Quote:
Originally Posted by jklotz
I've been playing for years. Ever since I was old enough to take lessons, I've used Fender heavy picks. Mostly on electrics, but over the years I've gotten used to them on acoustics too. I don't know why, they just sound and feel right to me. Every time I pick up something else, I immediately know something is off.
So what's up with all those expensive picks you guys keep going on about? I'm not poking at anybody, just curious. What is it you get out of them that I seem to be missing?
For reference, somebody handed me a $40 pick in a shop one day. I played it. It felt way too thick and there was almost no attack to the note. I handed it right back and thanked the guy. Maybe I'm just plain dense?
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Hi, for many years, I used a now defunct nylon/delrin teardrop pick by Martin called a Naturaltone 1.14 m/m.
They were my standard althogh I noted that they wore a rough bevel rather easioly (I was mostly a bluegrass rhythm guitarist at the time).
I can't remember when I first heard about Blue Chip picks, and a couple of touring bluegrass players showed me their mid brown unimpressive looking things at, nearly 100 times the price of most picks.
I instantly decided that they were a scam aimed at the folk with posh guitars who liked to buy the most expensive accessory whatever the cost.
On various fora, talk kept occurring about these things - $35 plus postage etc. I probably wrote threads saying they had to be a con.
Then, I got one - a used one - can't remember how - maybe on ebay or from another forum member?
I quite liked it, and discovered that the triangular shape (346) really suited me. I investigated further.
I discovered that these things had built in bevels and didn't practically wear, and felt good in my hand, and came in many and various shapes and thicknesses.
I spent a lot of money on every other 346 shape pick I could get, and even learnt how to emulate the BC bevels, including Wegen picks, which I like a lot.
Although I have a collection of old tortoiseshell picks bought from "back in the day", I found that the BC pick (a TAD40) gave me a superior feel, and didn't wear.
Then I ordered three more another BCs - a TAD40, 50, and 60. (1,1.25 and 1.5 m/m respectively).
I found that to play my dreadnoughts with medium strings the TAD50 suited me perfectly - and on smaller guitars with light guage strings the TAD40 was best.
I went crazy and ordered picks - one each for all my guitars, and for my mandolin (TAD50-3r) and two TAD60s - for my mando picking pal.
I have not yet lost, broken or worn a blue chip pick. I do tend to perfer the Wegen TF140 picks on my 12 strings though.