Bone pins and saddle

I purchased this bone set (saddle, pins, and nut) from Blisstime for under $15 to replace what I assume to be plastic counterparts on my Takamine G340 acoustic that was Crafted in China. I picked this guitar up really cheap at an auction a few years ago because I didn't have an acoustics being that I just play electrics - Strats and Teles are my main pieces of wood, along with a few Gibsons (an LP and SG), Epis (90's Sheraton that's totally cherry and an SG), 90's Jackson Soloist, an Ibanez or two, and a few others. Hey, I like guitars - and tube amps (way too many to list - friends and family think I'm nuts, but I tell them, only the drummers are nuts - hehehe)....I do have my eyes on a few different Martins and Taylors - but will hold off for now. Addictions are a bad thing. The quality of the parts appear pretty good from what I can tell. Initially, I thought the pins were plastic when I first picked them up, but upon holding them in my hand and giving a little shake of the dice, I could hear good clarity with the jingle they made, as compared to the lifeless clinking the original plastic pins made. Lightly dropping the nut and saddle on my tile countertop sounded similar to other bone (and even TUSQ) nuts I've installed before...I dropped them less than an inch to hear them, so no crazy height going on to prevent any damage. Surprisingly, the compensated saddle dropped right in, fitting nice and snug with no sanding necessary as the height was identical to the original. The pins were pretty close to the originals, sitting a little higher in the bridge, but I'd imagine over time, they will settle in as things wear down. I think it's Martin that may have the pins a little larger knowing that they will settle over the years... I lost track of time, but I would guess it took me about a half an hour to sand and adjust the nut for proper fitting and first fret string height. Sanding the width size down took the most time. I initially used 600 grit sandpaper, but then went down to 400 grit to speed up the process being that I didn't know how soft/hard the bone was to begin with. I didn't glue it in yet being that I will make some minor adjustments over the course of the current string's life, totally square it flush in the slot, and intend to pass it a few times with 1000/1200/2000/etc grit sandpaper to polish it up prior to lightly gluing it in place when I change the strings again in a few weeks or so depending on how much I play it. I had just changed the strings this past week after cleaning the guitar, lightly buffing the frets with 0000 steel wool (I apply blue painters tape over the fretboard, just exposing the frets), and oiling the fretboard...MusicNomad F-One Oil works really good for me, btw. And it's made in the U.S.A. I need to write a review for that stuff next.....another side note, the strings I used this time were Ernie Ball Earthwood Light - GC had them crazy cheap a while back so I stocked up on Light and Medium Light - be sure to buy strings near major holidays to save your hard earned $$$ - pro tip. ;) Comparing the sound before and after, I would have to say it sounds a little brighter, yet less tinny, and the lower/wound strings sound a little beefier and more vibrant as they were pushing the air if I had to say. The biggest thing I noticed was the 12 fret harmonics really rang nicely. Actually, all of the harmonics did, especially with the wound strings where it was lacking before. I also noticed that going past the 10-12th frets, the notes sounded more lively and clear where the plastic counterparts sounded kinda lifeless. Overall, I am really happy with the results. I would purchase this kit again for any future guitar I might pick up that has plastic parts. With that being said, I might order the ebony bridge pins to compare them to these bone ones.

I was skeptical at first when I saw a nut, saddle, and bridge pin set made of genuine bone for such a cheap price but since I didn’t really like anything else I was seeing, I took a gamble. After inspection under a light, I was pleasantly surprised to discover these are, in fact, bone. I could see the natural “grain” and inconsistencies that bone has and they also have that unmistakable clinky sound when you shake them in your hand. They’re also pretty high quality too. They seem like they’re machined very well. Nothing about them looked or felt cheap to my eye. The pieces sanded down well to fit my Alvarez. But you don’t buy this set and upgrade your guitar for it’s looks. You buy it for the sound difference and let me tell you, other than buying lighter or heavier gauge strings, there isn’t a cheaper way to improve the overall tone of your guitar than to upgrade to bone. This set madr my guitar sound brighter, a little louder, and has much better resonation. I can even feel the increased vibration of the guitar against my body as I play. You don’t realize how much a plastic nut, saddle, and bridge pins can muddy up the sound until you switch to bone. The craftsmanship on the abalone inlays on the bridge pins are just okay. I’ve seen better but you really can’t tell unless you’re really inspecting them closely and for the price, you can’t expect a set of Waverly quality pins. From afar they look fine. One thing I wish Blisstime would offer is an unbleached set with a black dots on the pins. I was trying to find white pins with a black dot, as I like that traditional look, but that proved to be harder to find than I thought so I settled for these. And the stark white is okay but I’d prefer that natural off-white look of unbleached bone. All in all it’s a great purchase. Expect to sand everything at least a little bit to custom fit your guitar

I recently picked up a nice little 3/4 Samick all mahogany guitar for noodling on while watching TV, but I thought the steel strings were too bright, so I wanted to convert it to a nylon string instrument. I figured adding a bone nut, saddle, and pins would also help mellow the sound a bit, and this was a convenient and affordable option. The nut was a nearly perfect match to the old one, I just had to open up the slots for the nylon strings a tiny bit. The saddle was easy to shape with an emery board. The result is amazing! The whole thing looks great, and not only does it play smoother after a full set-up, the sound is beautiful. It's the PERFECT little Couch Guitar! I highly recommend recommend this set for anyone doing a full set-up on their guitar.

I got this for my epiphone dr100. If you have the same, your bridge saddle is 76-77mm, this bridge saddle won't fit. Everything else should though. Quality seems great and other than neglecting to measure my bridge saddle before ordering, I'm very happy with this purchase.

This is the real deal. Real bone and it looks great. My guitar seems to like it as well. She sounds great.

I didn’t know such a thing existed until I had to get new strings for my guitar and while I was doing research on YouTube about different guitar strings and how they can effect the sound I came across the bone nut/bridge pin and saddle upgrade. I didn’t know what these things were called, now I know. I made the upgrade to an old cheap Johnson acoustic guitar and what a HUGE difference it made. I was getting ready to sell this guitar and use my new guitar, and some how this sounds better than my new guitar LOL. I’m ordering a second set to upgrade my new guitar. The Johnson allowed me to upgrade the Nut and Saddle but the bridge pins were too big, I blame the guitar for that, I think I tried replacing the pins in the past and had the same problem. My new fender CD-60SCE should at the very least let me change the bridge pins and saddle, I’ll mess with the nut another day. Im gonna put some elixr nanoweb strings on the fender but I do have the polyweb strings on the Johnson for a more warm sound. Im a big fan. I think this upgrade, with a bridge lowering, and neck setup with the tremelo bar thing whatever it’s called can turn any guitar into a nice sounding guitar. Highly recommended. And it’s cheap! Some people say this is plastic but it’s not even close. I tested dropping my plastic parts on a desk compared to these and these are definitely bone and not plastic, they have a totally different sound than plastic. Considering tusq or other types of bone bridge kits cost 100-200$, for 13$ this is a HUGE score.

Bridge saddle too short for Epiphone acoustic. Pins might work but tight and didn't want to fabricate. Sent back.

So far nut and bridge pins were drop in replacements on my Alvarez guitar. And they make a positive difference for sure. The original nut was crap, and now this thing sounds better with $5 d'addarios on it than it did before with elixirs! Some of you probably don't like elixirs, but given my tone preferences, that is pretty damn impressive to me. The original nut was just dulling the crap out of the sound of the strings and I knew it needed to be replaced as soon as I got the guitar. And I can't tell you how grateful I am for the fact that these were drop in replacements as I do not have guitar tools or nut files and have never filed a nut before. I didn't have get ripped off by a guitar douche for something I could do myself YAY! One look at this nut compared to the original let me know it was almost a match but far superior. Just so happy with this for the money, the nut and the bridge pins alone are worth it. The saddle will definitely have to be filed unless you like slide a whole lot, it's way too tall, but the length should be right for most cheap import acoustics (the ones that need it the most) at least. The saddle is the right length for my Alvarez and my Fender Sonoran acoustic, and the compensation for intonation on it seems right. In the pictures I provided, the detached nut is the original. You may not be able to see, but the slots are filed poorly, and it is much uglier than the bone nut. Very happy.

Huge sound improvement. If you have lower cost solid wood guitar the maker may have cut costs to make it happen. I have a Yamaha all wood higherish model that can me had for little money used. It’s a perfect beater guitar. Adding this made a huge sound improvement

Really great quality! Bone is fairly easy to work with. It sanded down to the exact size I needed quite easily. For the money I don't know why anyone wouldn't upgrade to a bone nut, bridge saddle and pegs. Absolutely worth it! And so easy to install.

Product as-described. Solid and good quality. Pins needed to be sanded down to fit in my Fender CD60 but that was pretty easy to do. Guitar sounded much louder and more vibrant once installed.

Great value for the money. The quality is very nice.

As long as you understand that you need to sand down to size and file the slots, these are great. The bridge pins alone are worth the money. Adds a clairity to the sound over to lasting or even the Tusq nuts.