Cla Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 I have one of the Mahogany/Adirondacks (J-45) made in 2007 1 of 50. Trying to get some info on the parts. Are they made of Bone or Tusq.. as in the man made tusq ? Or is it some kind of ivory, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Rondack Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 My Western Classic came with a bone nut and saddle, but plastic (ridiculous!) pins... Even the Guild "Bluegrass" models come with bone pins... come on Gibson, do a complete job! To me, this ranks up there with Martin putting cheap "Martin" brand (Gotoh) tuners on their very expensive Marquis guitars instead of Waverly's... just leaves the job incomplete to me... raise the freakin' price a hundred bucks or so and do it right! In the end, though, it didn't keep me from buying either one... well, uh, er... hmmm.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cla Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share Posted March 4, 2008 I agree, the pins, if they are plastic should be bone or ivory. I have Gotoh's and for a custom shop I would have much rather Waverly's. Lost a little respect for Gibson for that as they may be just trying to boost revenues. But Yeah, I would pay the extra $500 for Waverlys. I Guess if they offered the same guitar with Waverly then probably that would decrease the significance of the higher end models, $5000 +. Regardless the Gotoh open backs work well enough, and nothing plays like a Gibson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarstrummer Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Gibson usually uses either Tusq or bone in nearly all of their models. Most customs come with bone. The reason they don't use bone pins is because most people end up changing out the pins. Why make people pay an increased price for the pins, knowing they probably will change them out anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Always_Black Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Yep.....most people change out the pins ! That's me - trying to decide what pins to buy. Maybe I wouldn't be considering a pin change if my Songwriter had the pins I want.....then again, I don't even know which ones I want ! Anybody have experience with ebony pins ? I love the look but I am concerned about tone loss compared to the reported performance of Tusq or bone. I could achieve the black finish in Tusq for sure, but not a matching finish to go with the ebony bridge....... Decisions, decisions. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarstrummer Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I've used ebony. To be honest, I can't hear much difference in any of the pin materials (old ears, I guess). It's more of cosmetic difference for me. If you don't want ebony, but still want the black color, check out the buffalo horn pins. I have some of those too, and they're great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLiveSoundGuy Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Just to throw in my 2 cents, I know more than a few old timers that will swear by buffalo horn. A little pricey at about $50.00 for a set of 7 plus the end pin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarstrummer Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Grizzly has the buffalo pins for $14.95. They're the least expensive place I've found. http://www.grizzly.com/products/Bridge-End-Pin-Set-Buffalo/T1114 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Player Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 When I got my 2005 Advanced Jumbo, I called Gibson Customer service. Since I got the guitar in a trade, I didn't know for sure what the nut, saddle and pins were made of. The pins were easy to figure out..... Plastic! YUCK!!! Gibson Cust. service said the nut was Tusq and the saddle was bone. I have swapped out the ugly big head white pins out for Bob Colosi double inlay bone pins. ($30.00 on sale on his website) I got the 2A size which was perfect for the AJ. I know some people say pins don't affect tone much, but I believe it really does when swapping out plastic pins. Maybe ebony, snakewood, tusq or other materials might be very similar but bone is what I went with. My AJ has much better sustain and more of a ring on the higher notes and the bass response also seems clearer. I love the look and think it made a classy looking guitar look much better. Here is a shot. Here is a link to Bob Colosi's website. I highly recommend him. The man knows customer service as well as he knows how to make a saddle! http://www.guitarsaddles.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLiveSoundGuy Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Grizzly has the buffalo pins for $14.95. They're the least expensive place I've found. http://www.grizzly.com/products/Bridge-End-Pin-Set-Buffalo/T1114 That's a decent price' date=' but I was actually referring to buffalo [i']horn[/i], and not bone per say. Yes I understand that the horn is a bone, but in my example I'm talking about pins made from the actual horn Vs. other buffalo bones. My understanding is that the density may be different. Anywho, thanks for the link to Grizzly. I hadn't heard of them. I just ordered one of their catalogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarstrummer Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 That's a decent price' date=' but I was actually referring to buffalo [i']horn[/i], and not bone per say. Yes I understand that the horn is a bone, but in my example I'm talking about pins made from the actual horn Vs. other buffalo bones. My understanding is that the density may be different. Anywho, thanks for the link to Grizzly. I hadn't heard of them. I just ordered one of their catalogs. I could be wrong, but it's my understanding that these are buffalo horn. That's why they're black in color. If they were buffalo bones, wouldn't they be white? I suppose it's possible to dye them black, but it doesn't mention that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarstrummer Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I just called Grizzly Customer Service and was told that they are buffalo horn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cla Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share Posted March 4, 2008 Hey thanks for replies. And Taylor Player, I called Gibson because you had me curious. since your nut was tusk? which did not make much sense why they would give you tusk in the nut, which is harder to replace than the saddle. I always thought tusk was of lower quality than bone, that is if we are talking about Gibson's synthetic tusk that they use. Seems like they would make sure the nut at least was bone. Well anyway, that is what they did with mine thankfully, because I don't want to mess with the nut. Nut is Bone, saddle b-compensated tusk. Pins plastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLiveSoundGuy Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I could be wrong' date=' but it's my understanding that these are buffalo horn. That's why they're black in color. If they were buffalo bones, wouldn't they be white? I suppose it's possible to dye them black, but it doesn't mention that.[/quote'] Valid point! You know some days I think, and some days I just am. Today, I just am. (barely) I didn't even think about that. You are 100% correct sir. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Player Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Hey thanks for replies. And Taylor Player' date=' I called Gibson because you had me curious. since your nut was tusk? which did not make much sense why they would give you tusk in the nut, which is harder to replace than the saddle. I always thought tusk was of lower quality than bone, that is if we are talking about Gibson's synthetic tusk that they use. Seems like they would make sure the nut at least was bone. Well anyway, that is what they did with mine thankfully, because I don't want to mess with the nut. Nut is Bone, saddle b-compensated tusk. Pins plastic. [/quote'] I think now Gibson is using bone in the AJ's nut but my AJ is a 2005 and according to the guy I spoke with, it was Tusq then. In reality Tusq and bone are not that different. Actually Tusq is more consistant from one piece to the next. I have heard that there are variations in bone from one to the next. Taylor has used Tusq for years and my 1993 Taylor 612C has both a tusq nut and saddle that have never needed replacement and I play almost every day. I had swapped out my Taylor's tusq saddle for bone at one point and after a couple hours of playing, swapped back to the tusq. It just sounded better on that guitar. I have no problem with tusq, it was the plastic pins that got me. Tusq is a man made synthetic, not plastic like the pins were. I guess the fact that my AJ has a Tusq nut doesn't bother me is because Tusq has stood up so well on my Taylor for 15 years. Especially with the nut, you will not hear any difference in tone. Fretting fingers take the nut out of the whole spectrum. The only time it is part of the tone is when you play an open string with no finger to block the sound transmission from the saddle to the nut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Rondack Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 The reason they don't use bone pins is because most people end up changing out the pins. Why make people pay an increased price for the pins' date=' knowing they probably will change them out anyway?[/quote'] My Guild came with bone pins and my Martin came with fossil ivory... wouldn't dream of changing them out... but maybe that's just me. The only time I change is when they come with plastic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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