A type of pick exchange club (?)

jweave69 · #1 02-06-2019, 05:29 PM

Have we ever attempted to start a pick exchange club among our forum members? I'm not a fan of clutter and I've discovered Dunlop Primetones .88 are my go to pick at this point. I have all these other picks I'm not using, and I have no friends that play guitar. I think it would be fun way to try different picks. Maybe someone else has an idea on the logistics side of things? How or if this is even possible or allowed/ethical? I guess if nothing else, I'll put up a giveaway thread...

IMG_20190206_173104493 by , on Flickr

Paddy1951 · #2 02-06-2019, 07:44 PM

This is a good idea. I will bet we all have oodles of unused picks. We tried them and they are not the right ones. But they may be right for a fellow member.

I certainly have picks I would swap.

Let us see where this goes.

bufflehead · #3 02-06-2019, 07:51 PM

I could get behind sending no-longer-used picks to a non-profit educational concern. I've probably got at least a hundred picks I've outgrown.

jweave69 · #4 02-06-2019, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bufflehead

I could get behind sending no-longer-used picks to a non-profit educational concern. I've probably got at least a hundred picks I've outgrown.

That is another awesome (less selfish) idea!

This one looks good! http://pickwithaustin.com/donate.htm

Charmed Life Picks · #5 02-06-2019, 09:46 PM

Folks, if anyone wants to email me directly at charmedlifepicks @ gmail.com, I've got a few ideas that might interest people about this. It's not scandalous, but you might be interested. However, I'd like to take if off the board as I want to respect the general nature of the main board.

Thanks,
Scott Memmer

DesertTwang · #6 02-06-2019, 10:44 PM

The OP is onto something, and perhaps even more interesting than starting some kind of "thrift store collection" of picks that have fallen out of favor with their owners might be — in my opinion — a traveling pick pack tour.

Another forum organized one some years ago, and participating in the effort gave me access to (if I remember correctly) about 70 different picks, including $300 worth of BlueChip picks alone. It was the first time I learned about the existence of, and got my hands on, BlueChips, Red Bears, John Pearse, Wegens and many others.

It also was a great opportunity to try out some less conventional picks such as wood and horn picks, and I learned that they are totally not for me without having to spend any money.

The way it worked was like this: The pick pack was basically a small ring binder containing what I believe might have been archiving sheets that coin collectors use. Each pouch had a pick and tag to mark the manufacturer, gauge etc. and the proper slot to avoid mixing things up.

Participants had to sign up by sending a PM to the organizer with their address. That person would make a note and add them to a wait list. Whoever had the pick pack got to keep it for one week. Upon receipt, the organizer would email them with the directions of the next person on the list.

Before sending the pack on to the next person, one had to add at least 3 picks to the collection (I can't remember the exact number) that were not included before.

The whole thing worked like clockwork, from what I could tell. Nobody tried to pull any shady stuff, and even though I had to wait a couple of months for my turn, it was super valuable. I still have the notes I took back then, and the experience really helped me dial in what I look for in a pick.

tippy5 · #7 02-07-2019, 12:35 AM

I would like to establish a guitar exchange. 3 month pass offs. I have 3 Goodall's I would temporarily trade for some list out there.

Gig economy. Fun way to play a lot of different sizes, woods and builders.

Gary in MO · #8 02-09-2019, 04:08 AM

I just went through a year of total pick experimentation.

If you saw all of the plectrums and thumbpicks I have now you'd think I was a hoarder. But I did lock on to Dunlop Ultex .060 and .073's. For recording guitar strumming, those .060's are acoustically and sonically wonderful for my style.

I'll try to get a list going but it will take a while.

For anyone wanting to try a thumbpick though, I have a pack of Dunlop Ultex Large and also 3 different versions of the Fred Kelly Bumblebee picks.

Those 3 Bumblebees just cost me $10 and this was the icing on the cake to stop this madness.....lol

Gary in MO · #9 02-09-2019, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jweave69

That is another awesome (less selfish) idea!

This one looks good! http://pickwithaustin.com/donate.htm

Thanks - I know where some of these picks are going.

jweave69 · #10 02-09-2019, 04:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesertTwang

The OP is onto something, and perhaps even more interesting than starting some kind of "thrift store collection" of picks that have fallen out of favor with their owners might be — in my opinion — a traveling pick pack tour.

Another forum organized one some years ago, and participating in the effort gave me access to (if I remember correctly) about 70 different picks, including $300 worth of BlueChip picks alone. It was the first time I learned about the existence of, and got my hands on, BlueChips, Red Bears, John Pearse, Wegens and many others.

It also was a great opportunity to try out some less conventional picks such as wood and horn picks, and I learned that they are totally not for me without having to spend any money.

The way it worked was like this: The pick pack was basically a small ring binder containing what I believe might have been archiving sheets that coin collectors use. Each pouch had a pick and tag to mark the manufacturer, gauge etc. and the proper slot to avoid mixing things up.

Participants had to sign up by sending a PM to the organizer with their address. That person would make a note and add them to a wait list. Whoever had the pick pack got to keep it for one week. Upon receipt, the organizer would email them with the directions of the next person on the list.

Before sending the pack on to the next person, one had to add at least 3 picks to the collection (I can't remember the exact number) that were not included before.

The whole thing worked like clockwork, from what I could tell. Nobody tried to pull any shady stuff, and even though I had to wait a couple of months for my turn, it was super valuable. I still have the notes I took back then, and the experience really helped me dial in what I look for in a pick.

That would be great! Unfortunately, I wouldn't be the one to start it since my collection is what you are looking at in the picture! If someone had a large collection and the time to organize it, I would certainly be a participant!

jweave69 · #11 02-09-2019, 04:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

Folks, if anyone wants to email me directly at charmedlifepicks @ gmail.com, I've got a few ideas that might interest people about this. It's not scandalous, but you might be interested. However, I'd like to take if off the board as I want to respect the general nature of the main board.

Thanks,
Scott Memmer

Email sent...

jweave69 · #12 02-09-2019, 04:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tippy5

I would like to establish a guitar exchange. 3 month pass offs. I have 3 Goodall's I would temporarily trade for some list out there.

Gig economy. Fun way to play a lot of different sizes, woods and builders.

In a perfect world, this would be incredibly fun and informative, but I'm not sure about 3 months! One week would be more than enough time for me to know if a guitar is for me. And it's one thing to send along some picks, but a whole other to send one of my babies!