A Guitar Pick Primer -- Please Participate.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Howdy, folks.

First, let me tell you what this thread is. It is an overview of the current state of the guitar pick, as I understand it.

A few weeks back several members asked me to post an informational thread containing a general overview of the pick industry -- where it’s been, where it is at present, where it’s headed. I thought they’d found my previous posts boring, but they assured me that they found it really interesting.

This fits who I am in the world. My day job is as a fully-tenured college English professor and I have always loved research, followed by imparting what I’ve learned to others. If you find this thread boring, please pass it by.

If you have any questions, or want to add some comments of your own, please don’t hesitate. We are a community; that’s what AGF is about.

Often you will find me recommending other products that have nothing to do with CLP. Why? The truth is, I want everyone to find the best pick for their budget and their playing style and ability. It’s my job to know what’s going on out there, so feel free to ask questions. I NEVER talk down any products or companies, only what might be the advantages or disadvantages of a certain material.

Many of you know certain as aspects of picks and playing better than me. I am, by necessity, a generalist, so please jump in to clarity a point, to make a correction, or to offer an alternative view.

THE PAST: HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Very briefly, for many hundreds of years, maybe thousands of years, genuine tortoise shell was the plectrum of choice for all stringed instrument players. A few quick notes here: 1) You cannot use the shell of just any tortoise to make a pick. 2) The material comes from only one species in the world; and 3) Actually, it’s not a tortoise at all, but the Hawksbill Sea Turtle. As far as we know, the shell of this turtle is the only material that makes the fantastic picks you’ve probably heard about.

In the last fifty years, this species, the Hawksbill Sea Turtle, has been hunted almost to extinction. In the late 1970s, an international consortium took place to protect endangered species around the world, both flora and fauna. This agreement, known as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES for short, went into effect on July 1, 1975, and also includes elephant ivory, Brazilian rosewood, and many other endangered species. It has been update several times since then. To date, it has been signed by more than 150 countries around the globe. The U.S. Federal government and most U.S. states have backed this up with weighty laws and penalties.

But since then, for more than forty years, acoustic musicians have been searching for a material that would replicate the tone and feel of genuine tortoise shell. This has led to a new age of the guitar pick, new materials and new applications. And the exciting thing is, we're only at the beginning of that era.

Let’s stop there for comments and questions.

UP NEXT: THE NEW AGE OF THE GUITAR PICK

[3notes]

Count me in. I have no doubt you are a world of information on this topic. And I like your post here because it is relatively short. I would ask to keep your posts relatively short as we venture into the world of picks and pick material. Awesome.

I love turtles. I visited a snapper just the other day. Prehistoric creatures living in an advanced society. The struggles they face... Can you say habitat.?? Habitat is a good thang. Ask a duck.

Now, back to picks... Cool.

[RussL30]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

But since then, for more than forty years, acoustic musicians have been searching for a material that would replicate the tone and feel of genuine tortoise shell. This has led to a new age of the guitar pick, new materials and new applications. And the exciting thing is, we're only at the beginning of that era.

Scott, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing this thread materialize and reading your insights.

My question is since you say we’re just now at the beginning of this new era, do you ever see the price of these materials going down eventually similar to other new technologies as they get older and more common?

It’s hard for me to bring myself to pay $30 or more for a pick as someone that’s just an average player when there are picks I really enjoy that priced at a fraction of that. I have no problem with you or any maker charging that, as you need to make a profit and pay for these really expensive materials. I would like to see the price of these high tech plastics maybe drop one day so these picks would be more accessible.

[baimo]

Scott. I speak a well english

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by RussL30

Scott, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing this thread materialize and reading your insights.

My question is since you say we’re just now at the beginning of this new era, do you ever see the price of these materials going down eventually similar to other new technologies as they get older and more common?

It’s hard for me to bring myself to pay $30 or more for a pick as someone that’s just an average player when there are picks I really enjoy that priced at a fraction of that. I have no problem with you or any maker charging that, as you need to make a profit and pay for these really expensive materials. I would like to see the price of these high tech plastics maybe drop one day so these picks would be more accessible.

The brown stuff Blue Chip uses -- DuPont Vespel -- is one of the most expensive plastics on the planet, at $1100 for a square 10" x 10" x .25" -- and no, those aren't Spinal Tap numbers, Russ, those are real numbers -- inches, not feet. In fact, Blue Chip is shaving margins pretty close on their products, and if anything I'd expect prices to rise -- not much, maybe $5.00 per pick, but rise slightly. To the best of my knowledge, they've never had a price increase, and have been in the market almost ten years. Think about it: everything has gone up in price during the last decade -- electricity, natural gas, oil, lubricants, buffing wheels, buffing compounds, the list is endless.

On other materials, yes, Russ, over time. But I don’t see it happening right away. The reason? Most of the premium pick makers are small shops with a lot of hand work and little automation, so their cost per pick is very high. A price point that is in desperate need of coverage in the premium pick market is $20. There are a few scattered vendors doing this, but not many. In marketing, you need a good-better-best step system -- three steps. Right now, there are some excellent picks on the market below $10, but then you jump all the way up to $30 (or more) for the real premium brands, which I suspect is what you’re referring to. Yikes! It's just too big of a step. Eventually upscale pick vendors will have to offer a $19.95 pricepoint pick with free shipping, but again, I don’t know that we’ll see this any time soon. There would have to be downward pressure from a major vendor to force them to cut prices.

Another issue is economy of scale: in short, you make a ton of picks and your cost per pick goes way, way down.

The wild card in all this is probably a big company like Dunlop. They’ve got the weight, resources and muscle to be a game-changer. I expect in the next five to ten years you’ll see them grow into the upscale pick market, either through acquisition or in-house development. However, this creates a marketing problem for them. Their most expensive picks, the Primetones, run about $5.00 to $7.50 each. You cannot make a marketing step from $7.50 to $30.00 without something in between. They could make it work, but they’d really need a middle step at $19.95. So they’re the ones to watch, in my view.

BTW, most people, including me, consider the Jon Pearse Fast Turtles (made from casein) the best value, cost vs performance, in the marketplace. At roughly $10.00 each, these are terrific picks. I mean, really good. This might be something for you to take a look at down the road.

https://www.stringsandbeyond.com/jopefatutogu.html

Thanks. Will sit for a bit with this.
scott

[ylekot]

Originally Posted by 3notes

I love turtles. I visited a snapper just the other day. Prehistoric creatures living in an advanced society. The struggles they face... Can you say habitat.?? Habitat is a good thang. Ask a duck.

.

At my house the Snapping Turtles visit ME!!! Well......chase me while I'm mowing the lawn.....


This thread will be interesting to me because I have never really thought about pick materials and such.....just shape and flex

[brancher]

Looking forward to the rest of this thread!

I remember my college days, back BCAI (before cable and internet), listening to my fully-tenured 20th Century Lit professor who taught me to appreciate Faulkner despite my fascination with Ellison!

[Silly Moustache]

Well, let us start with the history. Every culture, it would seem, has developed some sort of plucked string instrument, and most have had some sort of plectrum associated with it.

Somehow I doubt that all cultures obtained hawksbill turtle was sought out be every culture. animal parts, bone, bird feathers, beaks, horn, almost anything that contained keratin of some sort, yes, but not "only" turtle shell.

Latterly many relied on celluloid as the most common material for plectra (personally I dislike it).

Nylon came into play for a long time, then we got a bit cuter with casein, and delrin and such other stuffs not normally seen in in nature.

[Wolfram]

Actually, tortoiseshell has only been used for picks since the late 1800s. Plectrums of one sort or another have been used for thousands of years, but these would have been made from other locally-occurring materials such as bone, wood and feather quills.

Will Hoover has written a fascinating history of the pick entitled: "Picks!: The Colorful Saga of Vintage Celluloid Guitar Plectrums". It's out of print now, but I highly recommend seeking out a copy - it makes for very interesting reading.

Cheers,
David

[Goat Mick]

Excellent post Scott! I'm looking forward to reading everyone's comments and insights. I do want to make a couple of points myself.

* The benefit of a premium pick isn't 100% tone (crap Doc Watson used a nylon pick and sounded amazing even though I hate the sound of nylon picks). The real benefit of the majority of premium pick plastics is durability. Yeah DuPont Vespel does sound really clean and rich and a lot of top notch players absolutely love picks made from that material, but something that is never mentioned as Vespel NEVER wears out. If you don't lose the pick, it will pretty much perform just like new 20 years or more down the road. I'll make a confession, I love the off-white Tusq picks because of the way they sound on my guitars but I will completely round one off in one 3 hour gig. I really can't see the value in a product that doesn't last any longer than that. I've been using one of my Black Lightening picks for about 30 gigs now and it isn't worn at all, so even though it's a pretty pricey pick buying one of those will outlast 30+ of the Tusq picks I can buy for about a buck each.

* As far as premium pick prices go, I can only speak from my experience. With the material I use for my flatpicks, after the cut blanks come back from the machine shop it takes me about 40 minutes to get each individual pick sanded down to desired thickness, polished and ready to sell. With that much time invested in each individual pick, it wouldn't be worthwhile for me to stay in business if I sold them for less than my current prices.

I also have a question. I'm definitely not an advocate of using animals for guitar pick material, but can anyone tell me why it's only the Hawksbill Turtle that has a shell that is a desirable pick material??? It just seems odd that of all the turtles in the world it would be the only one with those attributes to it's shell material.

[thomasinaz]

Other than the thickness and how they feel between thumb and index finger, I never really gave picks much thought. I was wondering why some picks cost upwards of $20 each. Reading about the price of raw material and the amount of actual hand work involved in making a quality pick, helps me understand the cost.

[Julian Mount]

I have hundreds of picks. I mean, HUNDREDS. I have two actual tortoiseshell picks (or hawksbill picks, whatever).

I have cheap picks and really expensive picks in my collection.

And yet I still prefer/use picks made by "Stagg" and which cost around £1 each!

It's all about personal taste and what works for you...to give you the sound you like.

I know this is obvious...but I thought I'd just contribute to this interesting thread.

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

BTW, most people, including me, consider the Jon Pearse Fast Turtles (made from casein) the best value, cost vs performance, in the marketplace. At roughly $10.00 each, these are terrific picks. I mean, really good. This might be something for you to take a look at down the road.

https://www.stringsandbeyond.com/jopefatutogu.html
scott

Thanks for taking the time to provide some excellent information. I had no idea of the cost of the Dupont material.

Since you cited John Pearse casein picks, I would echo your findings. An excellent pick for under $10. But if I may add, Pickboy has jumped into the mix in a big way. As you can see from the photo, I am not a stranger to the John Pearse picks (I have at least one more not shown). But recently I have discovered the Pickboy picks retailing for $6 and find them equal to the Pearse, but offering diversity in materials. They are making their picks in rosewood, ebony, horn, bone and boxwood. Each has its own tonal properties and the shape of the tips determine how much articulation each pick provides. I've found with the Pearse picks, for my ears they require a speed bevel. Overall, in most situations I prefer the sound of the Pickboy picks. I tend to use the horn ones a lot, and then if I want a bit mellower sound switch to ebony or a bit sharper I'll use the bone. I'm sort of lucky in that there is a shop 15 minutes from home that stocks them and let's me test and select the picks that best suit me.

Also, at the bottom of the photo is a Dunlop 208 that I think I get for around $1.50. I have a few, some with speed bevels, some without. But this pick, while different than the others is quite good for acoustics as well as having an exceptional price point for those just looking to try something different from the standard Tortex/Ultex/Fender picks.

Again, thanks for bringing up the discussion. I look forward to more information Scott.

[golfreggie]

When I was a kid, just beginning, and I lost my pick, I would get one of my mothers matchbox, the ones that fold over the paper matches, and fold it once and use it. Worked okay for a few songs before it tore up!

[jojobean39]

Thanks for starting this thread. I was involved in the other and find this fascinating.

I’ve used several different higher end picks- Charmed Life, V-Pick, Gravity, Pearse and Wegen.

My favorite is the Wegen Twins. They’re just perfectly ergonomic and they’re thick (I like the 3.5mm Twins) and they’re just simply wonderful. They’re not cheap, but not Blue Chip prices. I think they’re $15 or $20 for two.