Changed the strings- changed the pins- voila!

[vindibona1]

I had a set of Elixir 80/20's go south on me in 10 days after install. Not entirely the strings' fault as I loosened them a couple times while fitting a new saddle. So I had a set of John Pearse that I wanted to try on this guitar, my '81 MIJ Epiphone PR-755s. Think D28 sound.

I had fine tuned the Elixirs' sound with two pairs of custom made bone pins and two ebony pins. Sounded pretty good, but nothing to shout about. So on went the JP phos/bronze strings. I didn't expect them to sound as dark as they did right out of the box and I don't consider my Epi a particularly dark guitar. So listening critically I asked myself, what's missing in this sound? "Articulation", I thought. I knew right away to go for the Buffalo Horn pins. In my Taylors the Buffalo pins had a piano-like quality, too articulate for my Taylors. I figured they had to do something with this guitar/string set combination. No promises that it would be good, but what the heck?

So I switched out the custom 3-pair set and installed Buffalo horn. Yep. Much better. The combination of these strings with these pins on this guitar did something I hadn't expected. The overtones and harmonics were noticeably better in tune with the fundamentals and the richness and size of the sound improved significantly. I didn't notice that much difference with the strings alone, but the pin change was that small incremental change that just made everything click together.

We guitar players typically don't think of matching pins with strings on a guitar and just use whatever is there. And while I recognize that most of us don't have immediate access to different bridge pin sets, I wanted to share my experience as, even if just for fun, it might encourage folks to try something a little out of the box. It's fun to color outside the lines from time to time! You never know what's gonna happen until you take a flyer and try stuff.

Thanks for taking time to read another of my utterings!

[tippy5]

Good report. Buffalo it is.

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by tippy5

Good report. Buffalo it is.

The four most useful bridge pin materials are bone, ebony, African blackwood and Buffalo horn. The blackwood is a bit hard to get (I have some on ordered but are backordered), but are probably the most helpful in dialing in tone. While helps tame excess highs without killing mojo. 2nd would be Buffalo horn which provides better articulation. Ebony is very lush and bone is rich and articulate, but not as much as Buffalo horn. They're pretty cheap from the right source and well worth the time of experimenting with, if for no other reason it helps you understand the role of each string in a guitar and how you can fine tune it.

I just thought of a good parallel... If you know anything about violins, you would know that they put little mutes on some strings to even out the balance of the sound across the instrument. While the method is different the idea is the same. The saddle strings and pins are all modular and the goal is to find the best combination that works best with each guitar and the sound you would like to hear from it.

http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-...lack-horn-pins

http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-...od-and-plastic

http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-...pins/bone-pins

[Shadowfox]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

The four most useful bridge pin materials are bone, ebony, African blackwood and Buffalo horn. The blackwood is a bit hard to get (I have some on ordered but are backordered), but are probably the most helpful in dialing in tone. While helps tame excess highs without killing mojo. 2nd would be Buffalo horn which provides better articulation. Ebony is very lush and bone is rich and articulate, but not as much as Buffalo horn. They're pretty cheap from the right source and well worth the time of experimenting with, if for no other reason it helps you understand the role of each string in a guitar and how you can fine tune it.

I just thought of a good parallel... If you know anything about violins, you would know that they put little mutes on some strings to even out the balance of the sound across the instrument. While the method is different the idea is the same. The saddle strings and pins are all modular and the goal is to find the best combination that works best with each guitar and the sound you would like to hear from it.

http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-...lack-horn-pins

http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-...od-and-plastic

http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-...pins/bone-pins

I'm curious, what did you decide with your Taylor?

[BT55]

There have been many of these topics on AGF. From reading them I’ve come to one conclusion - the answer is always in the mind of the individual.

[nedray]

I've tried ebony and bone replacement pins on different guitars. Couldn't get the original plastic ones back in there fast enough. Never tried it on an Epiphone though...

[Goodallboy]

Originally Posted by BT55

There have been many of these topics on AGF. From reading them I’ve come to one conclusion - the answer is always in the mind of the individual.

I shared your skepticism until someone posted a clip of a before and after end-pin change. The tone difference was quite noticeable and this wasn't in my mind it was in my ears.

BTW, reading comments will never enhance your knowledge of the subject like trying it yourself or an audio before and after.

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by BT55

There have been many of these topics on AGF. From reading them I’ve come to one conclusion - the answer is always in the mind of the individual.

Not exactly. The answer is in the PERCEPTION of the individual.
Some people just can't physically hear the difference. Tone deafness isn't black and white but comes in a spectrum of degrees. Some people are able to hear nuance aren't attuned to listening for the differences. Some just don't care enough to be fussy. Others range from sensitive to hypersensitive. Perhaps I fall in to the latter category.

Originally Posted by Shadowfox

I'm curious, what did you decide with your Taylor?

A quick synopsis of the Taylor morph:
*Changed from micarta saddle to bleached bone with Elixirs, then to unbleached bone saddle for comparison (stayed with unbleached).
* Broke an Elixir string upon retune. Switched to DR Sunbeam 12's for test.
* Went "hmmm" and listened carefully.
* Put African blackwood pins in D and G slots (mostly for D) to tame imbalance (D louder than others. G for transition).
* Put Buffalo Horn pin in 6/Low E for more articulation and presence.
*Went "AHA!!!!!"

I think what makes the Sunbeams such a loved set is that the low E can vibrate so freely, creating harmonics that other strings respond to. The downside in this guitar was that it lost some articulation with regular Ebony pins. The Buffalo brought back the articulation without losing the harmonics. I'd have gigged the 814 this past Friday except it was decided that this week I'd play bass. Next week I'm supposed to play outdoors, so we'll see if the weather is right to take the 814 out. But I'm anxious to see how it does where I have a lot of different styles to play back to back.