Acoustic Guitar Bridge Pins Comparison
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- If you have a good guitar, do you need to change a bridge pins on it to get better sound?
I used Kawase Master 100H guitar made in Japan in 1970s. It is good copy of old type Martin D-28 handmade from selected all solid woods. New Martin strings were set up. Else I used modded old Rode NT1 microphone and Tascam UH-7000 for better sound recording. I am amateur player, but I tryed to play the same way. Do not judge strictly. The rattling that is heard when playing by the pick is due to the fact that the anchor in this guitar is not regulated(like in old Martins too). The strings are lowered. After changing the strings, you need to wait a couple of days for the neck finally bend a little and the rattling disappears. But I made this recording in one day.
For my taste I liked Ebony pins and maybe brass. But the difference is barely perceptible. Changing plastic pins for any other makes sound slightly better I think. Some details in resolution, depth and sustein appears. But if you have a good guitar, the best you can do is to set a new strings.
*Individual notes*
0:30 plastic
0:44 bone
0:56 ebony
1:09 tusq
1:25 brass
*Strumming*
5:19 plastic
6:08 bone
6:59 ebony
7:51 tusq
8:44 brass
WRONG!
There is no bone in this video.
It's horn.
@@gingerbeer914 yeah horn is softer
Way to go Alson, this helped a lot, thank you!
I thought the bone and ebony were more sustained and even toned while the brass was twangy and the 2 plastic were flat?
The only difference is what you want to make it, the plastic are just as capable as the others
Recently i changed My plastic pins for brass pins and it's so crazy!!! I loved the brass sound, it's so brilliant and clear.
I just bought a dark mahogany Tanglewood acoustic, has a lovely deep rich tone, think I'll put brass pins in then it'll brighten up top end to go with the low end 😊
Brass resonates like a bell. You wouldn't fashion a bell out of ebony or plastic right?
@@DANIEL-RICKIE Spot-On! the Best answer than i've read. Exactly, brass pins sounds like a Bell 👌🏼 it remembers me the Fender Strat sound but unplugged.
@@DANIEL-RICKIE but you could fashion a guitar out of ebony wood.
Yes l agree, Iv'e done it to 3 of my Acoustic's, I feel there's a Slight Improvement in the sound ( to my ears anyway)😊😊😊
,,
I would say that the fitting of the pin along with how the string makes contact with the bridge plate are what makes the biggest difference. It is all about transferring the sound of the string to the top of the guitar and what your guitar top does with it after this.
When you say fitting, do you mean how hard it's pressed into the wood, or something else?
My old ears couldn't tell any significant difference. I guess it's all up to the user. Maybe it's what pleases your ears. Thanks for the demonstration.
I think you're right - a new set of strings probably makes considerably more difference.
From all of them and from the sample provided, in my opinion I found the tusq the most balanced from all them. The frequencies and harmonics are well balanced. But, the Brass one is the brightest while maintaining a good balance between strings. This one for sure will help low end acoustic guitars which have no good bright sounding, also can help in finger style results. But for a replacement, in my opinion, tusq is the best.
Totally agree, I've just bought a Tanglewood mahogany acoustic guitar, has a lovely deep rich tone so the brass will help the upper tones.
Think I'll buy brass 👍
To me, plastic sounded less lively overall. Bone and tusq sounded very similar to each other and had a tad more richness across the board compared to plastic. Ebony sounded similar to bone & tusq but with a slight smooth butteryness in the bottom end. Brass had the biggest discernable difference in them all with some sparkly jangly stuff in the upper mids, which sounds good but isn't my style.
Of course I can only hear what I heard, y'all may disagree.
Sometimes less lively is what you want. It's all so subjective.
@@Glicksman1 Agreed bright is not what I like, so I am leaning to the ebony.
Agree 💯
Agreed, right out of the gate in about a heartbeat. Ebony for sure.
whoever of you thought about how to make a prefabricated version of pins? after all, with bronze, 1 and 2 strings sound unnaturally bright and I would put a bone on them; put Tusq on 3 and 4; on 5 and 6 bronze. I'm sure this would give the advantage of bright strings to become quieter and bass strings to be clearer and more structured and readable.
Good idea. I'm going to buy cheapos and try that
Amazing
Great idea. Someone should market that set.
You can achieve the same as with different strings / make of material. Most of the tone is transferred through the strings to the saddle ' body woods is where you will notice the biggest difference.
Don't hear too much difference except with brass, which I didn't like much. One thing I have noticed- I have two Taylors with ES2 systems, one with plastic pins and one with ebony. The plastic pins pick up the edge of my hand moving on the pins; I rest my hand on the bridge and it can produce a bit of squeaking sound through the pickup (the piezo elements on the ES2 sit between the saddle and pins and contact the back of the saddle instead of sitting underneath like many other piezo pickups), where the ebony pins do not do this. I'm changing the plastic to ebony.
Fascinating video . I was surprised I found the mid-range tone on the brass so good . Excellent , thanks .
Pretty awesome demo. I though ebony sounded great! My take away is that the pin material and it's characteristics should be matched for the guitars character. For instance, I have a dark sounding Mahogany Takamine that improved mightily by trading the old plastic for Tusq. It brightened it a bit and balanced the low/high. I might buy Brass and see if that brightens it up a tad more. I have a Taylor that is too bright, so I may put in the Tusq or try Bone and ebony.
There's also no rule that says you cannot mix and match.
Nickel strings like Webstrings, Martin Retro, Curt Mangan Monel, etc. work great on Taylors (especially if the b/s woods are mahogany or sapele).
Thanks ,It's very interesting ! I tried too , and the result is that It really depends of the wood : on one ( massive Spruce top ) ,the best is ebony pins. On my second guitar ( massive mahogany top) the best are plastic (!!!) and tusq ( but both different sound) . What astonished me , is that the bone wasn't the best...! And about nut and saddle, the best for me is Tusq. Thanks again ,Greetings from France !
Bone was NOT tested. It was HORN.
Don't be surprised the plastic ones can be the best.
@@gingerbeer914 Yup. Different substance.
@@markharwood7573 You're absolutely right! Sometimes the plastic is of such good quality/density that they outperform ebony pins. I even found a difference in sound between certain black plastic pins and white plastic pins! It's different for each individual guitar. I know, because I have a few dozen acoustic guitars, from parlor to 00, 000, OM, Dreadnaught to Super Jumbo. It's fascinating what you may find when you start swapping pins for each of them.
For a couple of pretty weak sounding Korean guitars (Cort L100P and Crafter TA-050AM) brass pins are a huge improvement, but not for every guitar. On some the effect is a harsh into your face sound, and that's not what I want.
The best thing you can do, is: buy a couple of different bridge pin sets from China for very little money and start experimenting with brass, ebony, rosewood, bone, horn, white plastic and black plastic.
The experiment might cost you €12-20, but you can repeat it endlessly for every guitar you own and make notes (or even recordings) of the results!
Getting the best sound out of each of your boxes for ±€12-20 makes buying and trying different pins a very rewarding investment.
Good comprehensive comparison, thank you for your efforts on our behalf.
I have no doubt the brass pins mute and compress the tone. I hear no sparkle or extra treble as most people claim. I also tried brass on many of my different guitars and got the same result except with one rosewood dread with 13's tuned down, which increased the projection and bolstered the overall tone somewhat, slightly compressing but not negatively so.
If you have an overly bright guitar, brass might be worth experimenting.
Excellent work. Thank you! Thanks to your video, I dispelled my fears about the bronze: it sounded winning and rich in harmonics, almost like a 12-string! the bass is not so sluggish and booming, but articulated and clear!
Calling horn bone is NOT excellent.
@@gingerbeer914 Right. Horn bone has the worst indicators for brightness and sustain! It's like a hoof or a fingernail from a finger.
Brass pins are a true improvement to any guitar, I’ve used them all and can’t play without brass pins now. The top vibrates more, the strings sing clear and deep like a piano. The other pins are just blah .
Thank you for taking the time to do this! I’m thinking of using two ebony pins for the bass strings and 4 bone for the rest
Update: used 2 ebony for the bass strings and 4 buffalo horn (similar to bone) for the rest, and it sounds fantastic!
The so-called bone WAS horn
I think Ebony & tusk are best overall sound, clear with no vibration sound, the brass has a raw clear sound which i like though.
Ebony for brighter guitars, bone for mellower. Bone saddles for everything. ❤
Of course, it's time for me to delete my previous comments due to the fact that the other day I bought 3 sets of pins (bone, Brass, Palisander) as well as the Graphtech Tusq saddle and the Graphtech Tusq (white) and Graphtech Tusq (black) saddles.
Here is my conclusion on guitar by Simon & Patrick Song Smith:
The guitar itself was originally equipped with similar ringing when sounding with TUSQ, if dropped on the table like a coin rings, but still the TUSQ has a little more high frequencies.
The guitar had beautiful resonating overtones, but lacked brightness ...
The black TUSQ degraded the sound, taking away the brightness and adding more body. I didn't like it and the white TUSQ enriched the guitar with the best harmonics, adding brightness.
With regards to Pins:
- Bronze - brought in a little iron sound and completely deprived the guitar of resonance and low frequencies (the bass disappeared, the middle became flat and the high frequencies became poisonous). Sustain 4 out of 5.
- Palisander - brought in a lot of body, voluminous velvet warm sound (the bass became very voluminous, but after that their clarity disappeared - they became blurred, the middle became melodious and the upper frequencies lost a spark). Sustain 3 out of 5.
- Bone - showed the most amazing overtones !!! Each note became elastic, staccato, with excellent balance in ALL frequencies !!! Sustain 5 out of 5.
Thank you for your comment! I think it depends on guitar much. But bone may be universal solution for everyone. Actually in my comparison, it is horn, not bone. It seems that I need to find bone to compare it with horn.
@@TrophyMove Of course, there is no universal thing or anything, but you need to take into account the timbre of the instrument itself and find the expression you need for it using different materials. I purchased all 3 options from the Japanese company Pick Boy (at least there they were made by the USA company) and recommend them. But I do not recommend the HORN at all, since it is just like an animal's hoof or a human nail ... but even a rhino horn - by its properties it is the same as a soft human nail. The horn kills everything sparkling and sonorous in the instrument.
Not a lot of difference between them to my ears, until you get to 'brass'.
Brass doesn't sound quite as warm as the others, but is a tad brighter, with better definition. I prefer brass pins on my Sigma and Seagull guitars. They also polish up beautifully.
No one can hear the difference only the guitar player who changed the strings pins and tweecked it all will be able to hear it when the player finds the combination that suits there hears it is a noticeable improvement
Thanks , this was exactly what I needed to choose my set of bridge pins. Great comparison . I’m defiantly choosing bone , it sounded a bit more mellow to me which is what I wanted.
Thanks for the video, I like the Ebony the best.
ED Roberts I like the ebony as well
@@kingleonidas9672 I expected bone will be the best, but prefer ebony too. Maybe it depends on guitar.
Just what I was looking for.. bone or ebony for me but leaning to the ebony Thank you so much this is was excellent as all your comparisons are.
Hmmm...I wonder if anyone has tried to use a mix...I saw a comment that using brass pins caused the low end of the guitar to be reduced...I wonder if maybe using Ebony pins on the 2 lower frequency strings and brass for the other 4 would be better...or, you know, like a really refined way of doing it based on results...like using a specific made pin for each string by checking on how well the frequency response of each respective string gets enhanced by trying each type of pin for each independent string position, and then going with the one that gives the best desired result for each respective string? Regardless, thanks for sharing this experiment with us!
Thank you very much, nice recording, you can here the different colours. Anyway I replaced the plastic pins on my 40 year old Sigma DR 14 from Levin ( Sweden ). I used Taylor Ebony Pins and they are an amazing upgrade for little money.
Btw. I love Thomastik-Infeld Spectrum Bronze strings on that guitar ( .012-.054 )
Cheers
Those Spectrum strings are great. For a week. I'll stick with Elixirs. Also great. For several months.
@@stavrospapadimitriou7631 Optimas are great for a year.
@@Glicksman1 Do you mean those bling-bling gold things?
@@stavrospapadimitriou7631 I sense a slight, but foolish insult here.
Well, if you think that Optima strings are "bling-bling gold things" you clearly have no experience with them. After more than 52 years of playing guitar, I've tried virtually every kind of string on virtually every kind of guitar. I've settled on Thomastik-Infeld and Optima as my choices and I like Pyramid as well. When you have been playing as long as that, I wonder what you'll have discovered.
I wish someone would go further with this ... Its very subjective .. Record the sounds and analyze them . see what the difference in materials are actually doing to Low mid and high... Then we can talk about what you want on your guitar , and what would be the best material for you preference of required tone.
Just what I was thinking. Seeing the audio spectrum of each type of bridge material will take away any preconceived difference in tonal quality. Of course it's up to you to determine the sound that inspires you to play more.
As for me, I plug in to an acoustic amp, and feel that determining which amp to perform with makes all the difference about being inspired to play more.
holy crap! wonder if slots or no slots would make a difference as well
great post!
Love the comparison and love youre playing youre example. I love the brass. Bright as heck. Gona be great on my taylor 210 E thats always in C standard.
I think that the bone gave it a little more clarity in trouble and the Ebony made it a little more warmer and softer, I bought a tailor guitar number 214 without a pick up and I’ve been thinking about putting in a LR braggs Anthem SL. And from the reviews it seems like they can get a little boomy and bassy so I’m leaning toward bone to reduce that
It's horn
Best comparison is made when strumming. Plastic is messy. Bone is extra high. Ebony most balanced and distinct. TUSQ is like ebony but not natural. Brass gives more to low end IMHO.
i agree with what you said
I hcanged the oroginal pins in my Larrivee for brass and it made a noticeable difference in tone and sustain. I put the same set of pins in my Martin and it made no change at all.
Ebony for bright guitars, brass for mellower guitars..
Those were the 2 that seemed to make a difference
The others sounded similar
IMHO
Thanks this was very helpful and informative
I have a set of ebony pegs with brass centres ....no slots in the pins ...I've slotted the bridge slightly to compensate ....made a fair difference to the tone
Bridge Pins definitely have a big influence on tone
If you play into a DAW you can see the EQ spike in different frequencies some push more mids bass etc they may not be heard through computer or phone speakers. At least you ear phones for better definition!
I like the ebony
My 2 cents. Plastic is horrible just makes it sound mute. Brass adds twang like a banjo. Ebony to me sounds the most natural. Bone and tusq was really hard for me to spot the difference I wanna say it has slightly more top end then ebony but I would be lying if I said it was that noticeable
I switched to ebony (yamaha cpx900) and the tone is more mellow, and less defined, bass is muddy, mids are lower, harmonics are dampened a bit. Less shimmer. It does not carry my voice as it used to, so I'm switching soon. Tusq would be my choice.
Great comparison video thank you! I like the bone and Tusq. I’m ordering a set of bone from Bob Colosi next week.
Bone wasn't even tested. It was HORN. Bone is white. Just read the package.
Thank you this was excellent!
I liked the ebony ones more.
To my ears, brass wins. Would love to also compare the Martin Liquid Metal and D’Addario Titanium pins.
Good comparison video. Thanks for posting.
I'd say Bone sounds best then the Tusq
I'm in the Tusq camp I believe. Ebony and Bone are close seconds (in that order)...but yes I can absolutely hear a difference in all of them.
Any electric guitar I've ever bought with a Plastic nut (looking right at you Fender Squier) IMMEDIATELY gets changed to a Tusq. And any acoustic guitar I buy that comes with a Plastic nut gets changed out to Bone---bridge pins and saddle as well. I HATE plastic on guitars. Too chimey and fake'ish.
Brass don't float my boat on sound either---maybe just Telecaster saddles, but Brass gets too chimey for me as well.
Great comparison! Thanks!
Another important thing is that the pins are not slotted
Yip. Slot the bridge with a 45 degree angle. Get the ball ends snugly against the bridge with no pin. Then, use non-slotted pins or rotate the pin slot away from the string. 👌
I liked bone best. Was clearly a mellower sound to my ears than the others, so much so I wonder if you played more gently. Ebony was similar.
Brass was interesting. Super bright. On a 12-string could perhaps be "very interesting".
Plastic was worst. Tusq to me sounded almost the same as plastic.
Ebony and Tusq are very nice but brass makes everything louder more equalized . Brass is way heavier though. So what you could do is cut off 1/2 inch off the tip and bevel the end steeper. Less weight easier to vibrate.? Just a thought.
I think they all sounded amazing! Thanks for sharing this.
They all sound good because of the Guitar being used.
If u want increased low end (Martin boom effect) and at the same time supress the treble what would be the best mix of pins ? My goal is to make ovangkol sound a bit more like rosewood if its possible. Ovangkol - strong mid but lack low end / high end Rosewood - strong low /high end but lack mid.
I'm surprised that you can actually hear a distinct difference on a RUclips vid. Did you intentionally show them in order from darkest to brightest sounding? For A / B comparison testing, shorter sound samples are better. I personally use brass on all my acoustics.
ok ebony rules them all but i like TUSQ also
It's not bone its horn.
Well, yes, you're right. If I find bone pins, I will try to make a new comparison.
anything but plastic for the 3 lower strings,
ebony or bone for the higher strings.
if i could only choose one: ebony
I hear the plastic as the best all-rounder. The audience will neither care nor notice so you may as well have the best-looking set.
Ebony would be my first choice; Tusq would be my second choice. Thanks for the video.
The string is not vibrating where it meets the bridge pin. That’s why the difference is not super noticeable.
That said, my understanding is that plastic pins have a tendency to get mangled and using a harder material is better for preventing the ball from slipping and slamming into your bridge plate. That seems like a better reason to switch.
Interesting comparison. First riff was between plastic and brass. There was another where ebony sounded best. Where the brass pins slotted?
It is Meideal bridge pins
I see no one is mentioning the buzzing
Are these pins slotted or not? Do you have slots in your bridge holes or not?
If the bridge is slotted, you should be able to remove the pins and the strings stay in place; do you hear a sound difference then?
Ebony was most pleasing to me
i used to have a dione twin neck, 6 and 12 string with brass nut, saddle and frets - rather unique. big as a wardrobe though.
very nice recordings, thank you
I have a brand new guitar and I'm having so craving much trouble with the bridge pins.
🤣😂……🤪… forget the pins, the strings rest on the bridge & the nut & the material that they are made of helps define the tone NOT the pin material…….. think about it 🙃
Ebony seem to top the test but im thinking brass could be an option for very warm sounding guitars specially the all mahogany ones. Maybe it will somehow give it some balance with the brightness it brings?
I was always told mahoganies were dark and chocolatey from videos i watched online but once i started playing them in person i found out all mahogany guitars are actually the brightest wood combination. Any guitar with a hardwood top (mahogany, koa, acacia) would benefit from ebony pins.
@@zachary1657 bought an all solid mahogany a couple of months ago and I’d say it’s far from bright. But The nut, saddle and pins are all of plastic so those maybe factors too. Already bought bone nut and saddle and ebony pins. We’ll see how it turns out
@@ramrocker1004 Yeah i guess bright isnt the right word because for sure they favor the mid range. Compressed is definitely a key word. but the trebles have a certain snap to them that i just dont know how to put into words. And after putting ebony pins on i like the sound of the trebles a whole lot more; it sort of tamed them. Its all subjective i suppose, depends on the guitar and the individual’s perception.
@@zachary1657 yeah i cant wait to have the ebony pins, along with the bone nut and saddle, to get fixed into my guitar. I’m just looking for a cheap luthier to get it done haha. Coz this needs to get its action lowered too
Yeah my new Tanglewood mahogany acoustic guitar has a deep rich tone, so think I'll buy the brass & top end should increase too 🙂
I think the ebony pins sound the best. More woody and natural
Nice one !! Anyway first of all what kind of nut and saddle that you used in this comparison?
Hi! It is bone.
Ebony took a slight edge over the tusq in my opinion warmer with more depth from the low notes .
the "bone" pins are ,in fact, labeled as Horn on the package.!! Very different materials.
Can I ask what wood the top and sides of your guitar are made from and what is the nut and saddle made of ? This will help to better understand the differences heard with the different pins.
Hello! Solid spruce top, solid Indian rosewood back and sides, natural bone nut and saddle.
@@TrophyMove top solid spruce with bone nut&saddle, no wonder ebony pin sounds perfect with your guitar
To my untrained ear they all sound good, perhaps the ebony has a slight edge, then the Tusq (I love their products) ant then the brass. Sounds like you can't really go wrong.
I use ten penny nails. Sheetrock screws are also good.
My Álvarez is quite bright - I play extra light phosphor bronze - your video was a nice confirmation that ebony adds a little warmth and bring out the low notes. Was surprised how good overall the brass were - it certainly added attack. Unsurprisingly, all the options better than plastic. Now let's hear the difference between plastic, bone and TUSQ saddles!
Of course it should go without saying that strings make the single most massive tonal difference. I'm going to try 80/20 bronze 11s on my Alvarez to help bring out the bass tones. For some reason I've always used phosphor bronze.
Personally i like ebony pins in my guitar, It resonates better and i do have noticeable more sustain as well my guitar is slightly louder. |
The brass would be fun to play with but i think its to loud and to bright for me.
Never understood some high end guitars with plastic pins. I upgraded to ebony years ago and have been very pleased.
I asked a luthier that once and he said because plastic is not subject to temperature changes which can push on the bridge holes or contract. Still, I use bone myself...
@@WysteriaGuitar Yep, apparently safer to ship with plastic pins. You can swap them out when doing the setup.
This was such an informative video. The person who did the edit with the links to the different sections really helped me out. I'm totally blind and being able to go wright to a specific pin type was great. I'd say for me, no completely for the plastic and the brass. I thought the bone and tusq were very similar to each other. I liked the ebony very much and I think for me, it is the winner. However, I'd not say no to the bone or tusq either. I never thought a thing about bridge pins until I recently played a deluxe martin hd28 and a standard hd28. There was a major difference. The deluxe hd28 with the liquid metal pins was much brighter then the standard hd28 with plastic pins. I've got a d18 that is an amazing guitar and sounds better the more I play it. I'm going to have someone at my local music store put on a set of ebony pins. I'm looking forward to hearing the difference. I think it will make my d18 sound even better.
I'm with you here, Joshua, the Ebony appealed to me most too. Listen to this guy, fellers-he listens with his ears!
@@barryhartzell7468 Thanks Bury. I'm glad you liked my comment. I don't care for very bright sounding guitars. When I played the deluxe HD28, the liquid metal bridge pins gave that guitar a brighter sound. It wasn't exactly bad, just not to my taste. The same thing with these bridge pins. The ones that sounded the warmest and fullist to my ears were the ebony. There was also this kind of ringing aftertone when the E Chord was played. Its kind of hard to explain the sound that I mean. It was a very interesting sound.
It's hard to compare pins that on two different guitars . There are many variables that contribute to the sound.
isn't it more the nut that makes a difference in sound... ?
It's the saddle' you will only hear a slight difference on open strings at the nut.
Thank you.
the frequency of the tusq actuakky goes out of tune when letting it ring..The brass sounded the best to me.
I have glass pins which I made and they sound nice!
Just a small word: A friend of a friend told me on the phone that he just couldn't find a good set of strings for his D-18. He said he'd tried a dozen kinds and just wasn't happy. I went to see him to give him some help. Guess what, he was a terrible player. He couldn't have made a good sound on any guitar with any strings. He needed a lot of practice and time, and even then..... I think there's a lesson there, but I'm not sure what it is.
Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handy
@@jasons.6747 DTBJH is meant to be humourous. You found my comment funny? Good for you.
@@prospero11 "Tragically funny." My, but you're so deep.
I thought I said something like that with regard to strings, which can be analogized to bridge pins, but I guess I was mistaken.
Ive got a stainless steel bridge in my acoustic and a bone nut, brass sounds great but would be too bright, ended up with bone !
I likes the bone one !
It's horn, not bone.
@@gingerbeer914 In the thumbnail its written bone, everyone else is also calling it as bone in comments
Unpopular opinion of the day... I've got to be honest, the plastic sounds really good in this video. Going from plastic to horn, I can truly say I preferred the plastic. The horn, and even the ebony that followed, sounded darker and less lively, through my speakers. Of course that could have a lot to do with the synergy between your recording device, my DAC, amplifier and speakers, but as it sits, plastic would be my favorite from this video. Truth be told, I'm still pulling my plastic pins and putting in bone tomorrow. 😆
I even noticed that black plastic sounds better than white plastic, ebony and bone in my maple Ibanez Concord. So, I'm not surprised anymore. I think it's about the combination of the materials and the body shape and dimensions. I buy them as cheap as I can find from Ali and just start experimenting. Brass pins gave my Korean parlor and 000 a real boost. The better guitars mostly sound fine with their original pins.
I've tried doing these same things in the past. For some reason I always end up back at plastic and it sounds the best for some reason. I've spent a lot of money trying bone, ebony, brass and at first I think WOW this sounds great. After awhile it I'm not happy and go back to stock plastic and always think "there's the sound I feel in love with originally..." our ears play tricks on us a lot of the time.
You know what, all I can hear is my phone speaker.
Listen on TV you'll notice a difference then 👍
You don't listen to theese sound diferences trough a phone speaker that sounds like shit.
I have a Japanese D28 copy from the early ‘Seventies. It gets played every day. It’s fantastic … perhaps BECAUSE of its very thin laminated top. Balanced sound with nothing ‘nasal’ about it… a Sagadia 770.
Oh yes… marginally better with its brass pins.
I have similar. Ibanez Martin copy from the 70s. I an getting ready to put a zero fret nut on it and change out saddle and bridge pins to tusq. I will be cutting bridge slots as well. I am hoping it will make it a bit more musical and bright.
@@rfphill mine has a very chunky wooden bridge piece with a height-adjustable (!) brass saddle which fits a slot. The saddle is raised or lowered by screws at either end. Originally there was a plastic bridge piece slotted into the height adjustable metal bridge piece. Because the intonation was a bit out, I filed the plastic so that it was flush with the metal piece and used ‘eyes’ cut off a previous set of strings to run each new string through. By moving each ‘eye’ a little bit, either towards the neck or back it is possible to get accurate intonation at the 12th fret. Ie, an E sounded as a harmonic at the twelfth is the same as an E fretted at the 12th fret. It’s not perfect but no guitar is truly in tune in all keys.
Finally I replaced the plastic bridge pins with brass ones.
A great guitar was made about 15% better!
I now think it is a D18 copy rather than a D28.
@@stephensmith799 that actually sounds badass! I will have to look that one up!
@@stephensmith799
I have a takamine ean-10c cedar top' string through the bridge guitar' I drilled holes beside the strings and put in brass bridge pins... Huge difference in tone' I also tried aluminum bronze strings when I did the mod because I heard they were good for dark sounding guitars.
@@BryanClark-gk6ie Thanks for your post. It makes good sense.
Any part of a guitar is a filter or an enhancer, at a different %.
Thanks for your video Es muy bueno👍🏼👍🏼
Plastic sounds like it has a damping effect, it could be desirable if your guitar is too bright... I like bone the best, brass seems to make things way too bright and I think I just wouldn't use ebony, I don't know I don't like the idea of pins that can expand and contract inside a guitar's bridge.
Ebony and Tusq l liked the best
I just had an order in for both ebony and bone pins. After watching this (mixed with a Taylor master luthier saying it doesn't really matter unless the fit isn't snug) I went back and cancelled the order. Total waste of money. Thank you
I heard the difference from plastic to bone immediately
Nice comparison, thank you TrophyMove! The strumming was a little too harsh
(all those notes clashing together) for my ears, but I heard all I needed to hear in the single note picking. Much appreciated! Ebony was my pick!
I've tried breast pins and it was terrible in my guitar. They're really heavy.. They might work on some guitars... But it was tongue death for mine
Plastic sounds just fine