guitar12 Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 Just snagged an AJ-500M off of Ebay and was wondeirng if anybody has upgraded their bridge pins and whether they thought it was worth it. If so, what pins did you use and where did you buy them? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 Worth it how? I always do cause plastic looks and sounds like ****, though the bridge pins have the least effect on the sound out of the three plastic parts. (saddle, nut, pins) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ship of fools Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Save your money unless you don't like the looks, the bridge pins have no effect that the average person can hear on the sound and to my knowledge they could see no difference when measured with electronics devices either in terms of lenght of waves sounds. And if you are going to switch things then make sure you are getting what you want from that switch sound looks and just because you can.Ship This is who I use when I want to make things look differenntly. http://www.guitarsaddles.com/pricing.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Unless it is purely for aesthetics, I agree with Ship of Fools - the only thing you could do that would have less impact on a guitar's sound is change the endpins. Way I look at it, the best acoustic ever made - the Martins, Epis and Gibsons of the late 1930s all had plastic bridge pins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byrds1965 Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Just snagged an AJ-500M off of Ebay and was wondeirng if anybody has upgraded their bridge pins and whether they thought it was worth it. If so' date=' what pins did you use and where did you buy them? Thanks. [/quote'] Try a set of Tusq pins. They do change the tone. I have an AJ500ME and they made a difference in the tone over the stock plastic pins. They are not expensive and do the strings one by one and you will hear a change in the tone. I have only owned one guitar they made no difference on, so I just put the plastic pins back in and used them on another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar12 Posted December 16, 2009 Author Share Posted December 16, 2009 I should have been more clear. Yes, I meant worth it in terms of tonal upgrade. It appears that the consensus is that it doesn't make a huge difference and I'm not concerned about the appearance of the bridge pins. Thanks. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike54 Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I have an AJ-500R, and I changed out my pins for bone. My opinion, there is a little bit more sustain and the tone is a little better with bone, but I may be trying to hear it that way. I know it sounds great, and I jam with several folks who play D-28s, D-18s, Santa Cruz Tony Rice, custom mades, etc. They all think my Epi holds it's own and more. I ordered my pins with a vintage stain and 3mm faux tortise shell dot inlays from Bob Colosi at www.guitarsaddles.com. He's got detailed instructions for how to measure your current pins on the site. I think the upgrade was worth it, $20-$30, for both improved sound and looks. Here are a couple of before and after shots. http://s976.photobucket.com/albums/ae247/mparsley1/Epiphone%20pics/?action=view¤t=epibridgepins007.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lpfan Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I would just save your money and keep using the bridge pins that are already in it. They all do the same thing no matter what material they are made of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Don't get me wrong. There is a tonal difference to using bone, brass, wood, plastic for bridge pins. But if you are still rocking plastic anywhere else, change that first because the impact the nut and saddle have is much greater than the pins. But the DO make a difference. Albeit a small one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron G Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 P.T. Barnum was right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diverden Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Exotic and collector cars are more highly valued when they have all the original "Stock" equipment. They also score higher at concourse meets. I look for the same thing when I go shopping for vintage guitars. I find it amusing when I see Ebay or Craig's List ads for a "Pristine" Elitist Les Paul, and then go on to read all the supposed improvements that some yahoo thinks he has made to it. And to top it off he feels he should be compensated for butchering an otherwise fine guitar. If it sounds good, looks good; why screw it up? Because somebody on a forum says so? Bridge pins making a difference in sound? Not likely. If they're not cracked and fit snugly they should be left alone. IMHFO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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