Finally found some picks I like (Taylor 351 Celluloid)

[SongwriterFan]

At the guitar store a while back, I stumbled upon a Taylor 351 celluloid pick that was "scooped" (in shape, not sound). I loved the way it fit in between my thumb and index finger. Curious if this was a fluke or not, I got the salesman to go through a bowl of picks that had these in four different sizes, and all of them were scooped. Available in 0.46, 0.71, 0.96, and 1.21mm thicknesses. You can get them here ($0.50 each in a 6-pack).

https://www.taylorguitars.com/taylor...-shell-12-pack

I also went back through a tin of Taylor "DarkTone" picks that I'd tried, and found something similar. A 1.5mm "Thermex Pro" pick, at twice the price. It was also scooped and in the 351 shape, though it's just a tiny bit smaller in size.

https://www.taylorguitars.com/taylor...l-150mm-6-pack


Interestingly, I found this quote by Wade Hampton in another old thread. He doesn't like the scooped shape, and also said that the old celluloid picks were NOT scooped, and that the newer plastics ARE scooped. Exactly the opposite of what I'm finding (though I'm only looking at the Taylor celluloid picks, not other brands). Now that I've been retired a few weeks, I'm having time to go back through things like this, and perhaps "re-learn" how to play guitar . . with a pick, rather than just the thumb and index finger.

Celluloid picks sound sweet to my ear in a way that all of the other plastics besides Vespel don’t. Also, while I have given other more modern pick materials like Delrin and Tortex the good old college try, they don’t hold their shape nearly as well as celluloid - instead they start becoming curved like one of those Frito “Scoop” chips intended for scooping up dip.

So that spoon-trending tendency of many of these more modern plastics drives me crazy; I need to have the pointy tip or rounded edge of the pick I’m using to be right where it’s supposed to be, not gradually leaning in one direction and listing in the wind like a sailboat.

As for the more recent plastics being used like these Ultex, Vespex, (?) Primetone and others, they don’t share the same tendency to try turning into a scoop shape to the same extent. But I just don’t like the tone that they generate as much as celluloid‘s tone.

[kbraker]

I have one remaining Taylor pick from 2000 when my new wife got me some Taylor items for Xmas. I still have the strap too.

[Murphy Slaw]

Scooped would drive me nuts. I have a Bluechip that got SLIGHTLY bent, somehow, and I can't use it.

[Bluemonk]

Originally Posted by Murphy Slaw

Scooped would drive me nuts. I have a Bluechip that got SLIGHTLY bent, somehow, and I can't use it.

Have you contacted Bluechip about it? Their customer service and willingness to make things right are exemplary.

[Murphy Slaw]

Originally Posted by Bluemonk

Have you contacted Bluechip about it? Their customer service and willingness to make things right are exemplary.

It wasn't like that when I got it. It's not their fault. I would never try to warranty damage that I did.

Actually, this thread reminded me to try some more attempts to flatten it out.

I almost got it, but my subconscious mind still knows.....

[sinistral]

I’m really curious how you got a Blue Chip pick to change shape. What thickness is it?

A funny story: I inadvertently dropped a Blue Chip pick (a CT 55) in a parking lot one morning while visiting a guitar shop. Over the course of the day, I retraced my steps trying to find it, calling or revisiting all of the places I had gone after the guitar shop. Later that night, as I was about to order another CT 55 on BC’s website, the thought came to me that I should check the parking lot where I parked my car. I drove over in the pouring rain and started looking around. I was about to give up when I looked under an SUV and spotted the pick on the ground. From the multiple scratches on the pick, it had clearly been run over at least once, but it’s perfectly straight and plays great (the scratches actually add a bit of extra grip).

On the topic of “scooping,” the only material I’ve had that happen with is casein, and that was with a thinner pick. Since pretty much all of my picks are over 1mm (and closer to or thicker than) 1.4mm, perhaps they are less susceptible to scooping.

I would contact Blue Chip anyway. I bet they will be surprised that your pick scooped and might want to exchange it for a new one.

[Bob Womack]

Are you folks not aware that if you turn the pick over and play for a while, the scoop goes away? It eventually happens again, in the other direction. Just rotate the pick when it starts to scoop.

Bob

[Murphy Slaw]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Are you folks not aware that if you turn the pick over and play for a while, the scoop goes away? It eventually happens again, in the other direction.

Now you're talking CRAZY talk.....

[Murphy Slaw]

Originally Posted by sinistral

I’m really curious how you got a Blue Chip pick to change shape. What thickness is it?



I would contact Blue Chip anyway. I bet they will be surprised that your pick scooped.

Mine didn't "scoop", it just got bent SLIGHTLY. It's a TD40, one of several I have.

[hubcapsc]

I finally succumbed to an Apollo ad. I got one of those new black
ones, about the size of a Bluechip TP. I only used it a few minutes,
but I think I like it a lot!

-Mike

[Eastbound]

Ive had certain picks warp on me before. They are garbage to me after that

Bluechip never warps that I can tell

[koine2002]

I picked up a pack of those at the factory/showroom on my last trip to San Diego to visit the in-laws. I love ‘em. Next visit I’ll likely be leaving the showroom with a guitar (one can do that, now).

[Silly Moustache]

I have a pick box (Princess Mary WW1 box) for each of my flat tops.

Inside each one is a Bluechip TAD 40/50 or 60. a Wegen TF120 or 140, and a buffalo horn thingy modelled closely after the Wegen TFs - all 346 large triangles. . and a Shubb capo.

At one time I bought a load of cheap 346 picks:

Celluloid - D'andrea Propics, and Fender XH
Dunlop Tortex and Ultex and others and tried to polish and bevel them.

The celluloid just melted
The tortex - "ok"
The Ultex - quite good, but took twice as long.
Dunlop flex - awful.

If time is money, it would be cheaper to buy Bluechips.