I just saw this question posed at HC and wanted to make it more specific to Larrivee guitars.  What are your preferences for bridge pins?

Slim

Ivory with pearl dots. Just for the looks.

The Tusq with a bone saddle

Black plastic with abalone dots

can't afford ivory nor tusq. Plastic wears out quickly. That leaves Ebony and Brass.  Never tried brass, but Ebony seems to increase the sustain and slight warmer sound.

Kinda on topic...  Does anyone hear a difference in the bridge pins (like the tusq to bone bridge) changing from plastic?  I was considering going to bone or brass...

I didn't expect such a diverse response...   :o  

I like ebony with abalone dots.  

I've used brass on my original Guild on the the bass string's to help bring back some bass responce.I left plastic in the other 3 spot's.

QuoteI like ebony with abalone dots.

Me, too!

Deb

This is necessarily subjective, but it seems to me that the denser the bridgepin material, the more it emphasises bass response at the expense of top end/attack (kinda makes sense, intuitively); ergo, plastic"lighter" than Tusq, which is lighter than ebony , which is lighter than brass, etc ;so moving from lighter to denser will add warmth (not so sure about sustain) with consequent trade-off of reduced treble/attack - if this is so, then other factors such as the instrument's inherent tonality/volume/brightness, & the player's style/touch/sound-preference would all have a bearing, so ultimately it's all down to the particular player & instrument & experimentation.(Haven't tried bone/horn/FWI pins yet, interested in others' results?) Just my view, sorry about verbiosity!

I just finished installing ebony pins in my rosewood parlor.  
To me the parlor was a little harsh sounding with the plastic pins. It has a much warmer and fuller tone with the ebony. I was going to make a bone a saddle for it but it sounds so much better now I think I'll wait on that.

I use plastic with abalone dots. Tried ebony but found they made my sound too harsh.  

I've put slotted brass pins in the Larrivee and Seagull and prefer the sound over the cheap plastic pins provided as stock.  I think it gives greater sustain and clarity and a better bottom end, but I do want to try other options when I get the chance.

I picked up some D'andrea brass pins at Edlerly's on Thursday.  I waited until the strings on my OM-09 were just starting to go a little and dropped them in......I  have had these before, but never experienced the difference quite so drastically....immediate change in sustain and brightness (maybe too much)  Time will tell! :P  

Jazz,
Its funny how we all hear different things with these changes in materials. I've seen the same thing in discusions of saddle materials.

Ed

I just put in Boxwood pins on my D-03R (got them on ebay real cheap).  I have found that it adds a bit more sustain to the guitar and it matches the spruce top perfectly...