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  #16  
Old 08-11-2012, 10:44 AM
rmyAddison rmyAddison is offline
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I have two tortoise shell picks, they require maintenance. I honestly like my Blue Chips just as much, gave all my other picks away except the TS when I got BCs. I love my TP-1R60, perfect pick for my playing style.
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  #17  
Old 08-12-2012, 08:52 PM
amargulies amargulies is offline
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Default How to smooth and polish tortoise picks?

What do you use to smooth and polish tortoise shell picks?

I have a few antique ones - they're in good condition; not faded or pale at all. But they could stand to have a smoother surface and get rid of minor scuffing, and I'd like to have the surfaces and edges really polished to a high-gloss. I read some people suggest using a few drops of vegetable oil (corn) to restore the deep, dark color and Meguiars #7 Show Glaze to polish them - yes? I have a variety of different car polishes, waxes, etc., and probably some 1500 or 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I also have some Meguiars 'Scratch-X' polish in a black tube - I think it's for removing light surface scratches, but I'm not sure whether it leaves a gloss finish or not. I don't play my guitar for hours at a time and only a few days a week, so I'm hoping I won't really need to do a lot of maintenance and polish them too often - you think? Thanks a lot for any advice!

Adam
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  #18  
Old 08-12-2012, 09:45 PM
Zigeuner Zigeuner is offline
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Originally Posted by amargulies View Post
What do you use to smooth and polish tortoise shell picks?

I have a few antique ones - they're in good condition; not faded or pale at all. But they could stand to have a smoother surface and get rid of minor scuffing, and I'd like to have the surfaces and edges really polished to a high-gloss. I read some people suggest using a few drops of vegetable oil (corn) to restore the deep, dark color and Meguiars #7 Show Glaze to polish them - yes? I have a variety of different car polishes, waxes, etc., and probably some 1500 or 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I also have some Meguiars 'Scratch-X' polish in a black tube - I think it's for removing light surface scratches, but I'm not sure whether it leaves a gloss finish or not. I don't play my guitar for hours at a time and only a few days a week, so I'm hoping I won't really need to do a lot of maintenance and polish them too often - you think? Thanks a lot for any advice!

Adam

I've done several T.S. picks when the edges cracked. I rubbed them on 600 Wet or Dy paper and followed up with 1200. Then a light, careful buffing on my jewelers wheel makes them good again. The problem with them is that, since they are organic, they will keep deteriorating. I had a couple of them break in half.
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  #19  
Old 05-13-2015, 12:32 PM
DesertTwang DesertTwang is offline
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Originally Posted by bananas View Post
Here in Japan tortoise shell is still sold freely on line and in shops...I`ve seen all kings of goods make from it...cigarette cases, mirrors...you name it...never bought any nor will I. Hey, you can buy elephant tusks on line here and one hanko shop...the name stamps they use...has them displayed in their window. Things are different here but not my place to chastise them as a guest in the country...simply an observer.
Not to question your attitude, but I have to say that if what happens in Japan stayed in Japan, i would agree. But because their actions affect entire ecosystems halfway around the world, I believe it is anybody's moral obligation to call them out on it. This would go for any country, anywhere in the world. I've lived in the US for ten years, and while I take into consideration that in some respect I'm a guest here, I do call people on stuff if it's objectionable AND affects other places and other people and creatures. For example, when it comes to climate change. It's NOT like what happens in the US stays in the US. Just because I'm a guest in a country does NOT mean I can't voice opinions and concerns, especially when I'm pursuing immigration in that country.
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  #20  
Old 05-13-2015, 12:51 PM
leatherguy leatherguy is offline
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I believe tortoise shell has a high degree of coolness factor about it, even the fake stuff I like.
Especially on guitars and sun glasses frames.
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  #21  
Old 05-13-2015, 12:59 PM
DesertTwang DesertTwang is offline
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Originally Posted by leatherguy View Post
I believe tortoise shell has a high degree of coolness factor about it, even the fake stuff I like.
Especially on guitars and sun glasses frames.
I like fake TS, too. Love my SWDGT for that reason.
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  #22  
Old 05-13-2015, 01:33 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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When I first started playing music in the 1970's, you could sometimes still find "new old stock" tortoiseshell picks at older music stores. They were fairly cheap, as well - I don't think I ever paid more than a dollar apiece for them. I got some really stiff ones, a few of which I still own, but the ones I liked were thinner and had just a bit of a flex to them. I was using one of those slightly flexible ones when I won the US Mountain Dulcimer contest at the Winfield festival in 1980.

The problem with those thinner ones was that they do break, as Zigeuner mentioned in his post from 2012. All the tortoiseshell picks I actually liked using broke years and years ago now, and I haven't seen any similar ones in decades.

Which is just as well. D'Andrea Celluloid Classic .84 medium-heavies and the Blue Chip TD-35 give me that small amount of flex I need, and I actually do like the way they sound better than I do genuine tortoiseshell, anyway.


Wade Hampton Miller
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  #23  
Old 05-13-2015, 01:55 PM
BBWW BBWW is offline
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I've used one a few times, never owned one. I really do like the way they sound and how the organic material feels "Sticky" when it's not. Very odd and wonderful material. Too bad it was an overused and abused species.
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  #24  
Old 05-13-2015, 02:15 PM
Dave Abrahamson Dave Abrahamson is offline
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Originally Posted by Wade Hampton View Post
Yep. It's the same material, in a slightly different configuration, as dynamite.

As is the nitro-cellulose lacquer finish used on so many brands of guitars, including Martin and Gibson.

If you ever get lost in the woods, celluloid guitar picks make an excellent firestarter - they light right up and burn hard like a road flare. There was one discussion about this on this forum some time ago, where one of the participants mentioned how during his college years, he and his buddies shared a house and had two big ash trays on the living room coffee table: one for marijuana, the other one filled with celluloid flatpicks.

One day the inevitable happened, and someone in a "altered" state stubbed out a cigarette or joint in the flatpick ashtray, and the whole thing went off like a Roman candle...

Pretty cool story. Glad I wasn't there to see it....


whm
Also....when you light them (don't hold them in your fingers) they flare up in a split second and they disappear. No ash...nothin'. Must be magic...that's the only logical explanation.😀
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  #25  
Old 05-13-2015, 03:57 PM
mc1 mc1 is offline
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Originally Posted by Tony Burns View Post
I can remember back in the early seventies in college , a Plastic teacher was discussing the first substitute for tortise shell -Cellulose nitrate . at that time it wasnt used that much any more , but i had one in my pocket ( i liked those older picks better ) My teacher knew i played guitar and asked me if i had any old picks on me - he put it in an ash tray and lite it -it blew up right in front of us . He later told us that cellulose nitrate was used as an exsplosive .
"i then mentioned to him that that was my grandfather's pick, who used it to serenade and woo my grandmother during the war. he passed it on to my father, who kept it with him at all times throughout his life as a symbol of their eternal love. finally it was bequethed to me for safekeeping, and in the hopes that i could pass it on to future generations."
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  #26  
Old 05-13-2015, 04:05 PM
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ljguitar ljguitar is offline
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Originally Posted by DesertTwang View Post
Not to question your attitude
Hi DT…

Of course you are questioning banana's attitude.

And you are 'calling out' someone who has not posted in the forum for over a year and responding to a more than 3 year old thread to make your point.

RedBear formulates Tortis© picks which are made from a chemical slurry with the same components as Tortoise shell, and they are poured and dehydrated, and then picks are made from it. I really like them for the same things that Tortoise shell picks are noted for, less pick slap, & better tactile response with the strings for the player.

I'm not in favor of killing Tortoise to get the shells, but am not opposed to old Tortoise being formulated into other things.

The advantage of the new formulated versions, are the are nearly indestructible compared to Tortoise which wears out.


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Last edited by ljguitar; 05-13-2015 at 04:10 PM.
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  #27  
Old 05-13-2015, 08:27 PM
schwa schwa is offline
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Hi Larry,

I don't mean to make you wrong, but I have had a different experience regarding the redbear picks.

I have purchased 5 of them. 1 broke in my pocket. I know they say not to do so, but I wouldn't call them "nearly indestructable". 2 of them "cupped" - a curved shape that made then less playable. I contacted red bear about the issue, and they were not interested in offering any remedy. The other two are nice picks, unless you compare them to the TS picks I've been able to play.

In my experience, I would warn folks to beware of Red Bear picks.
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  #28  
Old 05-13-2015, 08:48 PM
brucefulton brucefulton is offline
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Originally Posted by ljguitar View Post


I'm not in favor of killing Tortoise to get the shells, but am not opposed to old Tortoise being formulated into other things.


Unfortunately, there is a large market in taking new tortoiseshell, crudely fashioning it into pseudo antiques, then re-purposing it. The Asian countries are fully complicit and guilty.

Tortoises are still dying and the cycle continues. All this needs to stop. Any trade in tortoise shell contributes to the extinction of the species, no matter what you might think about or believe about stock in antique pieces.

Touching any tortoiseshell today kills more of them. Just say no.
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  #29  
Old 05-13-2015, 09:35 PM
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Originally Posted by schwa View Post
Hi Larry,

I don't mean to make you wrong, but I have had a different experience regarding the redbear picks.

I have purchased 5 of them. 1 broke in my pocket. I know they say not to do so, but I wouldn't call them "nearly indestructable". 2 of them "cupped" - a curved shape that made then less playable. I contacted red bear about the issue, and they were not interested in offering any remedy. The other two are nice picks, unless you compare them to the TS picks I've been able to play.

In my experience, I would warn folks to beware of Red Bear picks.
Hi Schwa…
I agree you cannot put them in your pocket and sit on them (or in your wallet) or get them wet.

When I said 'indestructible' I meant you can play them forever and not wear in the edge (which is why they cut a speed bevel edge into it).

There are plenty of warnings about mistreating. And the ones punched full of holes will cup.

I have some that are going on 6 years old which are still in pristine condition, because they travel in my guitar case inside an old SD memory card case, and when I grip picks, it's with a light hand.




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  #30  
Old 05-14-2015, 08:19 AM
zabdart zabdart is offline
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Originally Posted by turner28 View Post
...however, that said, to someone who has never touched tortoise shell anything, what makes it 'desirable'?
The use of tortoiseshell for flatpicks goes back for generations, to before celluloid plastic became common. Basically, its advantages are its hardness in relation to its thinness. A "thin" pick made of tortoiseshell has a hardness unequaled by any celluloid pick or any thickness. The closest synthetic material to its hardness vis a vis thinness is casein plastic, which is likewise, expensive. Picks made of either one of these materials really drive your strings and produce a volume and "ring" which just can't be beat.
Hope that helps.
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