Slotted or unslotted...

[Jayla]

Last fall I had some work done on my Gibson, and decided to swap out the plastic pins and replace them with bone ones. When I mentioned this to my luthier, he asked: "slotted or unslotted?" I had never considered the difference and told him I wanted to look into it before choosing. When I asked him his preference, he said unslotted, but suggested I check it out for myself. I did, and found a couple of really informative threads (links below). In the end, I went with unslotted pins.

 

There've been a lot of pin threads on this forum, but most have focused on aesthetics and/or ethics. I'm wondering what you all think, and what type of pins you're using -- slotted or unslotted.

 

Here are the threads:

 

http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=13735&hilit=unslotted

 

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128062

[Red 333]

Slotted.

[Jerry K]

Isn't there supposed to be a combination of A. slotted bridge + unslotted pin or B. unslotted bridge + slotted pin?

 

That would indicate to me that if your guitar came with slotted pins, you should stick with slotted pins and vice versa. The discussion in the links does seem to suggest that pin materials harder than plastic are better.

[Jayla]

Isn't there supposed to be a combination of A. slotted bridge + unslotted pin or B. unslotted bridge + slotted pin?

 

Yes, so I had my bridge slotted when I changed to unslotted pins...

[Hall]

slotted

[ksdaddy]

If it's an old Fender Palomino the pins need to be oversized, unslotted, and wrapped with a layer of white medical tape. A drop of super glue would help too.

[TWilson]

Slotted

[Jayla]

Out of curiosity: did you guys take a look at the threads I linked to? The posters raise some interesting points about potential long-term damage to the guitar due to the use of slotted pins. Without freaking out about it, I found them convincing enough to go with unslotted pins, which I now have on both my acoustics.

[Jerry K]

I read the links but I'm not sure I buy the reasoning. Seems like either way a slot exists. The slotted bridge bends the string further back towards the neck and I wonder if that actually could dull the sound somewhat... Instead of moving the top up and down it moves it at an angle....

[glynsong]

Unslotted pins ramped and slotted bridge. informative post Jayla.The proof is there at the edge of the plate with slotted pins.

[pohatu771]

My Martin has slotted pins and a slotted bridge.

[TommyK]

imNSho.

As stated before, if you had slotted pins before, you need them now... unless your luthier / tech guy is looking for an upsell to include slotting the bridge and has talked you into parting with your cash for the priviledge.

 

Slotting the bridge is a personal preference thing. Some believe it improves/enhances/ tone, volume......yada,yada,yada.

 

It does change the break angle at the saddle. As such it probably does change tone / volume. Not sure by how much or if at all. Slot the bridge at your own expense and risk.

 

The only way a slotted pin can damage your guit tar is if you are jambing the pins in the hole too vigorously, thus enlarging the holes. This, by the way, can be done with unsloted pins in a slotted bridge... and is noted by one of the posters on the AGF. If you can't pull the pins with your finger and thumb, you are over doing it. You only need to push the pin in tight enough to keep gravity from pulling it out when you shake your picks out of the sound hole. If the pins rocket out of the hole when you first bring a new string up to pitch, you've installed the string incorrectly.

 

Anyone telling you slotted pins damage guit tars and therefore should be done on all guit tars isn full of bushwa. Most likely they are trying to sell you on the idea of parting with good money so he can slot your bridge.

 

imNSho.

[Jayla]

I read the links but I'm not sure I buy the reasoning. Seems like either way a slot exists. The slotted bridge bends the string further back towards the neck and I wonder if that actually could dull the sound somewhat... Instead of moving the top up and down it moves it at an angle....

 

Though I understand your analysis jerryk' date=' I must say I give the benefit of the doubt to the professional luthiers on the above threads. Given that they've repaired a variety of guitars over the years due to this very problem, I've taken what they've written to heart and duly went with unslotted pins.

 

If I follow their arguments correctly, it seems that the slotted pins allow the ball ends of the strings to pull up into the bridge plate, eventually eating into and possibly pulling through it, necessitating a reinforcement or replacement of the bridge plate. The slotted bridge does not appear to create the same problem, presumably because the unslotted pins hold the ball ends of the strings more tightly against the bridge plate in the first place. Their photos and diagrams show how the unslotted pins have actually curved under the tension of the strings. I also found it interesting how older guitars don't have this problem, because they used unslotted pins back in the day.

 

 

My Martin has slotted pins and a slotted bridge.

 

Wow! That seems odd; I wonder if it's problematic.

 

OOC, are you the original owner? If not, is it possible that a previous owner swapped out the unslotted pins for slotted ones?