Don_Serl Posted January 1, 2005 Posted January 1, 2005 not everyone has, wants, or can afford brand new tools every year. it turns out you can take your old Quasars, add some stock parts, and tune 'em up so they climb and feel not a whole lot less fine than a pair of new Quarks. 1. replace the original pick with the Upgrade pick. the tip on the Upgrade is narrowed to 3mm vs 4mm on the original; the underside of the tip on the Upgrade is beveled at a more aggressive hooking angle (otherwise you have to file the original to get it to climb right); and a bunch of unnecessary metal has been deleted from the tail-end of the pick. net result: better function outs the box, and you save about 20gm per pick (about 100gm vs abt 120gm each). 2. replace the original hammer head with Axar/Pulsar hammer head. there is w-a-a-a-y less metal involved, so you save about 85gm (that's 3 oz!) per head. the striking angle changes, but imho the Axar head is at a more copacetic angle than the original. and the resulting angle is very similar to that on the Quark. the Quark remains a little more 'sweet' in feel, and it has better clearance (by about 2cm mid-shaft), but interestingly, the Quasar actually has greater 'reach' pommel-to-tip (also by about 2cm). the overall weights are very similar (i don't have a scale capable of getting an accurate weight in this range), so the swinging effort on the "upgraded" Quasar drops dramatically. the picks seem to sell for US$40, and i've seen the heads for US$33.50. they might be pulled out of Europe for even less. or try e-Bay... a LOT cheaper than new tools... cheers, Quote
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