Yamaha LS6 ARE - anyone upgraded saddle/pins?

JonnyBgoode · September 2023

I just bought a LS6 on Ebay to have something portable to mess about with, fingerstyle. My main steel strung is a Furch G23, which sounds glorious, and I'm already preparing myself for the inevitable boxy/a bit dead comparison my ears will make when the Yamaha arrives, but hey I know its a smaller body and I paid a fifth of the price I paid for the Furch...

Anyway, on an old thread here someone had bought an LS6 and was hoping it would improve/open up in due course... someone suggested swapping out the plastic saddle and pins (for Graphtech/tusq). I just wondered if anyone here had changed them and could say for sure whether it had improved the tone?

BigPaulie · September 2023

Upgrading the nut and or saddle to bone will make a change to the tone. Whether it improves the tone is for you to decide.

I'm not a believer that the pins make a significant change to the tone either way. If they do make a difference it's nowhere near as noticeable as either the nut or saddle: or just trying different strings for that matter.

Whitecat · September 2023

Only brass pins really make a noticeable difference IME. Going from plastic to wood or vice versa hasn’t had any measurable effect sonically on any guitar I’ve done it on.

Edm123 · September 2023

I have an LS6 (not ARE) and switched the pins for brass. I did it over 10 years ago so can't fully recall how it changed the sound but I kept them so it must have made some improvement to my ears at the time. Martin Carthy has brass pins so that probably influenced my decision quite a bit.

TheMadMick · September 2023

JonnyBgoode said:

I just bought a LS6 on Ebay to have something portable to mess about with, fingerstyle. My main steel strung is a Furch G23, which sounds glorious, and I'm already preparing myself for the inevitable boxy/a bit dead comparison my ears will make when the Yamaha arrives, but hey I know its a smaller body and I paid a fifth of the price I paid for the Furch...

You may be pleasantly surprised by the Yamaha. They make excellent guitars and this is probably no exception. Take you time to run it in. Even with the ARE they do change for the better.

JonnyBgoode · September 2023

Thanks all. Bridge pins I probably wont bother with, but tempted with the saddle as a try out, will see how I get on.

If I do go for a bone saddle, anyone know of a UK supplier of pre cut bone saddles that would fit a Yamaha? Most of the saddles I see advertised are not long enough. Obviously I could get guitar tech to cut me one but just wondered if there was a cheap alternative around ? (I realise I'd need to fine tune the height/final fit myself) .

Amazon have just the job (US supplier) for 26 quid which is tempting (below), but approaching custom made price. AllParts have a load, as do Ebay (Vanson bone nut and saddle for 9 quid!) but I can't see the right size.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bone-Guitar-Saddle-Yamaha-Guitars/dp/B07H5TBPSY/ref=pd_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_0?pd_rd_w=TMMaA&content-id=amzn1.sym.6aea875e-359f-49f3-864f-cff62d586b6a:amzn1.symc.ca948091-a64d-450e-86d7-c161ca33337b&pf_rd_p=6aea875e-359f-49f3-864f-cff62d586b6a&pf_rd_r=SKBR925X30KXXSD1G94H&pd_rd_wg=D8HLB&pd_rd_r=c2f496d5-228f-4ce6-b86e-55947ff43199&pd_rd_i=B07H5TBPSY

BigPaulie · October 2023

I bought a saddle from Black Dog on eBay and with a bit of fettling it fit well in my LL16. It ended up making the guitar too bright so I went back to the factory saddle.

I cut a new nut for the same guitar from a bone blank (to address a string spacing issue) and although it changed the tone somewhat, it wasn't as drastic a change as the saddle.

JonnyBgoode · October 2023

BigPaulie said:

I bought a saddle from Black Dog on eBay and with a bit of fettling it fit well in my LL16. It ended up making the guitar too bright so I went back to the factory saddle.

Right thanks, I might give that a go but it would have to be with darker toned strings by the sound of things- maybe the Monels , what strings did you try with the bone saddle?

BigPaulie · October 2023

JonnyBgoode said:

BigPaulie said:

I bought a saddle from Black Dog on eBay and with a bit of fettling it fit well in my LL16. It ended up making the guitar too bright so I went back to the factory saddle.

Right thanks, I might give that a go but it would have to be with darker toned strings by the sound of things- maybe the Monels , what strings did you try with the bone saddle?

I'm 80% sure they would have been Elixir Nanoweb PB. 20% possibility they would have been DR Veritas.

Littlejonny · October 2023

JonnyBgoode said:

I just bought a LS6 on Ebay to have something portable to mess about with, fingerstyle. My main steel strung is a Furch G23, which sounds glorious, and I'm already preparing myself for the inevitable boxy/a bit dead comparison my ears will make when the Yamaha arrives, but hey I know its a smaller body and I paid a fifth of the price I paid for the Furch...

Anyway, on an old thread here someone had bought an LS6 and was hoping it would improve/open up in due course... someone suggested swapping out the plastic saddle and pins (for Graphtech/tusq). I just wondered if anyone here had changed them and could say for sure whether it had improved the tone?

Hi Jonny - sorry to derail the thread - is your G23 a cedar or spruce? I'm still trying to decide as I have only played cedar Furches.

JonnyBgoode · October 2023

Littlejonny said:
Hi Jonny - sorry to derail the thread - is your G23 a cedar or spruce? I'm still trying to decide as I have only played cedar Furches.

Yeah its cedar, that seemed to be the default.

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Yamaha LS6 ARE - anyone upgraded saddle/pins?

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