Brent. He confirmed that it would be too narrow to be a straight swap.

 

A little off topic, but I noticed this feature on the site:

"Infinite adjustment along the rod, rather than adjusting to detents."

I've never had any problem at all going "between" the detents on my endpin. It has never slipped at all. I realize that this may work well for some designs and not for others but this has been my experience. Anyone else?

 

Hey guys...

Tapers don't tend to vary much, it's the plug diameters that can vary widely. I see a lot of original equipment endpins sizing out below 30mm at their widest diameter... The pins can be fitted to any bass, of course, but there may be a better chance that one can be fitted without bushing to 1.). a newer bass with an original endpin, 2.) a new instrument awaiting setup, or 3.) a bass with any endpin having an OD at its widest => 28mm. If the hole's bigger, that requires bushing - not usually major surgery, but obviously more involved than simply reaming up.

Hope this helps - and Happy Holidays!

 

Brent--why not have your machinist whip up some bushings for basses which have already been reamed too large for your plug? It'll work best if there is a slit left in the bushing. There's a German endpin, I think Stahlhammer or something similar, that has a straight plug that fits into a tapered (and slit) bushing, and it works fine. Or, why not make your plugs larger? Bushing an endpin hole makes the job of installing a new endpin tedious and expensive.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, Arnold. I'm considering offering a bushing for the current run of plugs, with the ultimate next step being a larger plug. This first run is fairly small in quantity, so as long as interest and demand continues to develop, I can start cycling in larger plugs in relatively short order.

EDIT: Adrian, I don't have one here to examine, but I think the dimensions you were given on the Goetz plug are off... 1 11/16" equals roughly 43mm, a size beyond what just about all except for special oversize reamers can ream up to. If the Goetz also has the standard 1/17 taper, that means that to taper from 1 11/16" (~43mm) at its widest to 1 1/4" (~32mm) at its narrowest, the plug would have to be roughly over 7" (~187mm) long. Being that many plugs are at most a couple of inches long, this doesn't add up.

 

Okay, this is really off the topic...What about an endpin made out of Mahogany? I just got the crazy thought into my head, but probably will not execute this plan. I like my endpin. It is a half inch hollow alluminum and it really keeps vibration down. My bass is a power house for vloume, so it helps control it...a little.

Just a thought......

 

So, has anyone installed one of these endpin? I'm interested in getting one