Avalon Bridge Pins

[Rustybike]

Just bought an '03 Avalon Silver. It's lower price suited my guitar playing ability. I have an entry level Martin and Seagull but the Avalon is in a different league. I got it on Ebay. It only had 5 strings which sounded dodgy. Turns out that someone had fitted new strings and bridge pins, tuned it three steps too high and the E string must've snapped. There's a little bit of "belly" (2mm) that may have been caused by the excessive tension but it still plays beautifully. Before purchasing, I read good and bad reports about these. However I read glowing reports about Avalon Customer Service. I was disappointed therefore when I asked for help re. bridge pins, I got no reply (so far). The 5.3mm tapered pins fitted are too big. A set of 5.0mm tapered are too small. I know this is sounding like Goldilocks so I measured the holes in the bridge and found them to be untapered 5.0mm. There are no slots cut so I need slotted pins. And so began my journey for knowledge through the wibbly wobbly web. I am no wiser as a result and was hoping someone on here had a similar guitar and could advise me.

[lowrider]

I would carefully sand the 5.1 pins to fit. Don't ream the holes in the guitar. If you mess up, you want to mess up the least expensive thing, in this case a pin.

[Rustybike]

Thank you for this idea. I hadn't thought about sanding down the pins. My post read 5.1mm before I realised my error and edited it. They are actually 5.3mm and cheapo by the look of them. Well worth having a go.