Bridge pin tone?

[Scratch]

Good stuff here. Think I'll change out my pins now that I've read these comments. Agree that plastic detracts from the beauty... Bone or tusq, maybe... Has anyone tried wooden pins?

 

[JerryR]

For what it is worth, my friend, Ross the magic luthier has replaced the saddle and nut on several of my guitars with bone. He recommends against changing the pins unless they are cracked/broken. In his opinion, they are nice aesthetics, but do little to improve sound quality. In my opinion; to each his own...

Hi Scratch - my magic luthier is Jim Macey, and he's set up my Epi (a total transformation) and Guild (less to transforem - but still better). He's a great believer in bone nut and saddle, but like Ross, thinks the pins don't affect the sound, as the string is vibrating on the nut and particularly the saddle, and transferring that via the bridge to the box. The pins are only holding the string ends in place. He replaced my Guild's pins which were bent to hell with new plastic ones - look pretty enough (black with white 'eyes'), but still only plastic. One day when I'm rich and famous (ha ha) I might lash out on bone, or gold, or diamond - but it will be for cosmetic reasons.

Anyway, the way I play the whole guitar might as well be plastic :mrgreen:

 

[Graham]

Has anyone tried wooden pins?

I think the pins my DV came with were ebony. I'll look for them and cut them in half to see. :shock: :wink:

 

[JerryR]

Has anyone tried wooden pins?

I think the pins my DV came with were ebony. I'll look for them and cut them in half to see. :shock: :wink:

You probably wood :mrgreen:

 

[mole2]

...
I think the that the pins make direct contact with the string ball ends, and presumably they do transmit vibration within the bridge. Thus, they play a role. To what degree, I don't know.

It's surprising how relevant the components "behind" the saddle (i.e., the bridge holes and slots, and the pins) are to the sound. If you've ever seated the ball end of a string incorrectly, even with the bridge pin all the way in, you can hear buzzing and thuddy sound resonation... it's rather remarkable that it matters at all, but it does!

Actually, that's just loose parts rattling in sympathy to the sound waves. Sorta like things rattling in your house when a plane flies over. Anything loose on the guitar will rattle. But adding sound to the sound board is a whole 'nother thing.

 

[coastie99]

I doubt if we'll ever settle the tusq vs bone issue to everybody's satisfaction, but I'm a bone guy. Maybe I'm just so old fashioned that I've ossified.

' Strang

Could be a whole lot worse 12-er.

Be thankful you haven't Ozzie-fied !

 

[JerryR]

I doubt if we'll ever settle the tusq vs bone issue to everybody's satisfaction, but I'm a bone guy. Maybe I'm just so old fashioned that I've ossified.

' Strang

Could be a whole lot worse 12-er.

Be thankful you haven't Ozzie-fied !

Nothin' like a good old-fashioned boner :mrgreen:

 

[12 string]

Now I've been Coastiefied!! :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

And that's the bonerfied truth!

 

[chazmo]

[ ... ]Has anyone tried wooden pins?

Hey, Scratch, haven't tried 'em on a Guild, but I have Boxwood pins in my Artwood AW-75, Ebony pins in two of my Taylors, and Rosewood pins in another one. I like 'em all. I have yet to try bone or tusq.

 

[Kap'n]

Has anyone tried wooden pins?

Wood (ebony) pins came stock on my Larrivee. They sound fine.

I suspect that most of the sound differences that people describe from bridge pin changes have to do with the total mass of the pins, and how that affects top vibration, and not specifically the substance they're made of.

 

[sausgirl]

Hi Steel,
I don't see where the nut has any tonal change,
but I did see a big change when I changed out the ebony pins on an all koa guitar to buffalo horn.
The ebony made the sound much too bright.
The buffalo horn made the string ring a bit less, so no loud overtones.
The saddle was already bone so I didn't change it.
JMO,
Jan

 

[jwintersteller]

I recently changed the pins on my D-55 from the original plastic to bone (to match the material of the nut and saddle.) There is a subtle, yet noticeable difference. A little sweeter sounding.

I had a Martin 000-16RGTE that I upgraded the nut, saddle and pins to FWI. HUGE difference.

Everyone has their own opinion on which material to use vs. another. But I am a believer that the sum of all these components adds to the instrument's voice, even the little things like the pins.

 

[Dave Baird]

I put rosewood pins on my Martin D42 - made a big difference - it sounded great to start with and after the rosewood pins it sounded absolutely brilliant. All my other acoustics have ebony/abalone bridge pins, but that is more an aesthetic thing for me, although I am convinced they make a difference.

 

[JerryR]

Hi Dave - and welcome to a man not afraid to give his name and address Good to see youv'e got the obligatory geezer beard (Carol, take note) :mrgreen:

 

[A Song In Your Hands]

It's surprising how relevant the components "behind" the saddle (i.e., the bridge holes and slots, and the pins) are to the sound. If you've ever seated the ball end of a string incorrectly, even with the bridge pin all the way in, you can hear buzzing and thuddy sound resonation... it's rather remarkable that it matters at all, but it does!

The buzzing is just your ball end vibrating against the bridge plate.

 

[JerryR]

It's surprising how relevant the components "behind" the saddle (i.e., the bridge holes and slots, and the pins) are to the sound. If you've ever seated the ball end of a string incorrectly, even with the bridge pin all the way in, you can hear buzzing and thuddy sound resonation... it's rather remarkable that it matters at all, but it does!

The buzzing is just your ball end vibrating against the bridge plate.

Sounds rude - :shock: I've recently had plastic pins changed for bone - the tone is great but I can't help thinking it's because I've abandoned Elixr and reverted to d'Addario - using lites instead of extra lites

 

[chicagowineguy]

Ha Ha! I just replied to a post asking about ways to change the tone of his DV4 and I mentioned that swapping bridge pins is always a very debatable subject. I then begin reading this thread...confirming my statement. Personally, I think it's all voodoo, man...sticking pins in and all...ooh...

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

I have tried different pins on my guitars with little or no audible change.
If I want to make my guitar sound different, I'll use a different brand of pick.

To me there is more tonal difference between pick material than there is in different pin material.

I am in the, "Pins make an astetic difference and very little tonal difference, group!"

 

[Recky]

Guess I'll add my 2 euro cents, too

I have just replaced the ORIGINAL pins on my D-50, as they were bent like bananas and disintegrated in parts (great fit though!), and bought bone ones instead. In order to find out if there's any tonal difference I put the same set of fresh strings back on. I have to say, the difference is not so subtle to my audio engineering ears: The impact of the string vibration on the top seems greater, which gives more overall piano-like attack, not necessarily in the trebles - in fact, it sounds a hair mellower now - but my strumming is a bit clearer now.

Of course, it's not like day and night, but the difference could be compared to changing pick material (which I recently did: I went from nylon to good old-fashioned celluloid and I ain't going back!!! I feel a new thread coming up...).

Cheers,
Recky

 

[krysh]

Has anyone tried wooden pins?

I have Rosewood Pins in my D-46 but since this was done with a completely new setup I cant't tell the difference, except the guitar sounds great .
maybe I should try bone, too, any recommendations folks?