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Some things are fine the way they are..........


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........and such is the case with the J-185.  Spent last evening and all day today swapping pins and saddles, making various combinations of the two from a stash of three saddles, two pin sets and Retros and Sunbeam strings..  And after all that the guitar sounds best with the original bone saddle, original wooden pins and the monel Retros.  It's always good to experiment to fine the best combination of parts that bring the best out of the instrument.  As we say in fishing circles, ya don't know 'til ya go............I went......and now I'm back.  Strum on, folks! 😎

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Normally I just leave whatever came with a guitar be.  The only time I have gone out of my way to make a change was with the bridge pins was on my 1932 L1.  It had nothing to do with sound or the pins not doing what they were supposed to.  This thing sported Bakelite pins and they had gotten to the point they were at risk every time I changed strings.  Figured I would just as soon save them for posterity so went with an old set of ebony pins somebody had given me when they installed bone pins.  Although I did eventually buy a set of Antique Acoustic pins the wood ones ae doing fine so are still in there.

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I find myself in this situation sometimes too. Usually, it's with changing pickups on electric guitars but sure, been down the rabbit hole with different pins/saddle/tuner/string/pick combinations. Only occasionally is there a noticeable improvement - sometimes it's worse!

Anyway, good call on the Monel Retro strings. LOVE them on my AJ - and they seem to last and last with consistent tone. Maybe the first day, like many new string sets, they can sound too metallic or "stringy" but after playing, putting it down, picking it up later and re-tuning, it great and stays that way for ages.

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