My New Bridge Pins Don't Fit!

[RadioElectric]

Bought a set of these...

http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/produ...rass_king_pins

For my Guild D-25 acoustic. They seem to be bigger than the plastic pins that came with it. Even with not string in the hole they sit a few mm higher than they should. With the string in the hole they work their way out as I tune it up to pitch.

There was no way of finding out if they'd fit without trying it as John Pearse doesn't provide any information about the size on their site.

Would reaming the holes in the bridge to take these pins be a certain way of getting them to fit? I wouldn't want to do it without knowing for sure as obviously the plastic ones that came with the guitar wouldn't fit anymore.

Maybe I should just send these back and live with my plastic pins. What do you guys think?

[imported_jammy]

Reaming the holes is the only way to make them fit I'm afriad, It would render your old pins useless though. Bridge pins vary in size quite a lot, even within a set. I have a bridge pin holder with marked up holes, so I don't mix em up when I'm working on guitars and then have to spend ages swapping em around till they all sit level!

One thing that could be causing this problem is the angle of the taper on the pins - some come at 3 degrees, some at 5. You have to ream for a specific taper on the pin when you fit em too...

[RadioElectric]

Originally Posted by imported_jammy

Reaming the holes is the only way to make them fit I'm afriad, It would render your old pins useless though. Bridge pins vary in size quite a lot, even within a set. I have a bridge pin holder with marked up holes, so I don't mix em up when I'm working on guitars and then have to spend ages swapping em around till they all sit level!

One thing that could be causing this problem is the angle of the taper on the pins - some come at 3 degrees, some at 5. You have to ream for a specific taper on the pin when you fit em too...

Thank you. I've emailed a company called Pinz that make bridge pins (and who also, frustratingly, do not provide any measurements etc. on their website) to see whether their pins will fit my guitar without any modification. If that's the case then I'll see if I can get StringsDirect to do an exchange.

[Ian B (again)]

I'm glad I've seen this (sorry for you) as I was going to order a set myself but I'll have to give it a bit more thought now. If I could be sure they'd make a significant difference to the sound, I'd ask my friendly local guitar tech to drill out the bridge holes.

[noisepolluter]

Originally Posted by RadioElectric

Bought a set of these...

http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/produ...rass_king_pins

For my Guild D-25 acoustic. They seem to be bigger than the plastic pins that came with it. Even with not string in the hole they sit a few mm higher than they should. With the string in the hole they work their way out as I tune it up to pitch.

There was no way of finding out if they'd fit without trying it as John Pearse doesn't provide any information about the size on their site.

Would reaming the holes in the bridge to take these pins be a certain way of getting them to fit? I wouldn't want to do it without knowing for sure as obviously the plastic ones that came with the guitar wouldn't fit anymore.

Maybe I should just send these back and live with my plastic pins. What do you guys think?

If you exchanged them for pins made from wood/bone of some sort then you could possibly sand them down slightly till they fit. Or they might possibly be a slightly better fit anyway. Depends if you liked the sound I suppose. I was originally going to go for ebony but the shop didn't have any so I took a punt on buffalo - may possibly sound different but still an improvement on the plastic anyway.

I'd be very leery of modifying the guitar.

[Guitar_Slinger]

Originally Posted by noisepolluter

I'd be very leery of modifying the guitar.

Fuck me, someone's hacked his account.

[Guitar_Slinger]

I was so stunned by NP's comment that I forgot I had a similar bridge pin experience last week, with my brother-in-law's guitar ( A Korean made Hollywood - whatever that is).

I bought some pins off eBay because 2 had the heads snapped off and the guitar only had 5 rusty strings. The new ones didn't go all the way in, but as I was in Italy and 40m away from the nearest guitar shop, I gently squished them in so they're sticking out by 2 or 3mm. I played the guitar all week and they stayed in, the guitar stayed in tune and all seemed OK.

[bertie]

Originally Posted by Guitar_Slinger

Fuck me, someone's hacked his account.

[Ian B (again)]

Well, I took a cchance on getting a set of these John Pearse brass bridge pins, they've arrived, and what can I say but they have definitely made a difference to the sound of this guitar. It's brighter, especially the bottom end so all in all, they were a chance worth taking for me. They might seem a tad expensive at £25 for a set from www.hobgoblin.co.uk but how much money do we spend/waste trying to find the perfect set of strings? I'm using bog standard Martin 92/8 phosphor bronze 10's and there now is a marked difference. I'm well chuffed, especially as they fitted straight off.

I also got a compensated bone saddle while I was at it, but t'll be a day or so before I get round to shaping/fitting that, and hopefully that will help as well.

[RadioElectric]

Originally Posted by Ian B (again)

Well, I took a cchance on getting a set of these John Pearse brass bridge pins, they've arrived, and what can I say but they have definitely made a difference to the sound of this guitar. It's brighter, especially the bottom end so all in all, they were a chance worth taking for me. They might seem a tad expensive at £25 for a set from www.hobgoblin.co.uk but how much money do we spend/waste trying to find the perfect set of strings? I'm using bog standard Martin 92/8 phosphor bronze 10's and there now is a marked difference. I'm well chuffed, especially as they fitted straight off.

I also got a compensated bone saddle while I was at it, but t'll be a day or so before I get round to shaping/fitting that, and hopefully that will help as well.

I've sent the King Pins back in exchange for some "Pinz". Apparently they're a bit smaller so they should fit my guitar.

The King Pins didn't fit a friend of mine's tanglewood either, what did you manage to put them in?