[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by jdto

My blue casein 1.25mm arrived yesterday and boy is it ever a beauty! Polished to perfection and very comfortable to play. It sort of sticks to your fingers, so no slipping. The tone is quite warm with this one, which is very different from the Blue Chip TD45 I have been using for the past several weeks. I’m impressed!

I should mention I’ve started to prefer the extra sparkle of the slightly thinner picks over the thump of the thicker ones. My Blue Chip TD60s and Dunlop Primetone 1.5s sit forlorn as I now play 90% of the time with the 1.14 mm TD45. I’m not playing a lot of fast bluegrass-style runs, so the thinner picks have started to sound better to me for strumming, but still heavy enough to pick individual strings for solos etc. The 1.5mm picks now sound like they dull things a bit too much. 1.14 or 1.25 seems to give me enough growl, but a bit more sparkle from the treble strings. Another pick I’ve been quite enjoying are the Fender Tortuga Extra Heavy. Those are my “jam night” picks for when beer flows and stuff gets dropped or lost

Anyway, the Charmed Life Blue Casein is an interesting tone. Mellower than what I’m used to, for sure. The treble strings are less strident, but I can still get some chime from them. A lot less pick noise and the attack is warmer, but less punchy. Of course, I haven’t had a lot of time with it yet, so my ears have yet to tell the full tale. I like it, so far. Scott makes amazing products, if this is anything to go by.

Scott: a question, if you read this. I’m guessing your brown series will sound very much like my Blue Chip, correct? How does the black series compare to the brown and the casein?

Thanks! I’m a happy customer!

Thanks so much for the review. For those who have not yet seen our gorgeous new blue casein pick, here's what he's talking about:



I believe you've been with us for quite a while. As you probably noticed, we've made huge strides in our final buffing and polishing stage in the last twelve months. I'm proud to say our picks are as beautiful and finally finished as any pick in the industry. It's take more than three years and well in excess of $10 K to accomplish that. We hope over the next couple years to begin to automate those processes, as everything is still done by hand, and demand has far outstripped our ability to make picks in a timely manner.

Tonally, you're pretty much spot on regarding the blue casein. Casein in general is noted for its warmth, balance, accurate frequency response, quietness across the strings and, in general, a tone very reminiscent of genuine tortoise shell. I say this as someone who has played the real for more than forty years. Originally CLP was only going to market the brown picks, but then I played casein and said, "Well, if I'm gonna start a company, I gotta sell this stuff too. It's just too good."