Do they not sound tinny or metallic to you? I've heard people complain about that with brass pins.

I use nubone or plastic so I wouldn't know

Chocklit_Thunda wrote: Do they not sound tinny or metallic to you? I've heard people complain about that with brass pins.

I use nubone or plastic so I wouldn't know

I suppose it all boils down to personal preference. To me, my guitar sounds better with the brass bridge pins.

Coolcat wrote:

Chocklit_Thunda wrote: Do they not sound tinny or metallic to you? I've heard people complain about that with brass pins.

I use nubone or plastic so I wouldn't know

I suppose it all boils down to personal preference. To me, my guitar sounds better with the brass bridge pins.

How would you describe the change? Is it a richer sound or is there more volume?

I think often the replacement of plastic bits enhances tone. When I say "plastic" I exclude things like Tusq. On a lot of guitars you can improve tone by replacing a plastic saddle.

Brass bridge pins supposedly enhance sustain.

I saw Martin Carthy playing in London in 2008. Small venue, and we got there early and so got to sit really close to the action.

He has brass pins on the treble strings, regular pins on the bass side. Clearly he thinks that the brass has some benefit (or an overall good trade off). He plays with a metal thumb pick, and my guess is that he uses the brass pins on the treble side to balance the effect of the metal pick on the bass strings.

As Zohn says, it's a whole system. Carthy had amazing tone that night, but I'm reluctant to single out the pins. He was playing his bread and butter Martin 000-18, but it's modified with a zero fret and a two piece saddle. And there's that metal thumb pick.

zohn wrote:

X-rated Bob wrote: He has brass pins on the treble strings, regular pins on the bass side. Clearly he thinks that the brass has some benefit (or an overall good trade off). He plays with a metal thumb pick, and my guess is that he uses the brass pins on the treble side to balance the effect of the metal pick on the bass strings.

Hmmmm interesting - I gather the thumb (metal) pick plays the bass strings with the wooden pins. I would imagine the treble strings to be sweetened up somewhat (like on a short-scaled Gibson L-00) with the added mass. I should try this on my Berg.... :?

All of this (my take) is purely speculation though....

He had an amazing sound that night. Loads of sustain, which is important to the effect he achieves with drones in the bass and ringing, sustained chords in the treble.