Those with SP shared prong wedding sets, have you had any problems?

[peonygirl]

Feel free to either post or PM me. I really love this wedding set style, but of course I don''t want to buy a ring that''s going to give me a lifetime of problems. The #1 thing I''ve heard is that people were getting some scratches on the prongs holding the center stone. That I think I can live with assuming it is not overtly visible while I''m wearing the rings and doesn''t compromise the structural integrity of the prongs. I''m more concerned with chipped/loose diamonds, etc.

Also, if I got a plain wedding band and a SP eternity ring as my wedding band, would I still have these problems with the rings rubbing against each other? I''m having a hard time picturing whether the rings would rub together in this scenario without seeing them together on my hand.

Thanks so much!

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 10/29/2005 12:43:08 AM
Author:peonygirl
Feel free to either post or PM me. I really love this wedding set style, but of course I don''t want to buy a ring that''s going to give me a lifetime of problems. The #1 thing I''ve heard is that people were getting some scratches on the prongs holding the center stone. That I think I can live with assuming it is not overtly visible while I''m wearing the rings and doesn''t compromise the structural integrity of the prongs. I''m more concerned with chipped/loose diamonds, etc.

Also, if I got a plain wedding band and a SP eternity ring as my wedding band, would I still have these problems with the rings rubbing against each other? I''m having a hard time picturing whether the rings would rub together in this scenario without seeing them together on my hand.

Thanks so much!

yep....my wife had the same problem.
here''s the link
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-is-the-thinnest-non-custom-platinum-spacer-ring-avaliable.29966/

 

[peonygirl]

Thanks so much for responding. I would really like to avoid getting a spacer if at all possible. Wouldn''t the shared-prong ring just start to "eat up" the spacer too?

I really don''t care about subtle scratches, but deep grooves would definitely be a problem. Any chance anyone has pictures of the problem?

 

[Mara]

Do a search for Demelza''s posts...she has the SP set and is getting a new set of a different style because she is having some similar sort of problem.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 10/29/2005 2:11:46 AM
Author: peonygirl
Thanks so much for responding. I would really like to avoid getting a spacer if at all possible. Wouldn't the shared-prong ring just start to 'eat up' the spacer too?

no...not if the diamonds are higher than the spacer.

I really don't care about subtle scratches, but deep grooves would definitely be a problem. Any chance anyone has pictures of the problem?

soon or later it can be a problem if the girdles on the shared prong ring is rubbing against the e-ring prong. my wife wore her rings with no spacer for one week and i can tell that one of the prongs on her e-ring was cut up.

 

[peonygirl]

Mara, this thread is actually inspired by Demelza's troubles. I just love the look so much, but the problems she experienced are so troublesome to me.

Are my only alternatives getting a plain e-ring band or a pave instead of shared-prong set? I wouldn't mind the former once I get my wedding band, but my poor e-ring will be so plain for a 1-1.5 years beforehand.

Would soldering the rings together (worst case scenario) fix the problem? Or have any other brands similar in price to SP figured out how to avoid this problem?

 

[Mara]

We don't seem to have heard too many complaints about problems on here, though the problems we have heard about are surely concerning. So many people seem to have sets like these, or maybe there are more channel and pave and prong than we really think. But there are other gals who have shared prong like Lynn B etc who I don't think have had problems. Maybe it is how the settings are made, some possibly may not sit EXACTLY flush together and therefore alleviate that rubbing problem?

Take a look at my eternity wedding set thread in Show me the Ring, possibly you can PM some of the gals who have shared prong sets and see if they have had any problems. Good luck!!

 

[peonygirl]

Thanks Mara, you are infinitely helpful. Your wedding set is absolutely gorgeous by the way! What I can''t seem to figure out is whether this problem is limited to SP designs or all shared-prong rings. . .

 

[Catmom]

Date: 10/29/2005 3:02:53 AM
Author: peonygirl
Thanks Mara, you are infinitely helpful. Your wedding set is absolutely gorgeous by the way! What I can''t seem to figure out is whether this problem is limited to SP designs or all shared-prong rings. . .

I do not have a SP band and still have the same problem. I ended up going with a spacer. The diamond girdles sit higher than the spacer so they don''t scratch it. I believe that the problem happens more when the shared prong band is not a "matched set" with the ER. It seems to happen more when people have added the shared prong band later like I did.

 

[Demelza]

I''m away for the weekend, but just had to come to the library to check out what''s happening on PS!

Anyway, I don''t think the problem is limited to SP shared prong bands. I''ve heard that Memoire has figured out a way around this by adding a bit of metal beyond the girdle of the diamond so that there isn''t any diamond to diamond contact. They are much more expensive than SP and I don''t know if that is in fact true.

I really think this is a personal decision. To my knowledge, I haven''t had any chipped or broken stones and only a few that have gotten loose. The prongs on my center stone are very scratched and it bothers me even though most people looking at my ring wouldn''t notice a thing. I''m a VERY picky person when it comes to my jewelry and I just don''t want to have to worry about it getting damaged. This isn''t the only reason I''m changing my set. I just realized that a solitaire and eternity ring is what I want and how I''ll feel most comfortable. I wouldn''t discourage someone from getting a shared prong setting -- I would just want them to be aware of the POTENTIAL for problems. As Mara said, there are many on here who haven''t had any problems -- Lynn B, for example. I hope this helps. I definitely don''t want to scare people away from these beautiful sets -- the degree to which the potential for problems is a concern really is personal.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide.

 

[MissAva]

I think I have mentioned this before but Issac from SP said that they were redoing the ring design becuase of the issues Dem had. Here is a ton of info people gave me in a thread about two diffrent shared prong rings. WF vs Facets Hope this helps.

 

[Demelza]

Really?? That''s news to me! Was he getting lots of complaints? When I told him about my concerns, he acted surprised, like I was the first person to bring it up. Hmmm...

 

[MissAva]

Date: 10/29/2005 2:54:05 PM
Author: Demelza
Really?? That''s news to me! Was he getting lots of complaints? When I told him about my concerns, he acted surprised, like I was the first person to bring it up. Hmmm...

I think your complaints might have been the first ones. When I asked him about concerns you had brought up he told me that they would be coming out with something new to ensure that was no longer an issue. If it was in an email I will post it.

 

[MissAva]

Taken from an e-mail from David sent on 9-14-05.
"We understand your concern. We just discovered that the mountings with the matching rings might have a problem with abrading stones. We are currently working with our jeweler to change this. Instead of having the prongs in between each diamond, the jeweler will have the prongs on the outside of each stone. In this case the prongs will protect the diamonds, preventing them from scratching each other."

 

[Demelza]

Interesting. I wonder why they just discovered this?? Thanks for the info!

 

[peonygirl]

Thanks for the info, Matatora. Did he give you a general timeframe for when this would happen?

 

[Kaleigh]

Good to hear they are fixing the problem.

 

[FireGoddess]

One thing you might consider is to get the shared prong ering and wedding band but only do diamonds halfway around - ie. semi eternity. I did this and since the bottom half of the rings is all metal, it is slightly wider than the top of the ring where the shared prong diamonds are. Therefore, when the rings are stacked and the bottom half of the rings are right smacked against each other, there''s about a mm or so (?) gap between the diamonds and they don''t rub together.

I''ll see if I have a picture of this.

 

[MissAva]

Date: 10/29/2005 3:53:26 PM
Author: peonygirl
Thanks for the info, Matatora. Did he give you a general timeframe for when this would happen?

No they didn''t, however after reading this and thinking a bit I decided that a month was long enough to wait and sent them a quick email asking if the project had been compleated yet and where I could find pictures and information. I will be happy to post their reply whenever I get one. I dont think it will be until Monday though, since it is the sabbath.

 

[FireGoddess]

Here''s two quick pictures that seem to show what I''m saying. The bottoms of the rings are stacked, but you can see a little space at the top.

 

[FireGoddess]

In this one you can better see that the bottoms of the ring are wider and thus touching but the tops have a little gap.

 

[MissAva]

FG, I never realized your bands were not full eternity.
Where is Ame, she needs to jump in about full vs half!

 

[pebbles]

I have a SP eternity band but I do not have the matching e-ring. I did notice a lot of tiny scratches on the prongs of my e-ring stone but nothing as big as "dents". My e-ring prongs were not notched like Demelza''s were but it sat pretty flush with the eternity band anyway. I had more scratches on the bottom of the e-ring b/c it spun on my finger.

One way of solving it would be to have the two rings soldered together. I don''t like that look so I never did it.

If you look under the eternity sets thread under Show Me the Ring I just posted my shared prong semi-mount. I usually wear it with my plain band or by itself. It will at least give you an idea of what a shared prong e-ring looks like with a plain band. I have not noticed any scratches on the plain band yet.

 

[peonygirl]

Matatora, that would be wonderful if you could post when you get a reply.

 

[Mara]

FG i really like that solution of having the bottom of the bands be slightly larger if you do half eternity.

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 10/29/2005 4:43:23 PM
Author: Matatora
FG, I never realized your bands were not full eternity.

Hehehe -

and that''s the beauty of them!!!!

Can''t tell unless I''m waving good bye to you! Seriously, you never see the metal, and that solved the issue for me about the bands potentially rubbing diamond girdle on diamond girdle. Since the shanks are thin, I also thought it a good idea to have the bottom half be a little thicker.

It''s definitely a good way (in my experience) to avoid the girdle on girdle action but still have two shared prong rings.

 

[Lynn B]

I am always a little reluctant to chime in w/ my experiences on this subject, because I feel like as soon as I say, "I've never had any problems!" -- my stones will all crumble and fall out the next day!!!

I have shared prong rings (custom made by WF) and I love them. I LOVE the look of the shared-prong style and have never regretted choosing it. I think the style is just so beautiful. When I had my new diamond set a few months ago, the jeweler and the appraiser both examined my rings and said there was no damage whatsoever to any of the stones, or the platinum.

I know some people have had some problems, but thankfully there are a lot of us who haven't.

 

[Demelza]

I may be wrong about this, but it doesn''t look like there are any points of contact on Lynn''s set. Perhaps this is because it is semi-eternity. I have the most points of contact on the bottom of the rings where the diamonds almost fit into each other like a puzzle and where the diamonds rub against the center prongs. The 4 or 5 stones on either side of the center diamond on the ring do not touch the diamonds in my wedding band. So, maybe half-eternity is the trick!!

 

[Mara]

I dont know if it''s half eternity on Lynn''s set as much as there looking like there may be a bit of additional metal coming outside of the diamonds on each rounded part to ''buffer''...I think that could be key as well!!! Maybe someone from WF could chime in and discuss how they designed and made Lynn''s to not have that point of contact.

 

[JohnQuixote]

Date: 10/31/2005 5:03:24 PM
Author: Mara
I dont know if it''s half eternity on Lynn''s set as much as there looking like there may be a bit of additional metal coming outside of the diamonds on each rounded part to ''buffer''...I think that could be key as well!!! Maybe someone from WF could chime in and discuss how they designed and made Lynn''s to not have that point of contact.

At your service.

The photo has shadows and reflections and flattens the curvature of 3D into a 2D world, so I can see how it may have appeared that an extra buffer was used, but it wasn’t. The trick is in the selection of exactly the right diamonds.

Regardless of full, ¾ or half eternity, all of the diamonds must be exactly the same size, and appropriately smaller than the band width. If you have even 1 or 2 that have more spread than the others they will rub on the opposite ring. Different craftsmen and workshops may vary, but we have a formula, where, for a band of X mm the diamonds must all spread X – (appropriate safety margin for X). For a 2mm band the diamonds we select would all be exactly 1.7mm. Then of course they all must be set very precisely.

When this is done, the ‘buffer’ Mara described occurs naturally. With the correct formula it’s indistinguishable to the naked eye, so the diamonds appear to meet, when actually they are quite safe.