Ebony vs. Plastic Bridge Pins

Do bridge pins make a difference in acoustic guitar sound?

Guitar - Martin 00-18v
Ebony Pins - Waverly slotted with abalone dots
Strings - Martin Retro lights 12-54
Pick - Blue Chip TD60
Mics - Blue Bluebird, AKG Perception 100
Songs - Dear Younger Me (Mercy Me), Hideaway (original), Day and Age (Julian Lage)

[rosewoodsteel]

I took the money I saved by keeping my stock plastic pins and bought a 6 pack of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. After the third beer, not only did I notice a subtle richness in tone, but my playing vastly improved.

[dwasifarkaralahishipoor]

I'm mystified by commenters saying there's no difference. I don't claim to have golden ears, but I could definitely hear the difference. Plastic was a bit brighter and more forward, ebony was less strident but had more depth. Not to a huge degree, but enough that I'm surprised anyone could miss it.

[kevinsteele]

Plastic sounded better when I was sitting down, ebony when I was standing up - but if I stood on one leg, suddenly plastic sounded better again. Weird. lol.

[jlozano]

I listened with my headphone and and Senn HD700's, the ebony did increase the bass response some, but almost identical.

[goodwolfie]

I just replaced my plastic pins with ebony. I'm so surprised about the sound quality. It's amazing how such a small things can make such a big change! My cheap guitar sounds like an expensive one. Such a deep and rich sound!

[falcongunner]

Random note on this, I typically prefer wood pins, but when the strings get older and more dead, the brittle top end of the plastic tends to give you more life from the strings. Tone is pretty much gone at the same point with wood though.

[mantle]

Here’s an idea, put the $ back in your wallet, pretend you changed your pins, sit back and enjoy the awesome improvements you think you hear.

[robbynaumann]

The ebony pins definitely mellow out the attack a lot. You can really hear it starting at 0:35 up to about 1:15. With the plastic pins there is this brittle slap sound when you first hit each chord. The ebony mellows that out and seems so have a more balanced sound. I have this happen with my D-18 a lot. It doesn’t sound bad, but I think the ebony sounds better in that circumstance at least.

[Mysticsimon]

OMG there is a noticeable difference in the tone. The plastic pins sounds thinner with a higher frequency while the Ebony pins sounds much more robust and warmer towards the mid frequency.

[JR]

I put Martin D28 on my ebony pins. The Sound improved drastically compared to the Glarry on them.

[Isosceles]

Ebony sounds way better psychologically.

[landonrowe]

Thank you for this wonderful comparison! I have a Martin 000-18 and was considering changing from the original plastic to ebony pins. Now I will definitely make the change!

[GeroLubovnik]

If you don't hear a difference Brian, then you're not listening deeply enough. The ebony pins produce a harmonic sustain that is quite "reverb-like" while that reverb-ish sound is not present with the plastic pins. Bone pins will be dry as well, but produce a different set of harmonics/overtones. Listen again to your recording, but this time listen deeper. Listen to what's going on inside the body of the guitar.

[MarcassCarcass]

Plastic had a thinner and brighter sound. I prefer it on this guitar.

[luckyrocks]

Thanks for proving once again that that brass pins are the best upgrade to replace plastic pins!

[BlackFrog]

Negligible. Thank you for doing this comparison. To often we get too caught up on hardware rather than software.

[donartyone]

I forgot about the pins when he played that song at the end. Really nice!

[stevelaforce]

I don't know why but I was expecting a night and day saved me a few bucks there buddy. No need for me to change pins at this time.

[Alex_Khouri]

I must be honest - I didn't notice a significant difference between the two. However, Ebony is a harder material than plastic, so it should provide some extra durability/longevity. I've heard that plastic pins tend to deform slightly over time, which may affect how firmly they sit in the bridge.

Having changed many bridge pins from cheap plastic to bone I can say bone rules in sound ALL THE TIME! in this clip it's so evident! Greetings from Hollywood California!