Make Your Acoustic Guitar Sound Instantly Better With This Simple Mod! (With Audio Proof)

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[rickbaker]

no doubt, the sustain improves, as do the mid tones. So good to see real musicians, real craftsmen, giving us ways to improve tone and not a dime to be made. Just giving help. You guys ROCK!

[Alien_O]

Its amazing how the unslotted pins add riffs to the tune.

[kqyhyqj]

I started slotting bridges and using unslotted bridge pins after seeing your video about a year ago. The improvement across all brands is remarkable and has brought great reactions from my customers. Thanks, and keep making your great videos.

[elic]

I’m 69 and I could hear the difference and I believe it definitely improved the sound so I will be trying this on my guitars. Thank you for taking the time to share this.

[williampamblanco]

It opens up the tone a lot! Warmer, more sustain, more defined. Hadn't though of this at all, great demo.

[craigsanderson]

The most obvious improvement to me is the richness of the cords. The factory guitar sounded flat and lifeless…after the modification again rich and full NOT dull like in need of a string change. Loved it!! Great video.😊

[uncledubya]

I've done this to two guitars - inspired by your original video - a 1999 Larrivee Parlor and a recent Martin DSS-17. The difference is subtle, but noticeable. Both guitars sound a little fuller, more resonant, just a little more focused and together, with more sustain. They were both great guitars before, but this is absolutely an improvement.

[rogerp]

I consider myself a novice and relatively new at learning guitar and even I could hear a difference. Sounded crisper, livelier and with distinctively more sustain. I’d be terrified to modify my guitar but then again, haven’t seen your “How to” video yet. Awesome video.

[JC-rbhj]

There is a muted tone in the factory version that I don't like, and I think I would not have noticed it were it not for the comparison. The slotted bridge breathes and has and openness not to mention sustain. It's a sound I have attempted to find by using certain types of strings. Thank you for this!

[Maydoggie]

I DID IT!!! I bought an even less expensive slotting saw on Amazon and slotted the bridge on my Martin 000-15. Not only is the sound richer and fuller, and the sustain recognizably longer, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it's much easier to get a good vibrato with minimal effort. I'm no luthier by any stretch of the imagination, nor do i have much woodworking experience, but i'm adventurous and patient (and I like to buy tools). This took me less than 2 hours.

[ashleyhunter]

I go one step further and slip a ball end from an old string over each string before they go in the bridge. This gives a flat contact point on the bridge plate for better sound and also helps preserve the plate from gouges resulting from round ball ends.

[FlyingV]

In my opinion, it brightens the tone noticeably. It sounds more lively.

[Robemmet]

The sound is definitely improved - seems to be more depth in the bass and a more mellow sustain. Thanks for the advice - and make MORE VIDEOS!

[ahobimo]

Wow! I've watched a lot of guitar tone videos and often, I can barely detect the supposed differences between various setups. But the difference here is unmistakable.

The guitar is far more resonant with the slotted bridge. There are new layers throughout the whole frequency range. The overall sound of the guitar isn't brighter or darker - just fuller.

It's amazing that such a simple mod can make such a significant improvement. Thank you so much for sharing this.

[edu-lins]

I think it improved sustain and volume, but I notice a scoop in the high mids (around 4khz maybe) that is not so pleasant to me. It made it sound “cheap” (just a little bit, of course). But on the other hand the upper highs (8khz and above) are more audible, so I can hear the clarity getting better, which is nice. Thank you for the video, I'll check out more of them!

[edwardpetersen]

I have done this slotting for players without much height on their saddle left and re-used the slotted bridge pins backwards as you said. Definitely improves the tone on aging neck angles!

[fourocker]

I did this recently on my Maple jumbo after watching your other video, it absolutely works and has added so much resonance, especially in the mid to bass, I just reinstalled the bone pins I already had with the slot facing backwards as suggested, works a treat....imagine a Maple Jumbo with cavernous bass and actual midrange overtone, I'd been reasonably disappointed with the sound of it for so long and was going to sell it, no way would I sell it now 😅, thanks so much for these uploads 👍👍👍.

[waynejohnson]

The initial sound is much the same, but the notes sustain much longer. My guitar has had this mod done to it. My guitar tech also put in a slightly taller saddle to increase the break angle. He also lengthened the saddle, converting it to a "through" saddle, which increased the footprint. All this made a noticeable improvement. After wearing the frets down, I took it to him for a re-fret. He put in huge frets, but didn't widen the fret slots. To do this, each fret had to be forced into place. This incrementally increased the neck tension, resulting in the biggest increase in volume of all the mods performed on the guitar.

[pglavalle]

I do agree, there is a slight change in tonality and increased sustain for the unslotted pin, but again I have to wonder to what degree that change is due to placement to recording., but two things I quickly notice in the video comparison between factory vs unslotted pin. First might not be so obvious, but nonetheless will produce a variation in sound to the listener - the guitar is tilted back for the unslotted, and straight up and down for factory. The second is the placement of the sound hole in relation to the recording device. I understand the two are videoed at different times (before and after new slotting), however still nonetheless, the sound and placement of guitar in relation to the recording device might be minimal, yet does not represent a true controlled sound test. I would suggest a better test where the instrument is flat on the table and a microphone placed above it. Each time there is an exact placement and distance from recording device.

[mynameissang]

From what I hear, the mids are much more scooped (down), which is what acoustic guitarists seem to favor based on amplification scenarios, but the tuning stability seems also ever so slightly more delicate. It's a tough one, for sure.
On your first demo chord, my first thought was "this Martin suddenly became a Collings." But after more samples, the difference seems to be much more nuanced.