Rainsong bridge pins
 

Has anyone bothered to change the pins on their Rainsong to anything other than the Tusq pins they ship with?

I feel like a pretty big outsider in guitar world, in that I actually like Tusq.

The guys at MacNichol http://www.macnichol.com/ had a lot of experience putting bone parts (nut/saddle/pins) on carbon fiber guitars, perhaps they could be a resource worth contacting.

The only bridge pins that I have ever changed out were on my Martin J-40. I swapped white plastic pins for black ebony pins with abalone dots -- purely for cosmetic reasons. If something breaks or gets lost, I will replace as needed. But not just for the sake of changing. If that floats your boat, I'm fine with it.

I also have never changed a nut or saddle unless making a new one, and usually replaced it in kind. Just sayin'.......

Yeah, but It's my party and I'll cry if I want to :)

I swapped mine out with buffalo horn pins from Bob Colosi. Not sure if I can hear a difference or not. I do like the pins, but they are quite similar to the original Tusq pins.

I'm not really one of those people who are sold on the idea that bridge pins really change the tone anyway. The main point of this thread what's to get an idea if anybody ever even bothered in the first place, and to maybe find out what size they use. My main interest is to get some pins with a little bit more mass them than 2 grams of Tusq ( it might help even tone down the brightness of my Rainsong a little bit more). Not to mention that Ebony bone or horn are probably a lot more durable. Brass would be the heaviest but I think that would be detrimental to the guitars tone- and maybe none of it matters anyway?

I put some titanium pins on my Rainsongs and didn't like the pins. I then tried them on all the other cf guitars I own and didn't like the sound of the titanium pins.
Barb

Thanks Barb. Not surprised you didn't like the change, I can't imagine pins making that much of a difference but I don't doubt what you are hearing. I have already changed the saddle to MOP and the strings to Retros- I might just have it as mellow as I'll ever get it.

While Rainsongs are known for being on the brighter side of the CF builder spectrum, all CF has a "glassy" sound which, to my ears, can translate to added brightness. It is pretty noticeable how much strings change the tone of a Rainsong though.

a Leslie Gore pull! Well done Sean! :D

On my shorty I did in 2015

http://www.acousticgallery.com/photo...ridge_Pins.JPG

http://www.acousticgallery.com/photo...ridge_Pins.JPG

Picture isnt great
My receipt says its from Luthiers Mercantile in Windsor Calif 800.477.4437 as Ebony Bridge pins with "Parisian Eye" which is a Mother of Pearl center and outer gold colored circle line. $5.15, shipping was $8.50 and tax for me was $1.12 :D

I did it for aesthetic reasons because I added gold tuners with ebony keys and blacked out the nut and saddle. The original Rainsong bridge pins seemed a little weird as I recall but its been a few years and I don't remember what that minor issue was? I kinda think they were a little too skinny and fell out of the hole if the string ball wasn't wedged against it correctly.

http://www.acousticgallery.com/photo...horty_Full.JPG

http://www.acousticgallery.com/photo..._Headstock.JPG

I likes 'em.

Thanks Brett. They look great and it is nice to see a fresh post from you! Did you find that they did more for your guitar than just add a nice touch- provide a tighter fit, better the tone??

Curious - aren't the Tusq pins heavier than the horn? I like a light weight pin myself.

Have not bothered.

Rainsong uses industry standard 3-degree pins, so lots of options though.

I, like a few others, like Tusq products!