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All the talk about the slotted vs. unslotted bridge pins has me thinking about pinless bridges. The string is not let into the body of the guitar and therefore the vibration of the string is limited to the outside of the body only being transfered throught the saddle and through the wood of the bridge to the inside of the body instead of all the above and the ball end seated on the bridge plate.

How does this effect the sound. I have a nice Takamine with a pinless bridge and I have never heard a low end guitar which sounds as good as it does. But is does sound different than my personal "True Guitar" which has a pinned bridge. Now all things being equal, the guitars are different designs, wood is different etc. so I don't think the sound difference has a large percentage to do with the bridge design.

Anyone have thoughts or insight on the different effect of the pinless bridge versus pinned bridge?Rod True38632.7734953704

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i have an old taylor with a pinless bridge and to my old ears it sounds as good as their new ones with the pin bridges.

that being said i prefer the pinned bridges as having less of a torque effet on the top and being thus also less prone to pulling off, and build accordingly.

Rod,

Not all pinless bridges are really pinless. Here's a pic of mine which is an adaptation of Steve Klein's design. There are no bridge pins, but there are pins which the ball ends of the strings fit over. They go all the way through the top and the bridge plate. I build both pinned and pinless bridges and I can't say there's any difference in tone. I've never had any problem with either type of bridge lifting off the top.

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Jimmy Caldwell
http://www.caldwellguitars.com

That's one awsome looking bridge Jimmy.   

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

[QUOTE=Rod True] The string is not let into the body of the guitar and therefore the vibration of the string is limited to the outside of the body only being transfered throught the saddle and through the wood of the bridge to the inside of the body instead of all the above and the ball end seated on the bridge plate.

How does this effect the sound.?[/QUOTE]

Rod, you could argue that the pinless bridge allows for better "responsiveness" of the bridgeplate, as the strings aren't attached to it and "anchoring" it, and the bridgeplate can be made thinner as the plate doesn't have to hold the string ends. I don't think the string ends will be vibrating that much - hopefully most of he energy will be going into the top via the saddle. This is just me doing "in the head physics" though and I'm in danger of being told off by Colin!

I've always liked the elegance of Mike Doolin's pinless bridges (based on Jeffery Elliot's) Doolin Bridge but I haven't tried them as I regard them as a hybrid as although "pinless" have brass pins that go through th bridgeplate.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

None of what I mentioned is based on fact, just mussings of someone who needs to think through things more than he does. (That's me by the way).

Dave, I too have always loved the look and design of the Elliot/Doolin bridge. Very elegant indead.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

So, the Elliot/Doolin and the Caldwell pinless/pinned bridge do have an element which goes through to the bridgeplate. Interesting.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Jimmy,
Great design!
I like the button heads. Do they go as deep as the pins?

Dave,
Do you make all your bridgeplates thinner now in combo with your pinnless bridges? How thin?

Thanks,

Wade

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

[QUOTE=Wade S.] Dave,
Do you make all your bridgeplates thinner now in combo with your pinnless bridges? How thin?

Thanks,

Wade[/QUOTE]

Wade,

I'm gradually working up the courage to go thinner but currently make them at around 2mm to 2.5mm depending how the mood takes me. What I do do now, though, is have the bridgeplate grain direction running parallel with the top grain.

Another thing I plan to do in the near future - when I get the courage - is make the bridgplate out of the same material as the top (usually Euro Spruce for me).

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

The button heads do not go through the top. The are secured by t-nuts which are recessed into the bottom of the bridge.

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Jimmy Caldwell
http://www.caldwellguitars.com