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Old 06-04-2011, 07:37 AM
iknowjohnny iknowjohnny is offline
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Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 273
Default Bridge pins DO change tone

lets face it, not everyone's sensitivity to hearing tonal changes is the same. Add to that the fact not every guitar is going to change to the same degree with different pins. But the fact is, they CAN make a very notable difference. Of course they won't change a D18 to a 000-18 or make a great sounding guitar sound like a lam top junker. But I experienced this for the first time yesterday. I've never experimented with pins before for some reason. But i bought some stewmac ivoroid unslotted pins which arrived yesterday. Turns out they are larger in both head size, top diameter and weight. I measured mine and the stewmac specs showed the same measurment, but they weren't. They are heavier and harder and i think that makes a difference.

Anyways, i was afraid to ream the holes because this guitar sounds perfect. I hate to use that word because I know no guitars can, or at least thats always been my belief. But i honestly can say that what i want from a 000-18 style guitar is exactly what this delivers, and as perfect as the sound i hear in my head when i think of what the perfect 000-18 should sound like. Maybe thats why it was so obvious to me, because when something that right changes even a bit, you hear it big time. Anyways, i reamed the E, B and G strings and slotted then. At that point i played it a bit before i did the rest to see if it was sounding any different. As much as i love this guitar's tone, the change horrified me ! No, it wasn't nite and day, but when something sounds perfect then changes just enough to where it no longer does, THAT is horrifying ! I figured i ruined it because of the slotting and reaming. I was heartbroken until i replaced the old pins using the backwards so the slots were opposite of the string to make up for the slotting. The tone was back ! I was relieved Big time. So i left the 3 remaining holes unreamed and played it a while.

Now i'm no beginner when it comes to A/B'ing tonal changes due to mods. I've been doing is forever. So knowing how ears can be fooled and being more familiar with placebo effect than the back of my hand, i decided later that nite to put the 3 pins where i had reamed the holes. The change was definitely very apparent. So they're out and the old pins are staying. Since then i keep listening to hear if theres a difference from having reamed the 3 holes and slotting them, but so far i don't think so. At times i feel there may be, but thankfully if there is it's so subtle that it's negligible, at least so far. Fingers are crossed. I'm bothered some by the fact i have 3 slightly larger and slotted holes now, but thats a lot better than the alternative, the tone i heard with the new pins.

anyways, i broke my #1 rule, a rule that i foolishly ignore now and then even thos i know it well and have screwed myself many times ignoring it..."if it ain't broke, don't fix it" ! may advice to those considering reaming or slotting.....don't. Barring the NEED to do it because of issues wroth the ball end chewing up the plate, leave it. Tone is tricky and one thing i have learned is that the changes often don't reveal themselves to you much when you first make a change. But often going BACK to the old setup makes the change much more apparent. So often you go on with a change to the bad not even realizing it then down the road you start feeling something ain't quite as good as it used to be. Anyways, i do expect the typical internet forum bashing for suggesting i hear something that others are sure can't be heard. But Thats my story and i'm sticking to it.
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