bridge pin wt

[styler]

Hey guys wonder if yall can answer this for me. 

 Ive had my J45 now since march or april and have tried a few different stings saddles and bridge pins. Currently I'm back to the factory saddle and pins. 

  I had purchased bone pins and saddle from Bob C.    (forgot how to spell his last name lol)

  Nothing wrong with them . the craftsmanship is beautiful. but to my ear the tusq saddle and pins just sound better. 

 Any way I weighed the pins today and the factory pins are .003 oz while the bone ones are .004

  That in mind I looked on stewmac and the wavery ebony pins are listed at   .0096lbs.   (slotted no dot)

  So I'm confused on the conversion from lbs to oz here. Are these lighter than the factory ones?  if im right then they are .1536 oz which mean their  heaver than the factory ones by a lot. 

 Am I missing something? Im thinking I want the lightest ones possible. May already have them?

 

Edited November 7 by styler

[duluthdan]

If that is correct for Waverlies, they weigh .1536 ounces.  Though a noticeable difference on paper, a set of bone pins weighing .024 ounces, versus .918 for a set of ebony pins would be the equivalent of less than 1/4 of a postage stamp.  I my weak little brain I think the true difference in the materials you are scratching your head over is not the weight,  but the density of the material - and the transference of any of that energy through the pin to the bridge plate.  And really, not even that, but the affect that the material density has on the string it is holding, by pressure, that is transferring energy to the bridge plate.  

[Dave F]

I better weigh my brass and Liquid Metal ones

[Sgt. Pepper]

Am I reading this right? Now we’re obsessing over the weight of bridge pins? 

Wow. Unreal.

Edited November 7 by Sgt. Pepper

[Dave F]

2 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

Am I reading this right? Now we’re obsessing over the weight of bridge pins? 

Wow. Unreal.

Just one of us, not me. I use Ivoroid, plastic, bone, ebony, brass, liquid metal and in a pinch, a golf tee.

I also made a set of holly wood pin for one of our members looking for a white hardwood option.

Edited November 7 by Dave F

[Sgt. Pepper]

5 minutes ago, Dave F said:

Just one of us, not me. I use Ivoroid, plastic, bone, ebony, brass, liquid metal and in a pinch, a golf tee.

I also made a set of holly wood pin for one of our members looking for a white hardwood option.

All mine are ebony. As far as how much they weigh. Don’t care, and not gonna waste my time weighing them either. 

How much does the finish weigh on your guitar? 

I’m obviously not directing this at you Dave.

Edited November 7 by Sgt. Pepper

[Dave F]

28 minutes ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

All mine are ebony. As far as how much they weigh. Don’t care, and not gonna waste my time weighing them either. 

How much does the finish weigh on your guitar? 

I’m obviously not directing this at you Dave.

I've got Ebony on a few guitars. I've found the Taylor Ebony pins fit the Gibson nicely.

Edited November 7 by Dave F

[styler]

I appreciate the feedback.. I'm not making a mountain out of a molehill here, just curious

sorry to offend you Sgt pepper. 

 Ive never thought much about bridge pins until I ran the bone ones for a few months and switched back to the factory ones. 

 As  duluthdan said its probably not the weight as much as the connection.  Maybe those bone ones I took out didn't do a good job of that. They were a little loose for my liking.

 So are those waverlys im speaking of a good choice as far as fit? Or the Taylor ones Dave F spoke of?

[Sgt. Pepper]

23 minutes ago, styler said:

I appreciate the feedback.. I'm not making a mountain out of a molehill here, just curious

sorry to offend you Sgt pepper. 

 Ive never thought much about bridge pins until I ran the bone ones for a few months and switched back to the factory ones. 

 As  duluthdan said its probably not the weight as much as the connection.  Maybe those bone ones I took out didn't do a good job of that. They were a little loose for my liking.

 So are those waverlys im speaking of a good choice as far as fit? Or the Taylor ones Dave F spoke of?

You’re not offering me, just wasting time on something so absolutely unimportant in today’s day and age. The weight of something so minuscule it’s ridiculous. 

I think I’m gonna weigh the next Grateful Dead sticker I put on my car. Why, to make sure my gas mileage doesn’t decrease.

Edited November 7 by Sgt. Pepper

[egoidealmusic]

6 hours ago, Dave F said:

I better weigh my brass and Liquid Metal ones

Dave F, what are the specs?  What guitars, etc., and do you like?

[egoidealmusic]

I like tusq on the low 3 and hardwood on the high 3 (ebony for black pins on my J-45, and the magic Dave F provided for a great white wood for my LG-2).  I don't think it's weight but just preference.  I think I like the snap of tusq on the bassier tones and the more mellow ring one the higher end, but that's just me.  But one of the best (actual) 60s 6-45s I've heard had the original plastic pins that were ugly and a good bit trashed but that guitar sounded amazing so I'd probably never change them unless they disntegrated. 

[Sgt. Pepper]

8 minutes ago, egoidealmusic said:

Dave F, what are the specs?  What guitars, etc., and do you like?

He’s busy tracing guitar body shapes. Please don’t start tracing pins.

Edited November 8 by Sgt. Pepper

[Dave F]

The brass pins came stock on the Gibson Custom Ebony J45. The liquid metal came stock on the Martin 0012 28 Modern Deluxe.

I choose pins strictly on looks. I've never noticed a difference in sound when swapping pins.

 

[egoidealmusic]

Oooh, those do look great on that Gibson...

 

Interesting that you notice no real difference given the huge claims about metal bridge pins, especially wiht how much they cost.  A good lesson for the "tone" chasers.

[styler]

5 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

You’re not offering me, just wasting time on something so absolutely unimportant in today’s day and age. The weight of something so minuscule it’s ridiculous. 

I think I’m gonna weigh the next Grateful Dead sticker I put on my car. Why, to make sure my gas mileage doesn’t decrease.

Ok I take back my " sorry I offended you"   

   Not wasting time .. I was interested in it because I read some past discussions on this very subject.  

  Thanks for the help ... not

[Sgt. Pepper]

7 hours ago, styler said:

Ok I take back my " sorry I offended you"   

   Not wasting time .. I was interested in it because I read some past discussions on this very subject.  

  Thanks for the help ... not

I know 3/5th of a gram actually matters. I’ve been on guitar forums and never have I heard anyone give a rip about the weight of something so small. I’ve been on this forum since 2013, and I have never till now seen this discussed or a thread about it anywhere. I have seen everything else guitar related, but this - nope. So enlighten us on the the bennys of lighter or heavier pins. Mine are made of ebony, and branded by the Martin Guitar Company (probably someone else made them tho), and that is the extent of my knowledge if the pins in my 2 acoustics. Do people think pins of different materials affects tone - yes . Do I think a metal pin is heavier than a plastic one, sure. But care or think there are benefits - not at all. The only time weight matters is when I’m buying weed. Do I want an 1/8th or a 1/4?

Edited November 8 by Sgt. Pepper

[fortyearspickn]

20 hours ago, styler said:

That in mind I looked on stewmac and the wavery ebony pins are listed at   .0096lbs. 

So, you convert lbs to ozs -   divide the .0096 by 16 oz per pound.   You get .0006 ounces.  So, MUCH lighter than the factory or bone pins at .003 or .004.   But this is  assuming the .0096 lbs weight listed is accurate, and they didn't slip up by adding another zero after the decimal point.    OR - when you say you 'weighed the pins' - you weighed 6 and StewMac weighed 1.   If bridge PIN material mattered, guitar engineers would be making the bridges out of brass or balsa wood.  The pins are a small part of the bridge - taking up the space vacated where the rosewood was drilled out. 

Oh, and best to ignore Sgt.Pepper's attempt to pixx/drive you off.  He insults all Newbies.  He is a Martin plant.  Potted I guess. 

[zombywoof]

For those of us without dog hearing, about the only thing I can think of which impacts a guitar's voice less than bridge pins would be the end pin.  But if you are driven to put on a lab coat and delve into the mysteries of sound, the smart choice would appear to be polyester pins.  They are just about as hard as galalith pins but lighter.  

Edited November 8 by zombywoof

[Sgt. Pepper]

43 minutes ago, fortyearspickn said:

So, you convert lbs to ozs -   divide the .0096 by 16 oz per pound.   You get .0006 ounces.  So, MUCH lighter than the factory or bone pins at .003 or .004.   But this is  assuming the .0096 lbs weight listed is accurate, and they didn't slip up by adding another zero after the decimal point.    OR - when you say you 'weighed the pins' - you weighed 6 and StewMac weighed 1.   If bridge PIN material mattered, guitar engineers would be making the bridges out of brass or balsa wood.  The pins are a small part of the bridge - taking up the space vacated where the rosewood was drilled out. 

Oh, and best to ignore Sgt.Pepper's attempt to pixx/drive you off.  He insults all Newbies.  He is a Martin plant.  Potted I guess. 

I am - guilty. But what is the point of giving a rip about something that weighs .0006 ounces? You or anyone on the planet think you could hear the difference if you put pins in that weighed .0007 ounces instead of .0006 ounces? This is what I stick around this place. It’s free entertainment. These things keep our strings from popping out. The fact that there are different materials is probably the same reason there are 50 different types of cola. We all like different choices. Tone may and I mean may play into it. I have ebony cause they look nice. They even have the MOP dot on top to Gucci them up.

Here is what he should do weigh himself. Eat a lifesavers candy and weigh himself again. 

Edited November 8 by Sgt. Pepper

[ksdaddy]

Guitarstrummer had a set of Colosi pins with G I B S O N spelled out on them. I thought that was cool.

[rct]

34 minutes ago, ksdaddy said:

Guitarstrummer had a set of Colosi pins with G I B S O N spelled out on them. I thought that was cool.

Then you'd have to get the best Tone Font.

rct

[styler]

2 hours ago, fortyearspickn said:

So, you convert lbs to ozs -   divide the .0096 by 16 oz per pound.   You get .0006 ounces.  So, MUCH lighter than the factory or bone pins at .003 or .004.   But this is  assuming the .0096 lbs weight listed is accurate, and they didn't slip up by adding another zero after the decimal point.    OR - when you say you 'weighed the pins' - you weighed 6 and StewMac weighed 1.   If bridge PIN material mattered, guitar engineers would be making the bridges out of brass or balsa wood.  The pins are a small part of the bridge - taking up the space vacated where the rosewood was drilled out. 

Oh, and best to ignore Sgt.Pepper's attempt to pixx/drive you off.  He insults all Newbies.  He is a Martin plant.  Potted I guess. 

Thanks for that.   I wasn't sure I had converted correctly.  I only weighed one at a time of each that I have  on my scale I use for arrow component.  Its very accurate . 

I think I'll try the ebony ones.   Yep , going to ignore that guy.  Im almost 60 years old and have been playing and messing around with guitars most of my life.  Im a get by at best but I love playing and trying things. 

[egoidealmusic]

You know, the second top thread that never moves is called something like "strings--saddle--nut--pins" so it's really not a crazy question to think about weight (which is, in terms of physics, connected with density, which we do talk about).  I don't think it's a crazy question to ask, and if you're chasing down a tone it (pin choice) is definitely something to think about.  My 50s J-45 came with all white tusq pins.  I like the look of black on a J-45, so I switched them initially to all black tusq pins resulting in no change in tone.  When I tried ebony on the higher three, I definitely noticed a difference which I liked as it mellowed the high three a bit.  How'd I learn that ebony might have that impact?  Some acoustic guitar forum, perhaps even this one.  Also, I'm sure I've asked a question some rolled their eyes that.  That's cool too. 🙂 

[Dave F]

Here's my '52 with the Taylor ebony pins

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

1 hour ago, egoidealmusic said:

You know, the second top thread that never moves is called something like "strings--saddle--nut--pins" so it's really not a crazy question to think about weight (which is, in terms of physics, connected with density, which we do talk about).  I don't think it's a crazy question to ask, and if you're chasing down a tone it (pin choice) is definitely something to think about.  My 50s J-45 came with all white tusq pins.  I like the look of black on a J-45, so I switched them initially to all black tusq pins resulting in no change in tone.  When I tried ebony on the higher three, I definitely noticed a difference which I liked as it mellowed the high three a bit.  How'd I learn that ebony might have that impact?  Some acoustic guitar forum, perhaps even this one.  Also, I'm sure I've asked a question some rolled their eyes that.  That's cool too. 🙂 

So you are telling me blindfolded if I played your guitar, and played the exact same thing using the same pick, or my fingers, and swapped out the pins, and back a few times with all plastic ones, all ebony ones, all brass ones, and your configuration, you could tell me every time without certainty when it’s how you like it, and when different pins are in there? Your hearing is that acute? I’m calling BS.

Edited November 9 by Sgt. Pepper