100% pick.
As I've been experimenting with nylon crossover specs, one method has been to make custom notched saddles to try different string spacings on just one guitar. 57mm is quite popular for fingerstyle, so I made one. It's too far apart. Picks don't need all of that space, and it resulted in needless reaching for the next string. 55mm is much more comfortable.
Also, with nylon, the third string has a larger diameter than both the second and forth strings, causing it to stick up and get in the way. This isn't an issue with fingerstyle, because the player reaches in to the space between the strings, but a pick floats over the top. To address this, I don't use a simple radiused saddle. I create a stair-step that allows me to control height, spacing, and compensation separately for each string. I set up the first, third, and sixth strings like normal, then raise the second, forth, and fifth strings to match the fretboard radius on the top of the strings. This causes the second, forth, and fifth strings to play slightly sharp on fretted notes. But since my stair-step approach allows each string to be compensated independently, it's not an issue.
Using a pick with nylon is a lot of work up front, but once it's dialed in, it plays like lightning.
|