Interesting points, Murray. There have been a couple of occasions when I've been in too much of a hurry to get re-strung and have done the job carelessly - dropped the string end in the hole and jammed the pin in without making sure the ball-end was up under the plate. The pin holds the string in place for the time being but not, as you say, when you start putting it under tension.

I'm not sure I follow the reasoning that slotted pins = manufacturer's short cuts. I thought all plastic pins were made with slots (I know the wooden and brass ones aren't), so if that's what the maker chooses to use, you're going to have slots in your pins, regardless of the build quality.

Just spreading the discussion a little, if I may, I've always thought the pin bridge a bit primitive anyway. The Ovation style seems neater (no pins to lose, either), where the strings are fed through holes at the back of the bridge plate, parallel with the guitar top, then up out of the top of the plate and over the saddle. Do any other manufacturers use that style or is it an Ovation patent?

Presumably the zero fret stands prouder of the fingerboard than all the others? Otherwise you'd be restricted to having a very low action. Have I got that right?