Thin picks just don’t work for Mick...

[Goat Mick]

Stopped by a place just down the road from my house yesterday evening to listen to a buddy play. He’s a great guy, really good friend and has one of the best classic country voices you’ve ever heard. So he asks me to come up and play one and I had to borrow his pick because I didn’t have one on me. He favors thin celluloid picks which I haven’t used in more than 30 years. I think it’s best for me to stick with heavy picks. This was from one song and it was just Paradise, so it wasn’t a fast rocker. He said I could play more but he didn’t have enough picks. LOL

[Rev Roy]

Whoa! I’m a thin pick guy myself and (at times) a heavy strummer. But I’ve never had that happen to a pick...especially after one song.

You da man, Mick!

[Goat Mick]

Originally Posted by Rev Roy

Whoa! I’m a thin pick guy myself and (at times) a heavy strummer. But I’ve never had that happen to a pick...especially after one song.

You da man, Mick!

I promise I wasn’t digging in. It may have tarted because I flexed the pick a little in my fingers to add some stiffness. The tip came off after the first chorus and then it just kept chipping away.

[lowrider]

I absolutely love medium celuloid picks. One time I got thin celuloid by mistake. It felt so floppy, it was like playing with a piece of paper!

[Rev Roy]

Originally Posted by lowrider

I absolutely love medium celuloid picks. One time I got thin celuloid by mistake. It felt so floppy, it was like playing with a piece of paper!

And to me thicker picks feel like I’m playing with a chunk of bark. Different (pick) strokes for different folks.

[blacknblues]

What brand?

[Silly Moustache]

Celluloid ? No.

Under 1 m/m ? nope.

Nylon , Delrin - mmm, OK.

Vespel - Yes.

1.25 -1.5 m/m large triangle - Yup, now we are there.

[Goat Mick]

My pick happy place is between .88 and 1.25 Ultex or Vespel. I’m also really fond of the .88 and 1.0 Tusq tan colored picks but they wear down really quickly. The best I can get from them is about two gigs.

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by Rev Roy

And to me thicker picks feel like I’m playing with a chunk of bark. Different (pick) strokes for different folks.

I used to be like this. It just took me a little bit of time to learn that there's a certain loose grip you have to learn with a thicker pick otherwise it feels like the pick gets caught on the strings. It also helps if you hold it like you'd hold a key to open a door lock as opposed to holding it with the tips of your finger like a diaper

[J Patrick]

....it’s all relative...any pick less than 1.5 mm is to thin for me....my comfort zone is 2-2.5 mm

[Tnfiddler]

1.2-1.4 Wegens, Primetones and BC are my happy picks!! I can’t stand the pick slap that happens with thin picks. BUT, that’s just me! To each their own.

[Steel and wood]

I use the round side of the pick (non pointed end) anyway so this would have still worked for me.

[Brucebubs]

I'm a thin pick strummer and I've broken several of those over the years - it's normal for thin celluloid.
They're also are clicky sounding on the strings ... but not all thin picks are the same.
Jim Dunlop .60mm nylons are not noisy and they don't break.

Thick picks don't work for me, they feel awkward and uncomfortable.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Mick, hiya, how ya been?

You know, guys, when I stumbled (and I do mean stumble) into the pick biz in 2015, I was shocked to discover that none of the boutique makers were addressing the thin pick market (generally, I define this as below 1.0 mm in thickness). I mean, no one.

And they still don't. Why?

Without a doubt, this is the single largest market segment in the pick industry. The Fender Medium, at around .72 mm, is the most popular pick on the planet.

I'd be curious why you folks think that is. My take: People make what they want to play, not what the market demands.

Why do you think that is? Six years in, I'm still scratching my head.

scott memmer

[J Patrick]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

Mick, hiya, how ya been?

You know, guys, when I stumbled (and I do mean stumble) into the pick biz in 2015, I was shocked to discover that none of the boutique makers were addressing the thin pick market (generally, I define this as below 1.0 mm in thickness). I mean, no one.

And they still don't. Why?

Without a doubt, this is the single largest market segment in the pick industry. The Fender Medium, at around .72 mm, is the most popular pick on the planet.

I'd be curious why you folks think that is. My take: People make what they want to play, not what the market demands.

Why do you think that is? Six years in, I'm still scratching my head.

scott memmer

My take is that the entry of boutique pick makers coincided with a rise in popularity of thicker picks. Up until about twenty-five years ago the Fender heavy was about the thickest pick I ever recall anybody using and Fender mediums were way more common. As flatpicking styles started to catch on the demand for thicker picks started to increase. I moved my way up the Dunlop Delrin offerings until I got to the purple 2.0’s. Right around Y2K or shortly thereafter I started buying picks from Dave Skowron before they became Red Bear. He had recently acquired the technology from John Greven as I recall. In any case the offerings from Dave were something new but other companies like Golden Gate and V-Pick soon came to my attention. So I think there was a thick pick revolution of sorts that may account for why most boutique pick makers concentrated on them.



That said....I rarely find player’s that like picks as thick as I do and most guys I play with still prefer picks at 1.0mm or less. So I do also believe there is truth in your suspicion that people tend to make what they prefer rather that than what the market dictates.