Bridge pins for Martin D35

[Dr_el]

I bought a new Martin D35 in 2020 and was surprised to find that it came with plastic bridge pins. Didn't think much of it, and over the past couple of years, proceeded to try a variety of different strings, testing alloys, gauges, etc. I have settled on the standard Martin SP authentic MA550 mediums, although the Santa Cruz parabolic mid tensions are also excellent on that guitar.

I read mixed reviews on whether bone bridge pins (or other hard materials) actually make a difference to the sound. I ordered a set of bone bridge pins from Bob Colosi to try. They were almost a perfect fit, but needed slight tweaking in their diameter, which I got my local guitar tech to do. Based on what I read, I was not expecting much tonal differences. To my surprise, they did give noticeably more sustain, and seemed to augment that "sweet" sound that Martins are known for. I should add the tech made a slight truss rod adjustment, put on a fresh set of strings, and installed a K&K pure mini for amplification.

This all makes me still wonder why Martin does not ship a high end guitar like the D35 with bone bridge pins, as they do with a bone saddle and nut.

[Stevien]

Most likely Martin believes that those who obsess with those things are going to buy what they think works the best anyway, so why bother. And most Martin loyalists believe plastic ends up sounding the best on Martins anyway, so it's something for the end user to play with.
Steve

[SFCRetired]

It all depends on who you talk to whether they make a difference or not. I don't know what people hear in regards to saddles, bridge pins and the like, but I have tried different things like bone saddles and I also put some bone pins on my D35 bought from Maury's Music, (the pins not the guitar) and at first I thought I heard a difference but to this day I don't know if I heard a difference because I wanted to or it did make a difference. If it did it was very little.

Why doesn't Martin do it? You will get a lot of answers from people guessing. Only Martin knows why and I'm not sure they would tell you.

I really don't know how pins can't make much of a difference in the sound of a guitar since the strings actually run across the wood and the pin merely holds the string in place. But I'm not saying they don't make a difference either.

[L20A]

Pins do very little to the tone of a guitar.
Some guitars may react more to pin material change than others.
I change out the pins on my guitars for pins of my choice.
I do this for ascetics primarily. On occasion, I may hear a tonal difference with the new pins but not much.

Many guitar owners will change out the stock pins for pins of their choice.
I know that I do and so does almost every guitar player that I know.

With these two reasons, it makes sense to me that guitar makers choose to use the cheaper material for OEM pins.

[SFCRetired]

One more note of interest. I didn't put bone pins on my D35 because I thought it would upgrade the guitar. I did it because I had a pin fly across the room and freaked out I would never find it and wanted some extra pins around, so I just bought bone. ( I did find the pin)

[Dr_el]

Two themes so far are "those who obsess with those things" and "I heard a difference because I wanted to"...makes me think that psychology and mindset are important issues. I guess Martin recognizes that. Such an inexpensive "upgrade" though.

[b1j]

My used HD-28 came with bone pins. I think they look quite nice, and I’m glad they’re there. I never would have changed them myself, and I’ve never given any thought to whether the bone pins enhance the tone. But they are subtly beautiful.

[SFCRetired]

Originally Posted by Dr_el

Two themes so far are "those who obsess with those things" and "I heard a difference because I wanted to"...makes me think that psychology and mindset are important issues. I guess Martin recognizes that. Such an inexpensive "upgrade" though.

I agree, why not try them out. One thing is certain, bone pins will never hurt your guitar sound, but people do need to think hard about changing saddles. Sometimes a certain saddle is used because it is the best for that guitar. Especially if you have electronics. Martin uses tusq and bone saddles depending on the circumstance. I think they use plastic on their lower end so those would benefit from a bone or tusq saddle.

[Rev Roy]

Originally Posted by Dr_el

This all makes me still wonder why Martin does not ship a high end guitar like the D35 with bone bridge pins, as they do with a bone saddle and nut.

Here’s what Martin says about it. Basically it uses plastic pins because it considers them as the most “neutral.” The high end guitars like Authentics ship with bone.

[Charlie Bernstein]

I put bone pins on my Guild, and they did seem to brighten up the wound strings. They brightened the two treble strings too much, though, so I replaced those two with rosewood pins for no other reason but that the fretboard is rosewood. I'm sure putting the plastic pins back would've been fine. But not as much fun.

I like how it sounds now, but the improvement could well just be my imagination. Most folks with experience say that the saddle is where it matters most because that's where the strings' vibrations get inside the box. The nut is far removed from the action, so the effect their isn't as great.

And the bridge pins? They're just holding the strings down. Yes, there's some vibration going through them; no, it's not much.

[stephenT]

When I bought my 00-28 I tried several different types of bridge pins I had on hand,.. bone, ebony, snakewood and FWI (all w/ the same strings and TR adjustment).

I found I preferred the plastic Martin pins. BTW, I'm sure those who say there's no difference in sound couldn't hear any difference,..

[ShrinkStrum]

From a physics standpoint, I don't how anything distal to the contact points can have any effect. The bridge is making contact, not the pin. How does something distal/beyond the bridge have any effect?

[Glennwillow]

I have a 1967 Martin D-35. I have tried all kinds of different bridge pins in that guitar over the years. The best sound for me, particularly to tame the brightness that that guitar has taken on in its old age, are the original plastic pins.

- Glenn

[jbrnigan]

My D-28 sounded great right out of the box. I replaced the bridge pins with ebony because the bridge is ebony. I couldn't tell any difference. Now...strings and picks DO make a differnce in the guitars sound

[martingitdave]

As a big nerd and a Martin fan, I can give you my $0.02.

I believe Martin does it because of cost and for practical warranty reasons. Hard materials that expand and contract differently than the bridge materials can cause cracks in the bridge if they get jammed in there too hard. Martin makes too many guitars to want to worry about this.

Secondly, I think the tone is often better with plastic. Some dark sounding guitars sound better with bone. Some bright guitars sound better with ebony. Most sound pretty good with plastic, which some describe as neutral. Some think the bridge pin material debate is a load of bull and it makes no difference. I can say that when I experimented, it made a difference. But I can't prove if it was the mass, hardness, particular fit of the pins that made the difference. It just made a difference.