Do you think bridge pins change tone?

[bancika]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

My personal favorites are the hard plastic ivoroid bridge pins that Stewart-MacDonald makes and offers on their website:

I was just preparing to order those for GS Mini...hopefully they would fit without too much hassle. To me they look better than pretty much anything else.

[Wade Hampton]

Bane, they have a 5º taper to them, if that helps.


whm

[HHP]

My practical sense says if you pluck a string behind the saddle or nut, you get a toneless "ploink" sound. My assessment says that due to this, changes behind the saddle or above the nut aren't going to be doing much tonewise.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[bancika]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Bane, they have a 5º taper to them, if that helps.

Yes, they don't seem to have 3 degree variation of any pins. But many people seem to put Martin pins on the Mini, so I thought I should give it a try.

[bancika]

Originally Posted by HHP

My practical sense says if you pluck a string behind the saddle or nut, you get a toneless "ploink" sound. My assessment says that due to this, changes behind the saddle or above the nut aren't going to be doing much tonewise.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

then why don't they make acoustic guitar like this?

[HHP]

Originally Posted by bancika

then why don't they make acoustic guitar like this?

I guess because then people would wonder if the knob material changes the tone.

[DanPanther]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Yes, something that always puzzles me is when someone will post raving about how wonderful their new guitar is and then ask, often in the same post, what they can do to "improve" it.

I guess the answer is that it's just human nature to be constantly seeking something "better".....


whm

Or practice more, that does wonders to improve the sound of any guitar.
Dan

[Howard Klepper]

Black pins make a guitar sound darker. White pins make it sound brighter.

[nrand]

Recently I swapped out two sets out of necessity.
In one guitar I installed ebony pins I sanded down* precisely to replace some poorly fitted plastic pins and there was an improvement to my ear.

On the second guitar I fitted bone pins to replace the original plastic pins which were beginning to disintegrate. On this one I could not detect any meaningful difference with the new pins.

*Note, in both cases I started with slightly oversize pins and sanded them down slowly - a little job I enjoy from time to time.


So yes, in some cases, pins can make a difference to tone.

All my guitars have nice pins and for the most part its about the look.

[DesertTwang]

Originally Posted by Pheof

Does this make any sense, or is it a pigment of my imagication?

It's "figment," although "pigment" is very creative.

[Arthur Blake]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Bridge pins sometimes make a difference in the tone, but not always. ... To be sure, I went back and forth a couple of times between the original pins and ebony, and the difference in tone was clearly apparent.

The ebony bridge pins I ordered were supposed to fit, but required sanding.

After installing them, and reading comments like those in this thread, decided there really was no discernible difference, so I removed them.

But, then realized I liked the previous sound far better and reinstalled them immediately. They've been in ever since. Apart from appearance, the ebony is less likely to deform.

Purely by conjecture, seems to me there is a connection of the bridge to the sound board and bridge plate below by the pins wedged in place against the ball ends and all three pieces of wood critical to sound production, although everything is already bonded by glue.

The consensus seems to be that many detect zero difference or prefer plastic, but on some more lightly built guitars differences can be real.
~~~~~~~~~
Here's one more thing.

Read that end pins can cause damage during shipping or transit, and I don't use a strap on the OM size, so for four to five months just left out the end pin.

Sound seemed to improve when I installed it, so it too has been in ever since - ebony, of course.

[00-28]

I have Torrefied hide glue bridge pins. ...........Mike

[HHP]

Originally Posted by 00-28

I have Torrefied hide glue bridge pins. ...........Mike

Those are OK, but the ones carved from moonrocks really stand out. Tyrannasaurus bone is a close second.

[00-28]

Originally Posted by HHP

Those are OK, but the ones carved from moonrocks really stand out. Tyrannasaurus bone is a close second.

Oh, did I forget to mention that the Torrefication process was done on a full moon? Tyrannosaurus bone? That would be a T-bone, right? .....Mike

[SOR]

Yes, pins change tone. I try ebony, buffalo horn and bone pins in every guitar I acquire and settle on the one that sounds best with that particular guitar. I find the effect quite obvious.