#61
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Lee is correct: Martin Carthy quite methodically developed a bridge pin set made up of different materials for different strings. I forget exactly which pin is which, but I think the two lowest strings have pins made of cow horn.
I know this because I read an interview with Carthy, probably in Acoustic Guitar Magazine where he discussed it in depth. A few months later Whistling Swan Productions brought him up to play a concert in Anchorage, along with his wife and daughter, who are great singers. Anyway, with Carthy there is a method to his bridge pin selection, and when Martin came out with a Martin Carthy signature model a few years later it came with the exact same bridge pin set that Carthy uses. whm |
#62
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I was in my favorite restaurant in Vancouver, BC over Easter weekend, and the fellow playing the bar was strumming the most wonderful-sounding J-45. I had to ask him about it while tipping him between songs. It perfectly matched his style of playing. Turns out he was using a simple LR Baggs Element undersaddle piezo pickup, and an LR Baggs preamp. No Tonedexter or anything like that. I told him that although I was a Martin guy, he was about to change my religion. Now that you mention it, I failed to notice his bridge pins. Looks like I'll need another road trip to British Columbia. Drat.
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1 dreadnought, 1 auditorium, 1 concert, and 2 travel guitars. |
#63
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Hmmm. He did know something that I didn't know. Interesting... |
#64
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This is a picture of the Martin 000-18MC 'Martin Carthy' signature model. And here's some detail about the pins. Bridge Pins On Carthy’s original 000-18 he appears to have used various combinations of brass and black acrylic – some photos show four brass pins on the bass strings and two black pins on the treble strings, some show two black pins on the bass strings and four brass strings on the treble strings and most earlier photos show six black pins and no brass pins. The 000-18MC signature model features three black pins with abalone pearl dots for the bass strings and three brass pins for the treble strings.
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Brucebubs 1972 - Takamine D-70 2014 - Alvarez ABT60 Baritone 2015 - Kittis RBJ-195 Jumbo 2012 - Dan Dubowski#61 2018 - Rickenbacker 4003 Fireglo 2020 - Gibson Custom Shop Historic 1957 SJ-200 2021 - Epiphone 'IBG' Hummingbird Last edited by Brucebubs; 04-27-2019 at 08:31 PM. |
#65
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Grant plays a 1944 000-18. Source: He's my buddy.
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#66
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Here is my standard set up for all my guitars.
I think most people would notice even from 10 feet or so. And here is something I was doing a few years back, even more noticeable. |
#67
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Just by sheer numbers, most musicians I see and hear (briefly) these days are buskers, many impoverished, so often they will make do with whatever material they can access for bridge pins - varying colours of plastic etc, out of necessity but not specifically for sonic performance. Do I notice rag tag materials? Sure but I’m not close enough to make note. Some very famous songwriters of the past made due with whatever they could find (Townes V Z).
With regard to tuners I’m now entirely prejudiced toward open gear, so if I notice an older Martin with closed back tuners, my interest wanes. |
#68
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Mycroft wrote:
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I do have something of a fixation on tuning gears, and know exactly where it comes from: my many years of teaching mountain dulcimer to both private students and large classes. In recent years most of the mountain dulcimers I see people carrying at folk music festivals have pretty decent tuning gears. But back in the 1970's and 80's, the overwhelming majority of dulcimers that my students showed up with had really crappy friction pegs on them, either wooden ones like these: ˚˚˚ or else the Grover Sta-Tite metal friction pegs like those on this McSpadden dulcimer: ˚˚˚ Grover Sta-Tite friction pegs While at first glance those Sta-Tite pegs might look like geared banjo tuners, they have no gears in them, they're just held by the tension of a bent washer. In some ways those Grover friction pegs are actually worse than the wooden ones, because when they're new they hold a tune pretty well, but the more the instrument gets used the worse they become, to the point where they actually have to be screwed into place in order to hold a note, then unscrewed to change a tuning. And then back and forth ad nauseum. They're awful! Since it was part of my responsibility as the teacher to try to get and keep my students as in tune as possible, I had to wrassle with WAY too many terrible tuners to ever have patience with mediocre tuners on my own instruments. Quote:
A former interest of mine (for a few years) was getting cool original fingerboard inlays on the custom instruments I had built. I know you remember the McAlister baritone guitar that Roy McAlister built for me because you played it the first time you and I met, but I'd be very surprised if you remember the art deco fingerboard inlays for it that Roy designed and had Larry Robinson make for him. Roy and I were very proud of the design we came up with (I was and remain a serious Art Deco fan,) but nobody ever notices them. I've gotten so I don't even see them myself. Somewhat surprisingly, original headstock inlays sometimes generate admiring comments (perhaps because those stick out away from where the instrument's being played,) but I've never had anyone notice fingerboard inlays. I think you'd have to have ornate tree of life inlays like this one to get anyone else to notice: ˚˚˚ As for myself, while I'm more interested than most players are in tuning gears, I'm utterly indifferent to the mystique of exotic bridge pins. I simply Do. Not. Care. about those. But as the many threads about bridge pin materials on here show us, some players are deeply interested. That's why I asked the question, to get a sense of how representative of most of the guitarists on here that heightened interest really is. Not much, it seems safe to say. What it comes down to is that changing and "improving" peripheral appointments like tuners and bridge pins is really for the personal satisfaction of the player who owns the instrument, exactly as you just stated. It's a stamp of ownership, basically, just a slightly more elegant expression of the same impulse that motivates some folks to get fuzzy dice and swaying hula girls for their cars.... ˚˚˚ Hope that makes sense. Wade Hampton Miller |
#69
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Heh, I was going to have Robinson do a headstock overlay for my first McAlister, but never made the order, in part because it does nothing for the sound. Quote:
In my case it is entirely aesthetic. I've tried doing a serious A/B of different pins, but between plastic, bone, wood or ivory I was never sure if I was actually hearing a difference or if I was hearing a difference because I was trying to hear a difference. And a difference that close is not going to effect me one way or another. The exception was with some brass pins that a friend had loaned me. Personally I think that he was hoping that I'd like them enough to buy them off of him, as he admitted later that he did not like them. I could clearly hear a difference, but I did not think that it was a positive. (All due respect to Mr. Carthy, whose name came up earlier in this thread. The proof is in the pudding as they say, when it comes to him. But as a wise man once said: others mileage may vary...) I change 'em out because I like the looks. Quote:
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#71
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I agree, Mycroft, you need some fuzzy dice for your headstock. Since you own a whole bunch of guitars, and generally have at least half a dozen of them out on stands in your living room, I suggest you get six or seven sets of fuzzy dice in a rainbow array of fashion colors and use them to festoon all of the guitars that are out.
It’ll help you keep track of the guitars, too. When you say: “Now which one of these is the Martin and which is the McAlister?” then you’ll remember and say: “Oh, right, the Martin has the red fuzzy dice and the McAlister has the neon green...” I find it helps to be methodical about these things. Wade Hampton Miller |
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whm |
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The Count
Fun Post Wade! And I have to say that in general I would agree with you that most guitarist would not notice things like Pins and Tuners.
However, AGF people are not you average guitarist. They are people who be more likely to take notice. |
#74
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#75
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