"Ear Blindness" (and bridgepins)

[vindibona1]

You've probably seen the commercial about being "nose-blind" where after a few minutes you become oblivious to the pet and food odors in your home. I'm wondering if some of us aren't a bit "ear blind" as well, accepting errant issues with sound as "normal". I know I just experienced that myself.

I was testing my 814ceDLX to see if I could hear any difference in sound after a couple days of additional Tonerite application. I was using my 614ceDLX as the "control" guitar for comparison. In this moment my hearing was turned on to "critical listening mode". I was listening for nuance and trying to be aware of every detail. So I strummed a few chords of the 814, put it down and picked up the 614ce. As I listened to the 614 I was listening across the entire chord spectrum and though slight, I could hear the B string projecting just a hair more than the other strings. It was very slight and I hadn't noticed it before. But every chord I played I could distinctly pick out the B string among the others. Not the high E as one would expect, but the B string.

I just had to see if I was hearing things, or was simply wrong in my analysis. So I quickly took it to the other room, installed an African Blackwood pin in place of the ebony pin on that B string... And voila, the sound blended back in with the other strings! Hmmm? Did my 814 have a similar issue? So I picked it up, did the same test, and to a lesser degree that pesky B string sound stood out among the rest. Same experimental fix: African Blackwood pin in the 2nd slot. Same result.

I was surprised that I hadn't been keen enough to identify this before. But again, we get so used to hearing whatever it is that we accept it as it is, just like we accept food and pet smells. I suppose many can't hear the differences and I guess in some ways that's a blessing. Being able to hear minute nuances to the point of it being bothersome is both a blessing and a curse [ask me about the time my tuner accidentally got recalibrated to 441hz!].

So in this moment my both my Taylors have ebony pins in the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th slots, buffalo in the 6th and African blackwood in the 2nd. The 814 is due for a string change in the next few days. I'll see if I'm still hearing the same issue afterward.

Just thought I'd share.

[rick-slo]

Probably very good guitar players who are able to draw out a wide range of tones and dynamics from their guitars via their
refined technique and musicality are the best judges of what's what.

[AndrewG]

Life's too short...

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Probably very good guitar players who are able to draw out a wide range of tones and dynamics from their guitars via their
refined technique and musicality are the best judges of what's what.

Sure... but are they REALLY paying attention. I recall having played in a symphony orchestra for 10 years, sitting next to some incredible players, only then realizing that I was hearing harmonics and overtones that weren't precisely in tune with the fundamentals. It's not like I was hearing something different but became awakened to something I was hearing all along. It was just one day I was paying close attention to the timbre of the sound and realized that what I had previously perceived as a "dark" sound was lacking needed brilliance and realized why.

And with all good players, we all make automatic adjustments for some things, sometimes unconsciously. And perhaps folks like the anomalies of the sounds- and that's ok. But this is about awakening awareness of subtleties.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

Sure... but are they REALLY paying attention. I recall having played in a symphony orchestra for 10 years, sitting next to some incredible players, only then realizing that I was hearing harmonics and overtones that weren't precisely in tune with the fundamentals. It's not like I was hearing something different but became awakened to something I was hearing all along. It was just one day I was paying close attention to the timbre of the sound and realized that what I had previously perceived as a "dark" sound was lacking needed brilliance and realized why.

And with all good players, we all make automatic adjustments for some things, sometimes unconsciously. And perhaps folks like the anomalies of the sounds- and that's ok. But this is about awakening awareness of subtleties.

IMO they have proved themselves via refined technique and sensitive and musical playing. For example when someone like Michael Chapdelaine
says something about playing technique or about some guitar or gear I freely pay attention and don't feel there is some other agenda going on.

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

Life's too short...

Amen, Andrew. I’ve heard there are people who enjoy watching paint dry too.

[Goodallboy]

Originally Posted by JayBee1404

Amen, Andrew. I’ve heard there are people who enjoy watching paint dry too.

Since he's talking about sound and this is an Acoustic Guitar Forum, where we discuss tone, sound, etc., I don't see the connection with paint drying. Oh, I get the disparagement intended, I just think a better analogy might have been reached with more thought put into it.

I appreciate the thought and effort Vin puts into sharing his experiences, even though I'll never swap a bridge pin.

[zmf]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

[ask me about the time my tuner accidentally got recalibrated to 441hz!].

OK. What happened the time your tuner got accidentally recalibrated to 441 Hz?

[guitararmy]

As I've posted before, if you Really want to try something different try using a 1/8" aluminum pop rivet washer to anchor the ball end against the bridge plate and eliminate the bridge pin altogether. I've done this on 3 guitars, and noticed an improvement on 2 of them, and only a subtle improvement on the 3rd one.
Again, this isn't a viable option on a live performance guitar due to the difficulty restringing in an emergency...

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by Goodallboy

Since he's talking about sound and this is an Acoustic Guitar Forum, where we discuss tone, sound, etc., I don't see the connection with paint drying. Oh, I get the disparagement intended, I just think a better analogy might have been reached with more thought put into it.

I appreciate the thought and effort Vin puts into sharing his experiences, even though I'll never swap a bridge pin.

Thank you. Obviously, there are some who haven't got anything intelligent to add and must be bored silly with their own lives. I respect that some folks don't want to be bothered with any of this stuff. It can be time consuming on several levels.

But it makes no difference to me whatsoever if those that disparage my observations and idea sharing wish to be ignorant. They think they are contributing something to the forum and that's ok. They can go on thinking that. I get enough PM's behind the scenes to know that some folks get enough out of the postings to make it worthwhile to do.

[JayBee1404]

Apologies Vin, I thought I was being light-hearted, but obviously it’s more than just the British spelling of ‘humo(u)r’ thats different to American!

Carry on...

[Shades of Blue]

I liken it to seeing your favorite moving 20 times, and then one day you notice one tiny minutia in the background of a scene and are like, "wow I never noticed that before." It doesn't change your opinion of the movie, and you will probably forget you saw it the next day.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

I liken it to seeing your favorite moving 20 times, and then one day you notice one tiny minutia in the background of a scene and are like, "wow I never noticed that before." It doesn't change your opinion of the movie, and you will probably forget you saw it the next day.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

Thank you. Obviously, there are some who haven't got anything intelligent to add and must be bored silly with their own lives. I respect that some folks don't want to be bothered with any of this stuff. It can be time consuming on several levels.

But it makes no difference to me whatsoever if those that disparage my observations and idea sharing wish to be ignorant. They think they are contributing something to the forum and that's ok. They can go on thinking that. I get enough PM's behind the scenes to know that some folks get enough out of the postings to make it worthwhile to do.

I have to say that I have learned a lot more about human nature on this forum since I joined. I thought I knew a lot as I spent most of my career in sales, but this place taught me there are a lot of things I didn't know and not all of them were good. The one thing that always jumps out at is the tendency for some folks to be judgmental or put stuff down. That's too bad since we can maybe all learn something from other folks, but if we choose not to, then maybe just leave it alone.

[Silly Moustache]

My guitars (Collings, Santa cruz) came with ebony pins. I changed them to bone because I prefer the look of white/ivory coloured bone in an ebony bridge, but, I have noticed a slight but definite change in the tone, esp, in my 000 and Waterloo guitars.

A little extra brightness and sustain ? Neither of which Collings need of course, which is probably why Collings keep to ebony pins.

My "bones" are staying!