What's a mellow-sounding bridge pin material?

Charlie Bernstein

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I put bone bridge pins on my old D-35. They make the wound strings sound great, but now the B and high E strings are shrill.

So I'd like to replace just those two pins. What material would tame the strings? Rosewood? Ebony? Snakewood? Something else?

Thanks!
 

wileypickett

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Silliness aside, boxwood is a soft wood and they make bridge pins out of it. Might have some affect.

I have to say, though, that I've tried a bunch of different bridge pins -- various woods, metals, plastic -- and none of them affected the sound of my guitars as much as changing the type of strings I use.
 

dapmdave

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I would think ebony pins as used by Taylor would tone it done some. I swapped them out of my Taylor 555 to bone and the sound got a bit brighter and more glassy.
 

Charlie Bernstein

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Thanks, gang. Good thoughts! Yeah, I'll be putting some heavier strings on those two spots, too. And the marshmallows should sweeten the sound considerably.
 

Guildedagain

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Good old fashioned plastic like Guild has used for a long time without doing too much harm to the sound.

I just like bridge pins stock, but if they're not I don't sweat it unless they're not bone colored.

I've never chased tone through bridge pins, although I wouldn't mind ditching the plastic for bone, just to have a more natural guitar.

I've also never had any good experiences trying to put new pins in old holes, and I never switch them around on a guitar, every pin goes back in the hole it came out of. When changing strings singly, this is easy. If changing all six or twelve at once, they go into a holder that keeps their original location.
 

wileypickett

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The saddle material also makes a big difference in sound. Guildedagain might object, but the first thing I do is switch out plastic saddles for bone.
 
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I don't think bridge pins effect tone much if at all. Saddle and nut yes but pins?:confused:
 

adorshki

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I don't think bridge pins effect tone much if at all. Saddle and nut yes but pins?:confused:

I agree in general, as 3 (now 4) guys have already said.
There may be something to the density of the material acting as a damper at the stop point on top of the bridge and perhaps at the bridge plate, but I suspect the bridge and saddle material have much larger impact, after the strings.
I never got around to trying anything different myself.
The change to bone nut and saddle on my D25 was dramatic enough.
 

Guildedagain

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Yes, changing the nut especially, and the saddle to bone is quite night and day.

You can hear it as soon as you start to tension the strings, wow...

I'm sure Ivory pins would be an improvement over plastic. What did Martin use prewar I wonder?
 
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adorshki

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Yes, changing the nut especially, and the saddle to bone is quite night and day.

You can hear it as soon as you start to tension the strings, wow...

I'm sure Ivory pins would be an improvement over plastic. What did Martin use prewar I wonder?

Clueless about Martin pins but it occurred to me by way of "reverse proof" (regarding what has the single biggest impact on tone):
When seeking to tone down the maple jangle of my F65ce a couple of months back, somebody mentioned changing the pins, but besides wanting to retain the abalone dot originals I was able to accomplish my mission simply by going to silk and steel strings dropped to D standard.
I do like the idea of using an organic vs man-made material as you mentioned earlier, though.
I'm just lazy and don't want to take the time dropping it ("them" if I include the other 2) off at my "go-to" guy.
Maybe when I'm retired...
 

Guildedagain

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Switching all to JP Silk and Bronze now, did it to the F30 when we had serious guitar playing company last weekend, and it went from GHS Silk & Steel to the JP's just fine, got a bigger sound I believe.

Having a hard time taking the GHS Silk & Steel off the DC5E, it sounds that good even after they've been on since winter, but undoubtedly the JP's will make it shine on even brighter...

Got a couple vintage Pink Floyd song books on the way, in the mail today, hopefully. Falling for Gilmour's acoustic stuff super hard all the sudden...

Are you ever really in control of these things, throughout "the journey"?
 

adorshki

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Got a couple vintage Pink Floyd song books on the way, in the mail today, hopefully. Falling for Gilmour's acoustic stuff super hard all the sudden...

Are you ever really in control of these things, throughout "the journey"?

No.
My next experiments will involve a stethoscope placed inside the soundhole.
 

Nuuska

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No.
My next experiments will involve a stethoscope placed inside the soundhole.


Hi

Having both - a stethoscope and good selection of microphones - forget the stethoscope, use a good mic with preamp and headphones instead.
 

adorshki

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Hi
Having both - a stethoscope and good selection of microphones - forget the stethoscope, use a good mic with preamp and headphones instead.
I already know what to expect from a mic and headphones.
This is about the search for new experiences and I wanna hear my axe through a stethoscope, dammit!
:glee:
 

dreadnut

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I have Graphtech Tusq pins with abalone dots in both my dreads. "Presentation" style pins, perfect fit. Available in black or white. I love the tone.

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Charlie Bernstein

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Yes, changing the nut especially, and the saddle to bone is quite night and day.

You can hear it as soon as you start to tension the strings, wow...

I'm sure Ivory pins would be an improvement over plastic. What did Martin use prewar I wonder?
The nut and saddle are bone. I suppose some hotshot luthier could make 'em with bone for four strings and wood for two, but I don't think I'd want to pay the price.
 

wileypickett

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I know of a guitarist who threaded his B and high E strings through pencil erasers -- placed just in front of the saddle -- as a way to mute the sound of those two strings.

Agustin Barrios (the first classical guitarist ever to record) used gut for his E A D G strings, but steel strings for the B and high E, and did the same thing, threaded them through some kind of rubber to dampen them.
 
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