How Thick Is Your Pick.??

[LyleGorch]

4 to 6mm. Comfy.

[docwatsonfan]

Originally Posted by JonHBone

Currently 1.14 tortex triangles.

It's the minimum thickness I use. I also enjoy 1.5-2.

my favorites too, by far , the Jim Dunlop 431 R 1.14 Tortex in purple, made in USA!
I like 'em so much I bought a 72 pack @ about 30 cents each

[JonHBone]

Originally Posted by docwatsonfan

my favorites too, by far , the Jim Dunlop 431 R 1.14 Tortex in purple, made in USA!
I like 'em so much I bought a 72 pack @ about 30 cents each

Nice. I also have enough to hold me over for a few decades. Ha...

@Charmed Life Picks
I have some ultex triangles and they're a decent cheap pick. But the tortex has a more mellow tone on my guitars that I like. The ultex seems brighter and harsher for me. Different strokes etc.

[3notes]

Originally Posted by sam.spoons

I got in a bit of trouble a couple of years ago over my assertion that thin pics sound rubbish and are the cheapest way to make a $6k custom sound like a $20 Sears Roebuck special. I still believe that TBH but, before I'm accused of trolling, it is only my opinion If anybody remembers that thread I apologise for being a little dogmatic......

Thick/stiff picks made of the right material always (IMNSHO) sound better than thin ones, thin ones sound clicky and 'thin9now there's a surprise) and rob you of control making them impossible to play fast lines with (I'm talking about acoustic guitars here not electric shred merchants). My chosen obsession is Gypsy Jazz and I use Michael Wegen's 'Gypsy Jazz Pics' on acoustic and mandolin and his 'Twins' on electric. They are 3.5mm thick and simply don't bend. The material they are made of is very hard and reasonable bright sounding (much more so than nylon). I also have some of his Bluegrass Picks which are 1.4mm thick but still very stiff, I like them, and they are slightly brighter than the GJ picks but I still find myself reverting to the GJ picks so the BG picks have become spares.....

With all due respect I'd like to point something here. A harder, thicker pick will NOT make your guitar sound bright. It's not the pick. It's your guitar and the strings that are on the guitar that produce a bright tone.

You see, the harder, thicker pick eliminates the sound of your pick attacking the string. When a soft pick, say .73mm, or say a Fender medium pick strikes the string you literally are hearing the noise of that pick hitting and releasing from the string.

A harder, thicker, glassy pick eliminates pick "noise" and gives way to the authentic acoustic sound of the guitar and the strings on it.

I learned this about 5 months ago when I made the move to a pick that has a thickness of 2mm. There is a lot of knowledge here on the forum, me excluded. I'm just passing on what I learned from making the change. And that 2mm pick I now use is with me forever. I love it.

[alnico5]

Dunlop Delrin. 2mm for electric, 1.5mm for acoustic.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by 3notes

With all due respect I'd like to point something here. A harder, thicker pick will NOT make your guitar sound bright. It's not the pick. It's your guitar and the strings that are on the guitar that produce a bright tone.

You see, the harder, thicker pick eliminates the sound of your pick attacking the string. When a soft pick, say .73mm, or say a Fender medium pick strikes the string you literally are hearing the noise of that pick hitting and releasing from the string.

A harder, thicker, glassy pick eliminates pick "noise" and gives way to the authentic acoustic sound of the guitar and the strings on it.

I learned this about 5 months ago when I made the move to a pick that has a thickness of 2mm. There is a lot of knowledge here on the forum, me excluded. I'm just passing on what I learned from making the change. And that 2mm pick I now use is with me forever. I love it.

Boy, this opens up a can of worms. As a player, I disagree. As a Sponsor, I'm staying out of it, at least for now, but would love to hear from others on this view.

thanks,
scott

[Athens]

"Thick, as a brick".

(With apologies to Ian Anderson).

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

As an industry courtesy, folks....

TAD-60 stands for .060" thickness. This is almost precisely 1.50 mm.

TP-40 stands for .040" thickness. This is almost precisely 1.0 mm.

The reason Blue Chip uses English rather than metric measurements is because they were in the machine shop business (still are, as far as I know), and that world is still all English in their measurements. I guess they didn't get the memo.

hope this helps,
scott memmer

Scott,

Most American machine shops work in both English and Metric measurements but will usually include both metric and English on prints if supplied metric-measurement prints from a customer. I'm able to work in both systems but prefer the English system because that's what I'm most used to using the last 50 years. One system isn't any better than the other and it only causes problems when dimensioning/tolerancing may get misinterpreted or mixed-up on a given project/print by engineers, machinists and toolmakers--Remember the Saturn satellite debacle from several years ago!

Ken

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Scott,

Most American machine shops work in both English and Metric measurements but will usually include both metric and English on prints if supplied metric-measurement prints from a customer. I'm able to work in both systems but prefer the English system because that's what I'm most used to using the last 50 years. One system isn't any better than the other and it only causes problems when dimensioning/tolerancing may get misinterpreted or mixed-up on a given project/print by engineers, machinists and toolmakers--Remember the Saturn satellite debacle from several years ago!

Ken

Ken, hi, appreciate your input. BTW, I just got a top-of-line Eastman OM-40 and will be adding a pickup soon. Leaning heavily toward Trance pf course. Have you played with the new phantom rig at all, without the battery? Anyway, will drop you a PM or email, and will also be posting in Amplification.

Sorry, folks, enough of the hijack.

To your point, Ken, on my end, when I started looking for jobbers to sub out some of our work, they ALL spoke exclusively English measurements, at least here in L.A. I've found the really old crusty guys don't even wanna hear about it (one guy, one of my main jobbers, kiddingly threatens to throw me out of his shop if I "talk that crap," but the younger ones are more conversant in both), but the younger ones are much more open to it.

It helps to remember that .040" is almost precisely 1.0 mm, so pretty easy to convert in your head.

I'll be in touch.

Thanks!
Scott

[alnico5]

In my 50 years of experience, a thicker pick cuts highs. I am probably never going to switch from my Dulop Delrin 2mm for electric. My acoustic choice of the 1.5mm Delrin is my choice after much experimentation. Material also matters. What a boatload of choices we have!

[pattste]

I use the Dunlop Jazz III Primetone. They are 1.4mm.

[HHP]

Originally Posted by 3notes

With all due respect I'd like to point something here. A harder, thicker pick will NOT make your guitar sound bright. It's not the pick. It's your guitar and the strings that are on the guitar that produce a bright tone.

You see, the harder, thicker pick eliminates the sound of your pick attacking the string. When a soft pick, say .73mm, or say a Fender medium pick strikes the string you literally are hearing the noise of that pick hitting and releasing from the string.

A harder, thicker, glassy pick eliminates pick "noise" and gives way to the authentic acoustic sound of the guitar and the strings on it.

I learned this about 5 months ago when I made the move to a pick that has a thickness of 2mm. There is a lot of knowledge here on the forum, me excluded. I'm just passing on what I learned from making the change. And that 2mm pick I now use is with me forever. I love it.

Not true. I have spent a lot of time with known guitars and picks of varying thicknesses, but most picks were in the 2-5mm range. The same thickness/material picks give significantly different responses mainly due to the edge geometry. A 4mm pick with a roundover edge does demonstrate very restrained treble response. Same pick with a re-configured edge has a much enhanced treble response as well a a volume boost, improved clarity. Both picks share the lack of noise and high degree of control but, sonically, they may as well be different picks.

Thickness is only one pick parameter, and its not the most important one by any means.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by HHP

Not true. I have spent a lot of time with known guitars and picks of varying thicknesses, but most picks were in the 2-5mm range. The same thickness/material picks give significantly different responses mainly due to the edge geometry. A 4mm pick with a roundover edge does demonstrate very restrained treble response. Same pick with a re-configured edge has a much enhanced treble response as well a a volume boost, improved clarity. Both picks share the lack of noise and high degree of control but, sonically, they may as well be different picks.

Thickness is only one pick parameter, and its not the most important one by any means.

Good info, Harry.

sm

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by musicman1951

1 mm, I think - BC TAD 40.

Yes, mm. The conversion rate of metric to English is almost precisely 1.0 mm = .040". The reason BC uses this number is they come from the machining world, where they never got the memo.

I once took apart an entire VW using nothing almost nothing but a screwdriver and a 13 mm socket.

memmer

[DesertTwang]

Between 0.9 and 1.25mm is my range. Thinner, and it's too floppy for flatpicking; thicker, and volume and punch begin to suffer.