Favorite Picks - Photos

[H2O]

Here are mine:




What are yours?

[Kip Carter]

Wegenpicks M150

[Kip Carter]

And

Buffalo horn 150’s

[Silly Moustache]

somewhere n this mail s a pic (sic) of a BC TAD50, a Wegen TF140, a Dunlop purple 1.14 which I've polished and added speed bevels and a D'andrea Pro-Plec 1.5 m/m which I've similarly modified. I really think that the 346 large triangle is the best of all deals - three less pointy points, and more to hold onto.

[Brucebubs]

I want one of these;



So I can keep it here like this;

[Denny B]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

I want one of these;



So I can keep it here like this;

Thanks for the best chuckle I've had today, Bruce!

[robey]

[gfspencer]

Two Blue Chip picks and some that I made myself out of water buffalo horn . . .

[Wade Hampton]

My main workhorse flatpick is the D'Andrea Classic Celluloid in medium-heavy gauge. The one shown here has no gauge printed on it, but I find that the medium-heavies give me enough flexibility to play effective rhythm parts, but enough rigidity to give me good tone on lead lines. I also can and do grip the pick in different places and with different amounts of squeeze, which also affects the tone.

D'Andrea Classic Celluloid

I've been using these picks for all the instruments I play since I discovered them in 1979. I used to carry a bunch of different picks with to gigs with me, and was enough of a fussbudget to have special picks for certain songs. But when you're playing a gig with a roomful of people who don't CARE whether you get the exact timbre you planned for a song, it's just much easier to carry a pocketful of picks that are all the same that you can manipulate and use to coax those tones out.

Which I learned how to do. Use the point, use the rounded edges, squeeze it tight, hold it looser, grip close to the edge, grip it more in the middle - all of those techniques will give you different sounds once you learn how to deploy them.

I'm to the point where I can do all that virtually unconsciously, just automatically using whichever grip that point in the song calls for, in the same way that I palm-mute and play closer to or further from the bridge. I've internalized those techniques to the point where I quite literally don't have to think about them.

For those who are interested in celluloid picks, be aware that D'Andrea's Classic Celluloid pick series has apparently been replaced by their "Vintage" picks; I haven't seen any Classic Celluloid picks in music stores for several years now. This is what the Vintage Celluloid picks look like now:

D'Andrea Vintage Celluloid pick

As I mentioned earlier in this post, I use these picks on every instrument I play, which includes mandolin. Using one of the pick's rounded edges and a strong grip, they work just fine on mandolin. But the double cheese-slicer string courses of the mandolin really chew up the edges of celluloid picks in no time at all.

So when Blue Chip picks came out, despite what I saw as their appallingly expensive price, their reported durability interested me. To make a long story short, I decided to be a brave boy and buy a couple in two different gauges to see whether I could make them work for what I do.

Short version: yes, I could. I didn't care for the TD-40, which didn't work for me, but the TD-35 fits my playing style perfectly:

˙˙˙

Naturally, at $35 a pop, I was concerned about losing such expensive picks. The good Lord knows that my celluloid picks go on walkabout on a regular basis. I find them all OVER the place, and I have to ask myself: "What are they seeking? Romance? Spiritual enlightenment? Really good deals on Bluetooth speakers?"

So my solution to that problem was to buy one of the little wooden pick boxes that Blue Chip also offers for a staggering ten dollars:

A Blue Chip pick (not one of mine) nestled in its little wooden box...

Ever since I bought that first pair of picks from Blue Chip (and traded off the TD-40 to my buddy Mycroft,) I've gradually acquired a few more, keeping a pair of TD-35's in one of those little boxes in the case pockets of the instruments of mine that get gigged out most frequently. I also put 3 or 4 celluloid picks in the boxes with the Blue Chips.

I probably have seven or eight TD-35's by now. With mandolin they're absolutely my first choice, because they don't get eaten up by the strings the way celluloid picks do. I also like them a lot on my acoustic baritone guitar, and probably use a TD-35 on that instrument 85% of the time.

With my standard six strings it's probably 50% of the time, because there's kind of a freewheeling, driving rhythm guitar sound that's easiest to get using celluloid.

Interestingly, the Blue Chips don't work well on my mountain dulcimers at all, even though the flex characteristics of the TD-35 are very similar to the slight flex of the D'Andrea Classic Celluloid .84 mm. But my right hand position is very different on dulcimer than on all those other instruments, and for some reason the differences that do exist between celluloid and whatever material the Blue Chips are made of becomes strikingly obvious. On dulcimer, celluloid absolutely works better.

So I don't bother with the Blue Chip on dulcimer.

On everything else, though, it's great. Not only do they sound good, but they are, in fact, as durable as reported. I've been using them constantly for at least three or four years now, and none of the Blue Chip picks in my possession have developed any ragged edges that will give a raggedy-sounding tone. So I do recommend them: if not for mountain dulcimer (which is probably not a major concern for most of you,) for everything else.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[HHP]

A few.

A shortened and re-beveled 4mm John Pearse. Probably best I've found in all categories.



In an inexpensive pick, A Primetone 1.5mm that has been re-shaped to offer three different point profiles and, again, re-beveled. Probably best you can get under $10.



Fender Extra heavy Tru-Shell. Again, re-shaped and re-beveled. Good inexpensive casein pick, works well but more expensive than Primetone and not quite the performance of the John Pearse.



Best under $0.75 pick, Fender 346 celluloid re-shaped to a tri-point and re-beveled. These actually work very well and are cheap and available.

[heavy_picker]

What tools do you use and what is your procedure to reshape guitar pick, celluloid and tortoise shell.

[HHP]

Originally Posted by heavy_picker

What tools do you use and what is your procedure to reshape guitar pick, celluloid and tortoise shell.

Re-shaping is easiest with a 3M sponge sanding block in a fine grit. Beveling can be done with emery boards or a fine file. Use a manicurist 4 sided sponge shaping block to do final smoothing and remove any scratches or burrs. Final step is to finely polish the edges with a felt bullet tip bit and some polishing compound using a Dremel type tool.

These cover most everything I need.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by Todd Yates

These cover most everything I need.

Beautiful shot, Todd.

[Lee Callicutt]