Lee is correct: Martin Carthy quite methodically developed a bridge pin set made up of different materials for different strings. I forget exactly which pin is which, but I think the two lowest strings have pins made of cow horn.
I know this because I read an interview with Carthy, probably in Acoustic Guitar Magazine where he discussed it in depth. A few months later Whistling Swan Productions brought him up to play a concert in Anchorage, along with his wife and daughter, who are great singers.
Anyway, with Carthy there is a method to his bridge pin selection, and when Martin came out with a Martin Carthy signature model a few years later it came with the exact same bridge pin set that Carthy uses.
whm
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