Official Luthiers Forum!

Do you use slotted pins or do you slot your bridge hole, and why?

I use unslotted bridge pins and slot the bridge, for several reasons:
Unslotted pins last forever.
Slotting the bridge allows the slots to be sized to fit each string.
Slotting the bridge will reduce wear on the bridgeplate.
Slotting the bridge increases the string break angle across the saddle, which can improve the sound.

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John

I slot the hole. Makes for a better fit of the ball end of the string under the bridge plate, which is less likely to damage both the plate and bridge pins over time; it 'may' lead to a better, more solid contact between string and plate, and of the pin along the length of the pin hole; and this technique may be among the many small things that hopefully all add up to a better sounding guitar. Just hoping... and thinking out loud. Hope it helps.

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Ken Mitchell
Durham, NC

Thanks guys!

One more question...am looking at SM bridge pin hole slotting saws and files. Kind of pricey for the entire set. What do you use?

Followup- where do you all get your unslotted pins, and do you have to pay a fortune for them? LMI seems to have the best pin prices (and largest material selection), but all slotted except for ebony and Indian rosewood. StewMac has unslotted bone, but they're expensive and 5 degree taper, whereas I prefer 3 degree.

So far I've been using slotted pins, but also slotting the bridge some for the low strings that don't quite fit through the pin slot. Really, how do people do an entirely unslotted bridge? Just drill the hole almost big enough for the pin to seat entirely, and only ream a taper at the very top, past the double wound end of the string near the ball? That could explain the wear issues... with a fully tapered hole, the ball end should stay entirely inside the box, at least at first. But it would probably eat away the edges of the slot in the pin eventually, possibly allowing it to get far enough toward the hole to start wearing through the bridge plate as well.

In any case, I see no disadvantage to unslotted pins when I'm doing some bridge slotting already, so I'll switch over if I can find a good source.

I use the keyhole blade of the Zona saw from LMI to do most of the bridge notching http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts.asp?CategoryName=Knives+%26+Saws&NameProdHeader=Zona%99+Saw
The other two blades are very useful for other tasks, so I'd definitely recommend buying one. But my notches aren't super clean and 'pro' looking, so you'll probably have to pony up the dough for the SM set if you're picky.

I use a jigsaw blade,
held with a vice grip,
then use different sized needle files.
I'm sure the S.M. stuf would be nicer,
but I don't have a lot of mullah.

Gurian

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Just turn the slotted ones thro' 180 degrees.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

I get my unslotted bone pins from David Warther: http://www.guitarpartsandmore.com/?nav=products&cat=23&sub=10

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

The danger with that is if it is going to a customer they may turn the pins back and damage the bridge plate and pin holes. I rescued a friends guitar from this fate, he did not realize the bridge was slotted and put the pins in with the slots forward facing. His complaint was after changing the strings his bass string was not sounding right. This was not one of my guitars but a guitar he had purchases from a small factory that had shipped it out with slotted pins turned around instead of unslotted pins.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Slot The Bridge.Here is a source for 5 degree un-slotted.these are very high quality, the best I`ve used .Bob ,is a great guy to work with,and has a large selection of items.For example,ivory and walrus

http://www.guitarsaddles.com/
James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Solid pins,slot and ramp bridge.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Beth: Dremel and an end mill type bit. Also saber saw blade mounted in a wooden handle and needle files.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

"What we got here, is a failure t' communicate " ...

I at one time precured my bridge pins from a source that will go unnamed. On recommend from a certain Germantown MD. luthier I tried the Stew -Mac pins and found them to be exactly as advertized. This saved me a lot of work fitting pins individually and marking with notches and they are better looking then the others. Thanks Todd.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Another source for unslotted pins is to fill in the slots with a similar material and file it flush.

Good tip Clay.

I ordered a builder's package from Filippo....the pins and nuts look really nice. Now I need to get a 5 degree reamer (mine is for 3 degree, but seems much easier to find the 5's in unslotted.

Maybe I am looking at it backwards, but doesn't slotting the bridge decrease the string break angle. It seems to me the closer the string is to the bridge the shallower the angle.
Also is there an optimal angle? Isn't the angle of each string different due to the fact that the pin holes aren't usually parallel to the saddle?

I guess you mean the angle between the string and the saddle, not the angle of the string from the bridge to the saddle?

It is the string break angle across the saddle that determines down pressure on the saddle. The angle that the strings leave the bridge is not important.

In general, I try to stay in the range of 30 to 45 degrees. A traditional Martin style bridge will have more break angle on the bass strings, which can be a good thing. That is because the bass strings must transmit more energy.

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John

So at Todd's suggestion, I contacted Filippo to order the unslotted bone pins. I ended up ordering his "builder's package" with nuts, saddles, pins and side dots. Got it within two days of ordering, and they are beautiful! Looking forward to using them on the OM I'm finishing. It will be my first foray into bridge hole slotting.

Also, Todd, I picked up a few of those Bosch jigsaw blades and will be making my own saw....great tip!!

As usual, thanks for all the time and wisdom so generously offered here on the OLF! Beth