Cloth covered guitar picks

[spottydog10]

I just made one with a Dunlop thin plectrum covered with one layer of a J Cloth, it worked great on my Martin Acoustic for a bright but not too percussive sound.
The problem is after a few run throughs I had to re cover the thing.
I've searched Google but cant find any online, anybody know where they can be bought?
PS the felt covered ones for bass players are much too thick.

[Bluemonk]

Cloth covered guitar picks? I don't get it. About as useful to me as a fur lined hammer.

[spottydog10]

Brilliant.

[Wade Hampton]

Spotty, I’ve seen and even experimented with felt picks a few times, but your post is the first mention of cloth-covered picks I’ve ever seen anywhere in all the 45 years I’ve been playing music. So it’s very much a niche item. I think it’s inevitable that you’re going to have to fabricate your own.

If you really like the sound you got and want to continue getting it, the first step I would take if I was in your position would be to go to a fabric store and get a bunch of different scraps of fabric from their remnant bin. It’s much, much cheaper to buy it that way and you’re not going to need enormous amounts, anyway. Get as wide a sampling of fabric types as you can.

In terms of durability in this role, I suspect that upholstery velvet might prove to be most durable, since long term durability is what it’s designed for. So look for some velvet while you’re at the fabric store - you’ll definitely want to test some of that.

Then go to a music store or go online and get at least a dozen picks of the type you like. After you’ve got the picks and the fabric sit down some afternoon and make a bunch of the cloth-covered picks. Once you start testing them out, see which fabric gives you the tone you want and best overall durability.

Once you’ve figured that out, go back to the fabric store and get enough of the fabric you like best to hold you for a while, get a whole bunch of the picks, and then assemble enough of them to make the effort worthwhile.

I suspect that’s the only realistic way to get enough cloth-covered picks to have a sufficient supply onhand.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[The Bard Rocks]

I would get cordura nylon - it should outlast velvet by a huge amount. This is a guess as we are all in uncharted waters here.

[musicman1951]

This seems like a great concept. If you could market a pick that only lasts a couple of days you could make a fortune on repeat business.

[mtcross]

You will also want to play with adhesives. Depending on the pick material you should be able to find some adhesive that will bond better than others.. contact cement compared to super glue or some other type of glue... my first thought would be something like Weldbond.

[DownUpDave]

Oh no more options. There are enough different picks to keep me experimenting for a lifetime. Now we gotta try all the different fabrics available. I can hear it now.......you gotta try velvet for that thick cushy tone. Silk gives the smoothest slickest sound around. Then of course leather covered Fender picks are best for "cowboy chords"

More power to ya brother if it is giving you the sound you like. I am gonna resist or my OCD will take over and that rabbit hole might be too deep to crawl outta

[skinnerb]

Try a bit of Kevlar. It's mighty tough stuff.

[menhir]

Have you tried leather picks?

I don't use picks often, but I find a leather pick offers a unique warm sound, something between my usual bare finger playing and a normal hard pick.

I've been experimenting with one made by Skintone.

Like felt picks, I the edge will start to feather away and they will need to be replaced more often, but I'm guessing leather will last much longer than cloth.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

I would get cordura nylon - it should outlast velvet by a huge amount. This is a guess as we are all in uncharted waters here.

That's a good thought, though, and I think Cordura nylon won't be as thick and thus will be easier to fold and glue onto the picks underneath.

Kevlar is an interesting thought, as well, though I imagine it will considerably more expensive than rummaging around in the remnants bin at your local Jo Ann's Fabrics.

Something occurred to me is that choosing the correct adhesive might be potentially problematic, because some plastics will have chemical reactions and can melt when combined with some adhesives. So using whatever the OP used for glue on his first attempt might be the safest way to proceed.

It is, as you noted, Bard, uncharted waters, and it's interesting for that reason alone. It's not often we see someone trying something that's relatively unprecedented.


whm

[spottydog10]

Thanks for the comments, I'll have a look at the leather ones, may be too thick though. The problem with the Jcloth is it tends to snag the strings a bit, hence the playing in this clip (any excuse eh?) but I found on ebay some cheap thin self adhesive felt which I've ordered so hopefully that will solve that problem.

https://soundcloud.com/mike-spot/jclothtest

[FrankHudson]

I've never tried cloth covering myself.

I tried felt with bass, including nylon string Ashbory style basses. Didn't work for me for that.

I've played with rubber picks, but again on electric bass. They work fairly well in sounding like thumb flesh. Right next to me on a shelf I see a Clayton Phat Tone large triangle that has a rubberized coating on both sides with a sandwich of more conventional pick material. Obviously either of these are the complete opposite of speedy picking where you want the pick to slide over the strings with never even the slightest catch or grab.

[Cheezeweggie]

Fiberglas ?

[jkilgour2000]

I had a leather pick once that was neat! Lost it