Why do you change bridge pins?

[phydaux]

Originally Posted by 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.

Yes I have read that modern plastics have the combination of hardness and low mass that yields the best results for tone, volume, and durability. And I still replace my plastic bridge pins with rosewood or ebony every time.

[Bob Womack]

I change 'em for the visual aesthetic. My first nice guitar came with ebony pins with abalone inserts so I am somewhat partial to 'em. I've put them on all my guitars. The new OM-28 came with white plastic with faux tortoise pins. Now I've got a dilemma. First world problem.

Bob

[Goat Mick]

I change the pins on every guitar just because I really hate those cheap soft plastic stock pins that get mangled so easily. I usually go for Tusq or wood pins and sometimes gut surprised by a positive impact on the guitar tone. One guitar that really surprised me was a Farida OT-22w. I swapped out the stock plastic pins with Tusq and it sounded really bad. Just dead and bleh. So I swapped the Tusq pins out for Snakewood and it sounded great. Much better than it did with the stock plastic pins. So basically I change because I just really hate the soft plastic stock pins. It's nice that the replacements look good too, but that's an added bonus.

[Fred_Garvin]

Originally Posted by EZYPIKINS

Those are pretty

I thought so too....they're cocobolo with inlaid abalone. $13 on Amazon with a nice metal tool.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B09369RZ...v_ov_lig_dp_it

[Jamolay]

I put bone pins in just for my sense of completeness. It can with a bone nut and saddle, so I wanted bone pins too. No change in sound or appearance really, maybe a torch less bright white color.

Why I don’t get, really, is why it came with plastic pins? It is a Larrivee OM-2, which is their entry level guitar. Higher end Larrivee guitars come with bone pins and the cost for me to buy them was in the $30 dollar range as I recall. I can’t imagine that it would seriously effect the price of a $1000-$2000 dollar guitar.

I probably should consider ebony. It would match the bridge and if wood pins soften the sound a little, I may like it.

[Mark Stone]

I don't change bridge pins, but if I did it would be for looks.

[Mark Stone]

I had a laminated Ibanez with plastic pins, and a Gibson Hummingbird Pro with wood. This was around 8 years ago or so, and just for kicks (after reading a thread here at the AGF) I exchanged them to see how it affected tone. There was no difference that I could hear in either guitar. So, because I'm a lazy sort, The Gibson kept its new plastic pins and the Ibazez AEL Jumbo got to keep its wooden ones.

[Dr Dread]

Originally Posted by stevo58

Looks. I am annoyed no end that an expensive guitar comes with cheap plastic molded pins. My ears are too old to hear any possible tone difference.

Steven

I don't. I've always leaned more towards utilitarian value over aesthetics. That's not to say that I don't appreciate nice things, but I've never really noticed any difference in tone with different pins, and if a guitar sounds good to me and plays well, I'm happy.

[jseth]

Over the past 40+ years, my acoustic guitars have each been hand-builds... never saw the need to change the bridge pins for either aesthetic or "different" tone.

Only time I've ever gotten new ones was if and when the pins themselves are damaged in some way...

[Dru Edwards]

YamahaGuy, I don't think I've ever replaced bridge pins. I've thought about trying out some brass ones for tonal considerations but I've read lots of negative feedback on it.

[blindboyjimi]

Other: I put solid pins in slotted bridges on all my keeper guitars. I hear no tonal effect. It’s just to protect the bridge plate.

[KalamazooGuy]

Originally Posted by rllink

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

Agree. If not, always plastic or lightest option.

[Birchtop]

I voted “I don’t”, But…

I have tried a few times over the years, but never found that it made an improvement. And I like keeping things original on my instruments anyways, even the electrics, where there’s lots of electronics, bridges, Bigsby’s, etc. to mess and play with.

And here’s the “But”… I do use ebony pins on my 000-18. They’ve been on for almost a year now. Not sure why I tried them, but during a string change one day I decided to fit a set on that I had laying around here, and I instantly heard a sound difference that I liked. That was many string changes ago. I may put the plastic ones back in next string change, just to see if I notice as a big of difference as I did the first time.

[EZYPIKINS]

I changed the pins on my J-185 to a bone w/pearl

Changed my GPCPA1 to bone w/Pearl

Changed 000-15 to Ebony

My OM-28 has white plastic with a deep red dot.

This drives a buddy of mine up the wall. Doesn't seem to bother me.

[KenL]

I'm not crazy about white plastic pins, so I always switch them out for ebony.

I still have the pins that came in my old Guild when I got it in 2000. They look like gnarly old teeth. The ebony pins look way better.