Are you "picky" about your choice of picks?

[Mandobart]

There are three things that can greatly affect the tone and playability of any guitar after it's been built and setup:

1. Your style - how you attack, mute, allow sustain or decay etc.

2. Your string choice - metallurgy, gage, brand, etc.

3. Your pick - material, thickness, bevel (or not), shape, etc.

If you're not trying different things in each of these, you have no idea how you could sound.

I played Martin Marquis lights and picked with Jim Dunlop nylon .73's for many years. Once I started experimenting with other strings and picks I found a tone I much prefer to those beginner starting points.

[boneuphtoner]

I voted I’m content with off the rack, but a pick slightly more expensive than say ~Fender mediums (that I played for years) have turned out to be my favorite picks, and inexpensive Black Dunlop nylons are nearly as good for my ham handed strumming. When I visited the Taylor factory a couple of years ago, I picked up their new Thermex picks, and the 1.0 picks were the first thicker picks that really worked for me - these are $2 each, but the Dunlop nylon 1.0 picks are nearly as good for me at a fraction of the price. With my crude strumming, I’m more than satisfied. And I still break out the Fender mediums every once in a while - I still like ‘em also.

[Cibby]

I was buying $30 to $35 dollar picks for a couple years but stopped. I went back to picks I used since 1965 to late 2010's. A .96 Martin pick a .73 Martin pick and a medium Gibson pick. There cheaper sound good and if I loose or break one big deal. I'll still use my 2 Blue chip picks a large 1.0 triangle and a 1.0 small triangle. But probably wouldn't replace them if they were lost.

[Fret-O'File]

I used Dunlop Totex .60 & .88 for 25 years then Gravity Gold 2.5 for a few and lately Honey Picks 2.5 Casein Royal Jelly Beehives and some homemade Casein picks. I've gotten very particular but could probably get used to just about anything.

Rick at Honey Picks makes amazing picks and will make custom sizes, shapes and thickness.
No affiliation just a really happy customer.

https://www.etsy.com/search?q=honeypicks

http://www.honey-picks.com/

[packmule]

I have strong preferences for picks. For my go to pick it's gotta be a Blue Chip 35, either TD35 or TPR35, with a Wegen 1.0mm Dipper in second place and then I usually have a Primetone 1.0mm or a Dunlop Delrin 500 .96mm in my pocket in case I'm in a guitar shop and want to try something out.

[raysachs]

Didn’t answer the poll, because I don’t have specific “needs and demands” for certain picks. But I DO have preferences for picks that feel and sound right to me - I AM picky about picks. Basically for strumming I like Vespel or Casein, depending on mood, how my guitar sounds to my ears that day, etc. For Vespel, I use Blue Chip and Charmed Life, depending on how thick a pick I want to use. For picking, I almost always use casein and I use both Red Bear or Charmed Life for casein picks, also based on thickness, but also on how their corners are finished - Charmed life are sharper, Red Bear a bit rounder and it just depends. For electric, I do everything with a 1.5mm Charmed Life with very sharp corners.

-Ray

[lowrider]

I voted for ''off the rack''. I use large triangle celluloids but I reshaped the really long points to be more like teardrops. They give me a lot more grip area and I never have any issue with the pick moving.

[PapaC]

Right now I’m using BC TAD 40 for acoustic, and Dunlop Prime Tone small triangle 1.3 for electric. I’m completely happy with these, but I’m certainly not adverse to trying others. I used to use a .73 Dunlop cheapy for everything, and I’ve lately been contemplating a thinner BC for 12 string.

[Rudy4]

I didn't vote because both selections are true for me.

I use Dunlop Primetone 346 style large triangle 1.4mm smooth picks. They are readily available, inexpensive, and I'd just play keyboard if I couldn't get them (or somthing very similar).

[guitararmy]

I play mostly electric, and still have several dozen red Fender heavy 351 picks that are made of a stiff plastic. I don't think they make them anymore...

[FrankHudson]

I too found the two choices not mutually exclusive, but voted picky, because I think I'm off the norm in regards to picks and moving between picks even for what would seem to be the same purposes on the same guitar.

However, most of my picks are cheap to not quite boutique in price. For awhile I went deep into the Primetones, and I still like their smooth surface 346 shape 1.3-1.4 picks for some things. I'm often reaching for Fender F-Grip picks (a 1.5 mm sandwitch celluloid). Moving up even closer to boutique pricing, the Fender Tru-Shell 1.5 casein pick is another one I like. Picks like this are a middle ground to me. To many casual users they'd be pricey, but they are sold by the same names that sell "regular picks" in the same way, save for pricing.

However, I also like good old Dunlop Green and sometimes Yellow Tortex. I'll use the venerable Herco heavy nylon 351 from time to time. The 1.5 D'Andrea ProPlec is strikingly good for some things. And if I had to live with one pick for all things, the Fender Extra Heavy 346 celluloid would probably serve me best. So I like perfectly norm-core off the rack, inexpensive picks too. I'm just picky about them.

[Dru Edwards]

RP, I don't consider myself particularly picky but I haven't used a thin pick in 15 years or so. For the previous 20 years I used to use a thin pick on my 12 string.

If I use a pick and the tone is too dark then I'll use another one and vice-versa so in that way I am picky.

[posternutbag]

I am extremely picky (dad joke). I have separate picks for different guitars. On electric, I play a Red Bear shape B, light, in faux tortoise shell. On acoustic, I play a Blue Chip TD 50, and on mandolin a Blue Chip CT 55.

[geetaruke]

I used to be extremely particular about what I pick I use. I still have my preferences of course, and some things work better for certain things than others, but I don’t really care anymore. I’ll play with whatever is around.

Same goes for things like nut width, radius even body sizes. My preferences will always be those, but I’m not nearly as particular about gear as I once was, and it’s allowed me to enjoy a ton more variety of gear than I did in my younger days

[RalphH]

I didn't know how to answer this. I have two picks I use. Both are fairly common, mass-produced picks, but I will not use anything else. So yes I'm picky, but luckily, I don't need them custom-made for me.