Bridge pins replacing

marc1t

I'm just a novice guitarist so don't know much
i saw an add for replacement bridge pins for an acoustic they were bone or ebony claims to improve tone. Iv seen brass ones as well.
is this true? Does it really make a difference if replacing plastic pins?
i have an Ibanez with there own hard plastic pins.
cheers

ICBM

No, it does not make a difference to the tone. I once spent about an hour carefully comparing them in sets of 2 and 3 on the same guitar (rather than changing them all at once) so I could hear if there was any difference between one string and the next. There wasn't.

Ebony ones have a slight advantage that they don't bend under pressure of the ball end like soft plastic ones can, although if yours are hard plastic this shouldn't be an issue anyway. Bone ones don't bend but can chip. If you like them there's nothing wrong with making your guitar look nice - I have bone ones with a pearl dot.

marc1t

Hi
thanks for your reply, really helpful

Nitefly

Hi there, and welcome.  I started a discussion on this topic a few weeks ago - http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/117961/bridge-pins-any-thoughts - and got much the same consensus in reply.

I have some nice boxwood pins in my Seagull (Planet Waves ones, I think), and I reckon I'll go for bone with abalone dots for my Martin.

Sassafras

No.
The strings are anchored by the bridge plate, not the pins.

ICBM

Sassafras said:

No.
The strings are anchored by the bridge plate, not the pins.

Said in a dozen words what it took me two whole paragraphs to .

You're absolutely right - if the guitar is strung properly, all the pin is doing is preventing the ball end from moving back into the hole, not holding the tension of the string at all - that's taken by the bridgeplate. The pin doesn't even have to be very tight in the hole, in fact - just enough that it doesn't come out - this is a common mistake, and if they're pushed in too tight it makes getting them out difficult.

earwighoney

ICBM said:

No, it does not make a difference to the tone. I once spent about an hour carefully comparing them in sets of 2 and 3 on the same guitar (rather than changing them all at once) so I could hear if there was any difference between one string and the next. There wasn't.

Ebony ones have a slight advantage that they don't bend under pressure of the ball end like soft plastic ones can, although if yours are hard plastic this shouldn't be an issue anyway. Bone ones don't bend but can chip. If you like them there's nothing wrong with making your guitar look nice - I have bone ones with a pearl dot.

Ebony (and other wood) pins can be prone to humidity/expanding in the slots and be awkward to remove for restringing, and can also be on the brittle side of things.