I thought you might have been looking for more sustain, which is usually attributed to brass pins. I tried them on a Martin J-40 a few years ago, but the effect was only slight if anything at all on that guitar, so I’ve never tried them since. I have ebony in both my pin-bridge guitars which, along with Elixir PB 13-56s, do warm things up.

With regard to acoustic guitars, from the age of 14 until I reached my late 40s I played what my wallet would run to - cheap guitars such as my Yamaha FG180 and 360. Did they make me a better player? Probably. Did they make me happy? You bet!

Nowadays my philosophy is that you buy whatever gives you pleasure - if cheap is your thing and makes you happy, that’s fine - do it. In my case, I have four ‘expensive’ guitars, for which I make absolutely no apologies whatsoever - my mortgage is paid off, my kids grown and gone, no grand-kids and no prospect of there being any, I don’t smoke, drink alcohol, own a big house, go on cruises or expensive holidays, drive an expensive car, own a RV, spend fortunes going to folk-festivals every summer weekend, wear ‘label’ clothes, yadda yadda. My only vice is buying ‘expensive’ guitars! Have they made me a better player? Not really. Have they made me happy? You bet!

But each to his own, for sure