What can you do to make your guitar sound different? The default answer for most people would be replacing the strings.

But let’s say you have tried out a bunch of strings already, but the tone isn’t satisfactory. Well, you can enhance the tone further with the help of quality bridge pins for acoustic guitar.

Usually, most guitars come with cheaply made bridge pins. There’s nothing inherently wrong with original pegs, but they tend to age and soften easily.

So, you need to search for high-quality replacements. The only problem is that there are so many models in today’s market to the extent that the search may be overwhelming.

We have done the heavy lifting for you and narrowed down the search to five top models. In addition, we have included useful buying tips that will come in handy in your future purchases.

Top 8 Best Bridge Pins for Acoustic Guitar

#1 Luvay Guitar Bone Bridge Pins

If you are in the market in search for natural bone, carefully hand polished bridge pins for your acoustic guitar, look no further than the Luvay.

These unique pins are made out of natural bone. They add a remarkable amount of volume, clarity, sustain, and treble to your instrument.

The natural bone material has great appearance and minimal porosity. They perform excellently in humid conditions and deliver good clarity and intonation.

The available nut size 1.7 by 0.24 by 0.3 inches and the saddle size is 2.8 by 0.12 by 0.35 inches. The diameter of the pins’ collar is 0.2 inches.

What makes this bridge pins quite unique is there standard size and shape, which allows you to use them on small guitars. However, you may have to grind them to improve their fitness.

Things We Like:

• Natural bone pins have a great appearance and minimum porosity
• They add superior volume, clarity, sustain, and treble to your guitar
• Standard shape and size fits different instrument sizes
• They allow for easy bridge and nut adjustment
• The package comes complete with a guitar bone bridge saddle and nut

Things We Didn’t Like:

• Sanding of the pins and nut may be necessary to improve fitness

#2 Petutu Acoustic Guitar Bridge Pins

If you want to enhance the harmonics of your acoustic guitar, you should look no further than the Petutu Acoustic Guitar Bridge Pins.

These bridge pins are precision made for enhanced tonal output and consistent quality. They are available in two unique colors: ivory and black.

These bridge pins are made of durable, light plastic material that does not only have superior chemical stability but will also not rust.

These plastic pins do an amazing job of keeping the ball ends from pulling through the holes in the top. They also have the excellent abrasion resistance and transparency.

After installing the Petutu bridge pins, you should expect open and richer low-ends and superior high-end.

They will give your acoustic instrument some additional character by making your acoustic sounds more stable and more powerful.

Things We Like:

• Precision made for improved tonal output and consistent quality
• Available in two sets of different colors, ivory, and black
• Plastic pins have superior chemical stability and rust resistance
• Excellent abrasion resistance and transparency
• They eliminate frequency sonic boom
• Durable in use and come with a backup set

Things We Didn’t Like:

• The diameter may be a little small for some acoustic guitars

#3 Blue Handcart Acoustic Guitar Bridge Pins

If quality plastic molded pins are what you are after, you should look no further than the Blue Handcart Acoustic Guitar Bridge Pins.

These unique pegs are made from ABS plastic with a white dot on the head. The pins have superior scratch resistance, strong impact resistance, and high tensile strength.

These precisely machined, high-quality bridge pegs are polished to perfection. They have good rigidity and density for improved vibrational transfer.

The pins have an excellent fit, they will hardly give you any problems with most acoustic guitar sizes. They are good replacements for your old ones.

The pins will improve the sound of your instrument by adding more punches, sustain, and clarity. They create more stable and brighter tones.

These bridge pins will arrive in an excellent package of six, and the ABS plastic material is waterproof and rustproof.

Things We Like:

• ABS plastic is waterproof, rustproof, scratch proof, and impact resistant
• Good rigidity and density for improved vibrational transfer
• Provide a good fit for most acoustic guitars in the market
• Improve sound quality by creating more stable and brighter tones
• They are excellent for increasing the responsiveness of your guitar

Things We Didn’t Like:

• They are vulnerable to snapping

#4 YMC Tint Acoustic Bridge Pins

If you are looking for an affordable set of bridge pins, look no further than the YMC Tint Acoustic Bridge Pins.

These bridge pins are basic and adequate just like what comes with a new budget acoustic guitar. The package comes with 6 black pins, 6 ivory pins, a string winder, and a nut saddle set.

Some of you may call these pins average, but they give a good performance. They offer a snug fit for most acoustic guitar models, depending on the taper and size hole.

What is most impressive about this set is the string winder, which not only turns very easily, but it is also super smooth than conventional models.

The nut that comes with these bridge pins is suitably tall. This allows for effortless changing of the strings of your guitar from steel to nylon.

Things We Like:

• The plastic material used is waterproof and rust-proof
• The ideal size that fits most acoustic guitars out there
• Good quality nut allows for an easy string change
• Sold in two separate colors, ivory and black for preference
• They help get rid of frequency sonic boom
• Provide good tonal improvement

Things We Didn’t Like:

• May not hold strings on some guitars

#5 Blisstime Ebony Acoustic Guitar Pins

What can you do to make your guitar sound different? The answer is really simple, buy the Blisstime Ebony Acoustic Guitar Pins.

One of the finest bridge pins materials that you should consider apart from plastic and bone is ebony. These ebony pins have a brass circle and a green abalone dot on the head.

Apart from being handmade and suitably polished, these bridge pins have minimal porosity and superior density that gives good clarity and intonation.

Their rigidity and thickness of the pegs provide superior vibrational transfer by the bridge when compared to plastic bridge pins.

These are probably the easiest bridge pegs to install. They will hardly wear out the bridge plate of your guitar. In fact, they will increase volume and clearness.

Things We Like:

• They are handmade from high-quality ebony
• Rigidity and density offer superior vibrational transfer
• Minimal porosity gives clarity and intonation
• Ebony does a good job of warming the tone of your acoustic guitar
• They enhance sustain the performance of your acoustic guitar
• Good fit for most acoustic guitar brands

Things We Didn’t Like:

• Some of the pegs may miss some parts

#6 Martin Guitar Bridge Pins

These pins are of high quality. They promise to give you the best performance. This company is famous for delivering great instruments.

The package includes seven products. They will offer you a larger pin. You can use it for the strap button. Moreover, these pins can last long. You will also receive a great carrying case. The only downside of these bridge pins is their higher cost compared to others.

#7 GraphTech PP-1122-00 Guitar Bridge Pins

These pins are popular for their consistency and quality. They are built in controlled conditions. Therefore, they are great for those who need a specific sound. These pins give you a finer sound compared to bone.

The sound they offer is clearer compared to stock pins. Moreover, these pins also make better intonation and volume. The GrapTech is also environment-friendly. However, they are expensive.

#8 D’Addario Boxwood Acoustic Guitar Bridge Pins

This is an excellent pin set for you. It gives you the same sound as ebony without the price tag. Therefore, it is really a good option. Moreover, these pins are ideal for those who don’t need a dark wood finish.

They have no abalone inlay design. Besides, these bridge spins include a spare peg. It may be a bonus for your book. However, they may require string ramps for the right fit.

Bridge Pins for Acoustic Guitar: Buying Guide

Apart from guitar strings, the next important replacement for your acoustic guitar is the bridge pin. Here are the most important factors to take into consideration.

Material

• Plastic

The quality of plastic bridge pins varies from one manufacturer to another. Therefore, you have to choose plastic pegs wisely to ensure they are of good quality.

Some brands use cheap plastic material that usually ages and soften faster, while some reputable brands use ABS plastic, which is stronger and more durable.

Most ABS plastic bridge pins come in ivory and black color options, and they usually have black or white dots on the head.

Even though plastic pegs don’t receive a lot of admiration when it comes to durability, they do a great job of improving note separation and articulation.

• Bone

Bone is one of the hardest and durable materials for bridge pegs. Unlike ordinary plastic, the bone gives a clearer and brighter sound.

Top quality genuine bone pins are usually lathe-turned and old style. They normally have a five-degree taper.

Pegs made out of bone can introduce a significantly large amount of volume, clarity, sustain, and treble to your acoustic instrument.

• Ebony

Wood is another desired material in the guitar industry, and it has proven to be useful in the manufacturing of superior bridge pins for acoustic guitar.

Ebony is a very tough wood that forms durable pins. The jots are not only finely textured, but they also have a polished, smooth finish.

Bridge pins made of ebony wood can be plain or they can come with genuine abalone dots on the head.

What ebony does is add warmth and bass to your acoustic instrument. It also does a good job of increasing volume and sustains.

• Ivory

There are precisely two types of ivory used to make bridge pegs.

The first one is mammoth ivory, which adds transparency, volume, and sustains to your instrument while increasing overtones and harmonics.

The second one is walrus ivory, which increases clarity, sustain, and volume in significant amounts. You may find such a pin on some high-end guitar models.

Proper Bridge Pin Fit

Bridge pin heights are a maximum of 1/32 and a minimum of 1/64. Basically, these are measurements obtained from the top of the bridge to the first knuckle on the bridge pin.

The finest pins do usually sit on a high position after installation. This is a necessary feature when you consider the wear of the bridge plate over time.

A thicker pin allows for wear to happen, providing you with more time before you need to have the bridge plate or holes filled.

What you don’t want to happen is the bridge pin falling directly into the bridge and rattle around because it is loose.
Preferably, you need a pin that will provide a tight fit between the plate and the strings.

Slotted versus Non-Slotted

In most acoustic guitar forums, acoustic players have questions concerning slotted bridge pins versus non-slotted.

Most players wonder whether or not to physically slot the bridge in the bridge plate on the guitar.

Traditionally, bridge pins were made of ebony or bone and they didn’t have slots drilled in them.

So, to compensate for that and to allow for the strings to fit into the bridge, you had to take a small file and slot the bridge in the bridge plate to allow enough clearance for the string to go into the bridge.

Nowadays, most manufacturers use slotted bridge pins. Most acoustic guitars today have plastic slotted bridge pins installed on them.

Therefore, you don’t have to slot the bridge anymore, since the slotted pin allows for the string to go into the bridge easily.

If you choose to install a slotted pin on a slotted bridge, make sure you don’t install the pin with the slot facing toward the neck of the guitar.

Instead, you should spin the bridge pin around so that you have the non-slotted side facing the neck. This helps to prevent the ball end from pulling up into the bridge plate.

You don’t want the ball end to pull into the bridge plate because this will lead to more wear and you will start losing tonality and sustain.

Final Words

When shopping for good bridge pins for acoustic guitar, you should not be overly concerned about a value pack that comes with lots of pins at an affordable price tag.

Pay close attention to the material of the pins. You should know by now that the material plays an important role in the overall tone produced by your instrument.

Always go for a material that will enhance your tone in a few ways, such as adding clarity, sustain, and volume.

Our analysis has also revealed that slotted pins are far better than non-slotted ones. This is so since slotted designs allow the string into the bridge for better performance.