EML Picks...Outstanding

[HHP]

About a week ago, in another pick thread, someone mentioned a material called PEEK that I wasn't familiar with. In searching for information on this material, I came across the website of EML Picks, who sell them.

As I looked, I found that they offer not only the high Tech PEEK material but also picks made from a polyester resin and, my favorite material, casein.

Casein is one of the first plastics, dating to the late 19th century, and was first used in making jewelry and fashion accessories. The material comes in sheets and was known in Europe as Galilith. In the US, the name was, and this is my favorite, Alladinite. Its first appearance as a guitar pick was, I believe, the Red Bear line in the early 2000's.

One of the problems with using Casein picks is limited selection. One thing I really liked seeing the EML line was that they had picks in all the most popular configurations. My own preference is the rounded triangle ala Fender 346 and EML offers this shape. If you want to raise your intellectual stature among your fellow players, you can refer to this shape pick as a Reuleaux Triangle. Everyone but the banjo player will be in awe of your sophistication.

EML offers the Casein picks in thicknesses from 1.5mm to 5mm. I got 2.5mm and a standard 351 style pick in 4mm.





Right out of the package, first thing you notice is that these are very attractive picks. Really nice color and the polishing is flawless. They have a warm brown translucent color with darker streaks, a little like what you see on the better horn picks.



The next thing I noticed was the bevel. It is a full edge chisel type bevel. This is the style I have come to believe is the best but it usually has to be applied by the user. Most manufacturers add a much more conservative bevel that essentially flattens off the top of a rounded over edge. Not here, these are full edge width and finely polished.



For the playing test, I started with the 2.5mm triangles. I was struck immediately by the loud, clean, articulate tone. Control was superb as the slick surface was easy to grip and the thickness gave you an intuitive sense of where the pick tip was at all times yielding excellent speed and precision. As a sanity check, I played the EML side by side with a Blue Chip TP-1R 60 that has been my "gold standard" for ready to use picks. The EML was louder, cleaner, more dynamic, and more controllable in both single note runs and chords. Pretty much a clean sweep.

Switched to the thicker 4mm in the 351 shape and sort of expected some falloff in volume and articulation. Surprised there was none. Sound was so similar to the 2.5 triangle I had to play more to find a difference. The 4mm did turn out to give a little better definition and volume in the basses so it might make a better choice for a rhythm player, but its very close.

I really can't find anything to fault on these picks, especially since I don't feel I have to adjust or change them in any way. They sound great and play great right out of the bag.



You can find these, and the other materials on the EML website at

www.emlpicks.com

One warning for the "50 centers" out there. These picks do cost more than $1.00 so I don't want one of you guys fainting from a case of the vapors and falling on your pre-war D-28 or Somogyi.

[anodyne]

Very cool, but I have too many picks already ... oh crap, how did that double-click to pay button appear on my watch (Pay)?

[Charmed Life Picks]

Eric, congrats on getting your website up and running. You and I have been conversing back and forth for several years now and you are yet another example of a business being born right here on AGF. Excellent offerings across your range of materials.

Much success to you and your company as you grow and expand.

HHP, thanks for your excellent review, as usual.

scott memmer

[HHP]

Little follow up on the playing. Got to work with the 4mm tonight on mandolin and, as good as it was on guitar, it was even better on mandolin. Got huge volume with little effort, very clean clear sound.

It was extremely good in fast tremolo and this surprised me as I have never gotten the effect so clean with a pick this pointed. I usually go to a rounder point to try and get smooth but this typically means giving up some volume.

I'm thinking the 4mm thickness prevents the pick from hanging up on the double course strings and it glides across the strings but the point is defined enough to really drive volume. The pick made playing much easier and it did so with very little effort on my part.

[HHP]

Update #2.

Decided to give these picks the acid test. I have a Bourgeois guitar that is a complete prima donna. Its a great guitar and it knows it. Very hard to satisfy with picks, strings or player. My Martins are like friendly old dogs that just want to please you. The Bourgeois greets you with a long list of demands.

Despite its usually snooty attitude, the Bourgeois liked the EML picks. Both the 2.5 and the 4mm performed very well. The more I played, the more I felt like I was really "getting down into the wood". Could feel low bass note in my belly. Chords actually had a somewhat more complex tone than I had experienced before. As with the other instruments, speed was effortless and you are struck by the wide dynamic range.

Safe to say the Bourgeois liked them.

[imwjl]

Thank you for posting another option for a PEEK pick, and what looks like a well finished casein pick for the price.

I’d be happy if Red Bear just made what I bought 8 years ago in a standard size or at all. That could be at the current price or even better yet at the old $10 price. That would be no gamble on whether or not the holes are important.

[HHP]

Originally Posted by imwjl

Thank you for posting another option for a PEEK pick, and what looks like a well finished casein pick for the price.

I’d be happy if Red Bear just made what I bought 8 years ago in a standard size or at all. That could be at the current price or even better yet at the old $10 price. That would be no gamble on whether or not the holes are important.

I don't understand Red Bear. They were probably the first premium pick maker, got a bunch of big name endorsements, make a lot of different and innovative styles, but you just can't buy one. They never seem to have stock available and its hard to think they sell out constantly.

[Bluemonk]

HHP, you turned me onto these picks in another thread, and I thank you for that. I am very excited about trying one out, as they offer my favorite teardrop shape and they look meticulously finished. I sent Eric some questions through the EML website and am looking forward to getting the answers.

[HHP]

Originally Posted by Bluemonk

HHP, you turned me onto these picks in another thread, and I thank you for that. I am very excited about trying one out, as they offer my favorite teardrop shape and they look meticulously finished. I sent Eric some questions through the EML website and am looking forward to getting the answers.

I can tell you the casein picks are very finely finished and polished. Most surprising thing to me was that the 2.5mm Reuleaux Triangle and the 4mm standard sound very similar. I would have expected a bigger difference. Basic tonal and volume characteristics are comparable but each does have some subtle areas where it excels.

[Charmed Life Picks]

HHP, thanks for your continued reports. So helpful to the members here. In fact I backed into the business beginning about four years from when I joined AGF. I had been looking for something to replace my forty-year-old genuine TS picks I had, and when I discovered casein I knew I had arrived.

I don't think a player will ever find a pick material that more closely replicates the tone of real TS than casein. It's just stunning.

Thanks,
Scott Memmer

[HHP]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

HHP, thanks for your continued reports. So helpful to the members here. In fact I backed into the business beginning about four years from when I joined AGF. I had been looking for something to replace my forty-year-old genuine TS picks I had, and when I discovered casein I knew I had arrived.

I don't think a player will ever find a pick material that more closely replicates the tone of real TS than casein. It's just stunning.

Thanks,
Scott Memmer

Isn't it odd that the best picks come from material from the 1800's or from 21st century engineering plastics.

[librarybarry]

Eric bought a petite bouche gypsy jazz guitar from me a couple of years ago and included a few picks with his payment. One resin and another of clear acrylic. I favor the resin he sent me and was pleasantly surprised at the comfort of the pick in my fingers as well as the speed with which I could pick due to the bevel.
I generally use much thinner picks now, but I still pull out my EML from time to time.
Nice picks.

Barry

[Charmed Life Picks]

HHP, well, as they say, "nothing new under the sun."

Check this out. Casein has been used as a binder in paint for centuries. In fact, I recently found an article that dates its use back over 9000 years:

"Casein’s use can be reliably traced back over 9,000 years, with evience of the formulation in cave paintings, and examples have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs from several thousand years ago."

Here's the full article. Blew my mind.

http://linesandcolors.com/2016/12/01...-casein-paint/

HHP, I have a theory. The carapace of a Hawksbill Turtle is made from a reptile protein. The casein plastic that we use in making picks is derived from a dairy protein which undergoes a molecular change when it encounters any kind of acid (lemon juice, vinegar, Sulphuric, Hydrocloric, etc.)

If you believe in evolution, the theory posits that mammals (cattle) evolved from reptiles (turtles). My hunch -- totally unbacked by science LOL -- is there is enough of a common molecule there somewhere that accounts for the replication of the tone in a guitar pick. I could be wrong about this, but I'll never tell my wife.

scott memmer

[HHP]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

HHP, well, as they say, "nothing new under the sun."

Check this out. Casein has been used as a binder in paint for centuries. In fact, I recently found an article that dates its use back over 9000 years:

"Casein’s use can be reliably traced back over 9,000 years, with evience of the formulation in cave paintings, and examples have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs from several thousand years ago."

Here's the full article. Blew my mind.

http://linesandcolors.com/2016/12/01...-casein-paint/

HHP, I have a theory. The carapace of a Hawksbill Turtle is made from a reptile protein. The casein plastic that we use in making picks is derived from a dairy protein which undergoes a molecular change when it encounters any kind of acid (lemon juice, vinegar, Sulphuric, Hydrocloric, etc.)

If you believe in evolution, the theory posits that mammals (cattle) evolved from reptiles (turtles). My hunch -- totally unbacked by science LOL -- is there is enough of a common molecule there somewhere that accounts for the replication of the tone in a guitar pick. I could be wrong about this, but I'll never tell my wife.

scott memmer

I think the one fact I came across that intrigued me was that in the mid 1920's, Coco Chanel used casein accents on a line of dresses that were intended to be for "the average woman", i.e., one that couldn't hope to afford one her typical creations.

[Vancebo]

I am not trying to be a Debbie downer here. I have tried Red Bear picks made out of Casein and I own real TS picks and I use Blue Chip. To my ear the BlueChip replecates the TS real close while the Casein picks seems to lack any treble what so ever. As if someone attached a low pass filter set at 3khz. With that, I do realize that there is a wonderful warm sound and wonderful volume and all but my ears miss the high end. Is it just a matter of taste? What am I missing here?