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Old 09-15-2018, 07:56 AM
jwellsy jwellsy is offline
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Default Favorite Pick For CF Guitars?

Do you have one? Discuss!
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Old 09-15-2018, 08:48 AM
Captain Jim Captain Jim is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jwellsy View Post
Do you have one? Discuss!
I have tried a variety of picks, but have settled in on the Gravity Gold and the Charmed Life (red, natural, brown, and black). Thickness varies from .75/.85 to 1.5 for my sweet-spot.

I spent decades using the old Wabash Blue picks that a music shop owner had given me... I would break or lose a couple each night. I had been given an actual tortoise shell that I really liked - wore it out to where it just kinda folded on itself. When I went in search of another TS, I found you couldn't buy them anymore. That started my search for a good replacement... moving to the upscale picks, I found I was more careful with them and they didn't break. And, yes, they do make a difference in the tone.
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Old 09-15-2018, 09:00 AM
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raysachs raysachs is offline
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I have about two days of experience with exactly ONE carbon fiber guitar, and a strong set of biases, so with that in mind...

I'm the kind of guy who plays electric the vast majority of the time on the neck pickup (or neck/middle on a strat) with the tone backed off, so I'm obviously not into bright and shimmery. I love my Martin 000-15M partly because of the typically darker/richer Martin sound and it's taken to the next level by the all mahogany body which is notably less bright than other Martins with Spruce tops. So I like less-bright picks too - go figure.

On that Martin, I tended to play somewhat brighter picks just because the guitar offered all of the dark rich complexity I'd ever want. I really like Dava picks for their grip and variable stiffness. On the Martin I used either the Delrin or Nylon tipped picks because they brighten it up just a touch, although not relative to a really hard pick like the Primetone. I played around with Primetones on that too, and was OK with the heavier picks which I find tend to be darker and the lighter picks brighter. These Davas are relatively cheap plastic picks that I don't think are on most people's radar for acoustic guitar. I was already using them for electric and had samples of several of them, so I tried them on acoustic too and still really like them there.

The X20 is a brighter guitar than that Martin (although it's also got notably more bass), so I'm really liking the gel tipped Dava on that because the gel tip is darker and softer than the stiffer tipped picks, which are already less bright than most harder picks. To me, the gel tipped Dava brings the X20 into the same range of "dark/rich" as the 000-15M with a harder tipped Dava. I've never tried any of the boutique picks, BTW, so I can't comment on those. I'm likely to try something like a Blue Chip at some point just to see what the fuss is about and if they work for me...

Since I'm just getting to know the X20, I'm playing around with different picks, but my preference for deeper, darker sounds is pretty baked in at this point. I'm mostly talking about strumming/rhythm playing. When I get into flat picking I tend to like a harder pick with a bit more articulation. But I'm learning to fingerpick lately and so I'm using my fingers a lot more than a pick for individual note stuff, and my bare fingers work great for the tone I like.

More than you wanted to hear from a rank newbie with CF, but because I'm new to it, I'm trying a lot of stuff and thinking way more than I should be about it...

-Ray
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Old 09-15-2018, 10:18 AM
jdinco jdinco is offline
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I've tried a LOT of picks...but my Blue Chip TAD40 is still by far my favorite.
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