Blisstime 6pcs Ebony Guitar Pins Inlaid Abalone Dot Acoustic Guitar Replacement Parts

I really liked these when I got them. They seemed to fit well and they looked good. It's an easy replacement and a good price. I broke two of mine, but it's an old beginner acoustic that I'm pretty rough on.

I replaced the factory plastic bridge pins with the Blisstime ebony/abolone inlayed set purchased on Amazon. As expected, the bridge pins needed a bit of sanding with 150 grit paper while carefully held and protected in a small piece of plastic tubing inside a drill chuck for about 10 seconds at medium speed to achieve a prefect fit. In fairness I also replace the factory urea saddle with a MacNichol compensated bone saddle, specifically the (Bone Saddle – Fits Many Post-2000 Yamaha® Guitars with Undersaddle Pickup – 9 mm). The saddle fit was perfect albeit a bit more snug than the original. After installing a new set of D'Addario XS 12-53 phospher/bronse strings, the sound quality of the guitar was fantastic. The richness, intonation, and tonal balance of all the strings is superb as was the overall sustain of the notes, almost bell like on the high E and B strings. Everything sounded great with or with amplification. I believe that the Blisstime ebony bridge pins in addition to the compensated MacNichol bone saddle were a huge part of my success in creating an even better sounding guitar. I absolutely love the NEW sound of my Yamaha LL16D guitar!

Pins received are definitely real wood, not plastic as some have claimed. They may seem to be to some without much experience with the wood. Ebony is very hard, and very smooth, without much visible grain. This ebony also has been dyed black to create a uniform dark black without the occasional dark brown streaks that appear in natural ebony. Dying ebony black is not uncommon, with guitar manufacturers doing the same to many fretboards because people for some reason want pure black ebony instead of the beautiful natural. All these things make the wood look plastic to some.Also, lots of questions on "Will these fit a _____ guitar, or a ______ guitar?". Well, yes they will fit on most guitars. However, will they fit perfectly on most guitars? No. Bridge pins have always been a custom fit item. To fit properly and look properly they need to be fitted to that particular guitar. Too many people want a one-size-fits-all product. Take the same bridge pins and same guitar to Florida and then to Arizona, and the pins will fit very differently. Wood products like guitars and pins can have tolerances that vary a great deal with heat and humidity. Ideally, you should fit your pins using the same string size and in the same environment you usually play in. All of these pins so have were too large to properly fit my Martin. This is a good thing because I can then file and sand them perfectly. The skirts just sit right on bridge now strung up with only light-miderate pressure on the pins. When you've fitted a pin perfectly, write the number of the string it goes in 6,5,4..1 on the pin. Or for something different, on the pin for the 3rd string hole I use a tiny drill bit and make 3 shallow holes down the back of the pin shaft. I fill the holes almost full with bone dust and apply UV cure resin over the holes. Cure resin, then sand the area flush with the other areas, polish and your done. Looks very nice and you can easily see what hole the pin goes in. Repeat for the other 5 strings.

I used these pins on my 2014 Epiphone Masterbilt EF-500RCCE replacing the white plastic pins. They definitely look different - from white to black. I can't really tell if they made my guitar sound better as the strings are still settling down. They're a little too big though. Thus, the 4-star rating, with respect to my particular guitar. For the price, I can't complain. (March 01, 2018)I have noted that my guitar sounds too bright for my preference. Not sure if it was because of the material or the fact the pins were not fully inserted as I did not shave the excess. I am going the remove them tonight and replace them with solid Boxwood bridge pins from a different brand and update my review accordingly. (March 10, 2018)Update: May 15, 2018I would not actually generalize one brand is better than the other. It is a personal preference. What may sound good for me may not sound good for the next person. The bridge pins' contribution to the over-all sound of an acoustic guitar while audible is not as big as the tone woods, strings, etc. So, I ended up removing them as I found them too bright for my taste. So, I tried a set of D'Addario solid Boxwood bridge pins for my Masterbilt EF-500RCCE, and immediately noticed that the warm, full and articulate sound (not bright) that I prefer from my Masterbilt came back. That's when I realize that we will have to just try them actually on our respective guitars, and hear their interactions to be able to 'see' the results for ourselves. So, did I throw the Blisstime bridge pins away? No. I kept them still. They might work wonders on another guitar with different construction and components.

These pegs were a nice addition to my acoustic guitar as they fit and function just like the original ivory colored ones, but added a nice touch of color and shine. Low budget upgrade, would recommend.