Why do you change bridge pins?

[JayBee1404]

Any guitar that comes into my ownership with slotted pins gets the pin-holes reamed and slotted, and unslotted solid pins (ebony or Antique Acoustics hard plastic) installed. This is primarily for protection of the bridgeplate and for visual aesthetics, any resulting improvement in tone is very much a secondary consideration and, in most cases, there’s no change in tone at all.

[pieterh]

I only ever change them if they are plastic which is rare. My old Guild D35 came with plastic pins originally but when it came to me they’d already been changed for ebony with mother-of-pearl dots (I have the originals would you believe!).

All the other acoustics have ebony pins as far as I can tell…

[Silly Moustache]

Looks - that's all. All My Collings came with ebony pins in ebony bridges - yawn. So I put bone pins in - Pretty!

I did try a couple of sets of FW pins from Bob Colosi, but HM Customs and Excise did a number on me so I'll stick to bone from China (I suppose).

[dnf777]

Only if they break, or I drop one into the numerous worm-holes in my house and I cant find it. I did swap out a set of cheap ugly white plastic pins, but only for aesthetic reasons.

I went through a period trying different pins, years ago, from exotic plastics to brass, and honestly could not hear a difference.

[YamahaGuy]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

YamahaGuy if that's a bone saddle in your Cole Clark you can soak it in a cup with a little water and a couple tea-bags overnight and it will discolor to match those boxwood pins a little more closely.

Here's some white bone pins I soaked in tea overnight in the foreground with some soaked in coffee in the background.

Very nice touch. The saddle in the FL1E-BM is Tusq for now, but that can always change... thanks for the tip!

[buddyhu]

Originally Posted by Cool555

If the guitar comes with ebony pins, I don’t change them. If they are plastic, I change them to bone or ebony.

I usually buy used guitars, and I have purchased a couple of guitars that have plastic pins that are a mess. I've switched those out for bone pins, and thought the tone improved a bit.

But most of the time, i go with the pins that the guitar makers have provided, and I am rarely tempted to change pins to alter appearances.

[Brent Hutto]

If one breaks I replace it. That's the only reason.

[EZYPIKINS]

Originally Posted by Fred_Garvin

Looks...100%. Didn't expect any change/advantage other than looks nicer than the plastic ones.

Those are pretty

[fregly]

Other than aesthetics the only thing that potentially matters is weight. Do not use brass pins, in other words. I suspect plastic will be best for most guitars. The look is not great though.

[Methos1979]

Almost always for looks. I'm not a big fan of plastic pins, especially on beautiful high-end guitars. Sometimes I'll go for a nice ebony pin with a little abalone dot and or a few occasions I've gone for the really nice Bob Colossi vintage bone pins. On my Cole Clarks I went over to Power Pins strictly for the ease and speed of string changes since those are my stage guitars. The one thing I never change them for is tone since I can't hear any difference.

[Tnfiddler]

I had the bridge on my D41 slotted and replaced the plastic pins with Antique Acoustics unslotted pins. Do I hear any difference in tone? Not that I can tell.

[Jay5150]

At first, I tried for sound. Heard no change. On my 00-15, I bought ebony bridge pins for looks only because I was used to the look of the 00-15m and disliked the white pins on the rosewood bridge.

Tried : plastic, tusq, bone, buffalo horn and ebony. In the end, I loved the string thru bridge on my breedlove. No bridge pins needed.

[rllink]

The ones that came with the guitar seem to work well enough.

[phydaux]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

YamahaGuy if that's a bone saddle in your Cole Clark you can soak it in a cup with a little water and a couple tea-bags overnight and it will discolor to match those boxwood pins a little more closely.

Here's some white bone pins I soaked in tea overnight in the foreground with some soaked in coffee in the background.

Interesting. My '86 Guild D-25 has a plastic nut & saddle, and after 35 years the plastic has a deep amber patina that I just love.

I'm planning on taking it in this summer and having a bone nut & saddle installed (and probably a neck reset, sigh...). I might ask the tech to do the "soak overnight in tea" trick to add a patina to the new nut & saddle.

[mawmow]

I tried a few times but I don't anymore : I cannot remember on which guitars
or which type of pins it happenend, but some were too small or too tight...