What's a mellow-sounding bridge pin material?

Charlie Bernstein

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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.
Great ideas!
 

Guildedagain

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Maybe that's why you see something slipped under the trebles sometimes, matchbook cover or similar material, sometimes tiny tubing. I thought it was to raise up a string, maybe both.
 

adorshki

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Maybe that's why you see something slipped under the trebles sometimes, matchbook cover or similar material, sometimes tiny tubing. I thought it was to raise up a string, maybe both.

On an acoustic?
But something else occurred to me:
Since the OP mentioned a new saddle ,
Maybe all it needs is a bit of improvement in the "curve"/ramping under those strings, maybe it's a tiny bit too sharp:
http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/MakeNewSaddle/newsaddle02.html
 

Charlie Bernstein

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adorshki

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Yep, acoustic.
Oh, no, that was about this comment:
Maybe that's why you see something slipped under the trebles sometimes, matchbook cover or similar material, sometimes tiny tubing. I thought it was to raise up a string, maybe both.
Now I realize maybe he still meant "behind the saddle"; I thought he meant literally between the string and the saddle at the point of contact.
I have heard of a similar technique used to get a banjo-like tone from an electric ("Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter"); but nope can't recall hearing of a true mag pickup electric with bridge pins.
:smile:
 

nielDa

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Several years ago, being skeptical about bridge pin swapping, I improvised- sticking a chopstick in the pin hole (bamboo and the softer wood version), and balsa wood (softest). A quick experiment. The difference was surprising. I sprung for a set of ebony pins. Try something softer than bone for the pins, it’s easy and the effect will be noticeable. (Some materials, like plastic v. bone, may be close in hardness, less noticeable.)
 

stormin1155

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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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I recently did a round of pin testing on my '72 D-35, and after trying rosewood, regular bone, and water buffalo horn, I settled on Tusq.
 
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