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Pick material. Dang. Makes a difference.


polara

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I can kinda BS my way through what I THINK the physics is... but fooling around playing a cocobolo pick, it makes a bigger difference to the sound than changing the entire GUITAR. I'm serious, Going from a guitar with P90s to humbuckers is a subtle difference compared to switching from plastic to wood pick on the same guitar, and it's way more noticible than, say, going from the neck pickup to bridge. It's maybe even a bigger difference than going from fingerpicking to a plastic flatpick.

I know this is old news to Brian May fans, but any of y'all gone the "unconventional pick material" route and not looked back?

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I have tried a couple wooden picks, even made a few from scraps of "exotic" hardwoods in the shop. Never quite found what I liked. However, using acrylic in thicker sizes (thanks to a glowing review from somebody here) has really changed the way I play. IMO, I play and sound better.

Once upon a time, I gravitated toward VERY thin and flexible picks. At one time, even COPPER. I moved to using the thinner Dunlop "Fin" picks, as a way to get more tonal variety on the fly. As I became a bit more confident (it took a LONG time to not think of myself as the "second guitarist"!) the V-Picks seemed to light a fire under me. Such as the "Screamer" are great, but my favorites tend to be versions like "Dimension" and "Infinity", esp with the "Ghost Rim" (unbuffed) edges. Which some relate to the Brain May thing. . (Infinity is a lot of fun, with different shapes on the corners and being buffed on ONE side).

Ironically, the "stronger" sound of the thicker picks has also encouraged me to further change it up by doing some fingerpicking when the song can use that approach.

The fact that Vinnie has a great story and is a great person adds to their attraction for me......I will probably buy some more during the current sale, even though the ones I already have will outlive me......It is good to support good people.

I WOULD like to find a good cocobolo pick to try it out.

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36 minutes ago, django49 said:

I have tried a couple wooden picks, even made a few from scraps of "exotic" hardwoods in the shop. Never quite found what I liked. However, using acrylic in thicker sizes (thanks to a glowing review from somebody here) has really changed the way I play. IMO, I play and sound better.

Once upon a time, I gravitated toward VERY thin and flexible picks. At one time, even COPPER. I moved to using the thinner Dunlop "Fin" picks, as a way to get more tonal variety on the fly. As I became a bit more confident (it took a LONG time to not think of myself as the "second guitarist"!) the V-Picks seemed to light a fire under me. Such as the "Screamer" are great, but my favorites tend to be versions like "Dimension" and "Infinity", esp with the "Ghost Rim" (unbuffed) edges. Which some relate to the Brain May thing. . (Infinity is a lot of fun, with different shapes on the corners and being buffed on ONE side).

Ironically, the "stronger" sound of the thicker picks has also encouraged me to further change it up by doing some fingerpicking when the song can use that approach.

The fact that Vinnie has a great story and is a great person adds to their attraction for me......I will probably buy some more during the current sale, even though the ones I already have will outlive me......It is good to support good people.

I WOULD like to find a good cocobolo pick to try it out.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RobinsonWoodPicks?ref=l2-shopheader-name

That's the guy who made mine. Four bucks each!

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I've made picks out of coconut shells that sounded killer with stock strats and stock teles. Great way to shave ice off their bridge pickups without using the tone knob.

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I use these cheap STADIUM picks that I had received in a pickup order. Once I started using them, I realized that I missed it when I didn't have it. So after searching online I found a seller willing to separate them and give me a specific size. I love them but I keep trying to find alternatives that give me that sound. No luck so far.

They feel like they were sandblasted, kind of porous.  

https://reverb.com/item/600842-stadium-96-mm-guitar-picks-pack-of-75-w-free-guitar-string-winder

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When I started learning how to finger-pick* on my acoustic years ago, I remember the revelation when I first tried finger-picking on electric. There's tone in them there fingers!  I also received a pair of quarters converted into picks as a stocking-stuffer this past Christmas.  Surprisingly smooth and yeah, a very different tone.

 

As George Carlin said, "you can pick you finger but you can't finger your pick"  Or something like that.

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12 minutes ago, tommy p said:

I'm a simple guy - yellow teardrop Dunlop Tortex for me.

Yup.  I've got enough yellow tortex here to outlast me.

I've tried and also liked the ultex jazz III's and V-Picks.  I found the thickness and "less flat" surface area on the wooden picks I've tried to be cumbersome.

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Picks make a huge difference. I spent my early years using Fender Mediums, like everyone else, then switched to The Edge's blue Herdims for a bunch of years, and for the last 10 or so years I've been using Gilmour's old Herco Flex 75s. I can't see myself going with wood or metal picks. I recently tried a quarter after seeing this video where Jonny Greenwood uses a pound coin, but the edges were too coarse:

 

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I, too, went through all the phases of picks made of petroleum derivatives. The longest tenures were with Hi Modulus reefer picks and good, old fashioned celluloid. I have some Ultex Dunlops I like, but I still mostly use medium gauge celluloid in checkerboard. 

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20 hours ago, Sugartune said:

That is the wooden guitar pick I tried.  It really makes a difference in tone. 

19 hours ago, tommy p said:

I'm a simple guy - yellow teardrop Dunlop Tortex for me.

For bass, nothing else is as good for me as those .73 yellow Tortex picks. 

14 hours ago, gtrdaddy said:

I've stumbled through the phases over the years, Fender plastic, to Dunlop nylon, to Tortex (Since the '80s). Then I discovered shell, wood, and other materials, and settled on V-Picks. I use different models for different applications. Psycho for bass and acoustic sounds amazing, I also use rounded and pointy "Snakes", but more than anything for electric playing I use the original V-Pick. Major tonal upgrade all around.

When I want to break out of a rut, all it takes is changing which V-Pick I play with.  I have bounced between celluloid 351 shaped picks and V-Picks a lot in the past few years. 

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Growing up I went Fender medium to tortex.  I wandered around the color wheel there for a while (green, purple, red, orange, yellow), mostly settling on green.  

Then a few years back I went through a big pick phase.  Here's a few highlights:

  • V-picks:  Good all around, lots of thicknesses, and smooth or rough edges.  They're pretty sticky too.  My current pick is a glow-in-the-dark v-pick, largely because glow-in-the-dark
  • Surfpicks:  Ra Denny makes these from Lignum Vita.  They're my favorite of the wooden picks I've used.  He also does some where he dips the back in this rubbery stuff and it makes them super grippy.
  • Papa's Picks:  These and Red Bear (among others?) are made of casein.  The feel of them is awesome.  The price isn't bad.
  • Red Bear:  Like a glammed-up papa's pick.  Very cool but too expensive IMHO.  I worry about them more than I enjoy playing them.
  • Brossard:  These are the most gorgeous picks I've ever used or owned.  Almost more art than tool (inlaid with abalone, offset holes, wickedly clean finish).  That said, I don't tend to play them all that much.  I got a four pack in different materials (bone, horn, rosewood and ebony, I think)

On an average day, I end up playing Dunlop nylons or tortex more often than not.  :D

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On 10/20/2017 at 4:19 PM, burningyen said:

Picks make a huge difference. I spent my early years using Fender Mediums, like everyone else, then switched to The Edge's blue Herdims for a bunch of years, and for the last 10 or so years I've been using Gilmour's old Herco Flex 75s. I can't see myself going with wood or metal picks. I recently tried a quarter after seeing this video where Jonny Greenwood uses a pound coin, but the edges were too coarse:

 

That’s really cool!

have you tried a nickel? Smooth edges. I think Sacajawea dollars are smooth edges too?

Billy Gibbons is famous for using a five peso coin.

i find that if I use a coin I can’t stop hearing the pitch of where the coin meets the string, a high pitched squeak.

but using it like a bow and sliding notes on the fretboard is a cool application.

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Every time I "settle" on something, I grab something different from my pile of picks and suddenly that becomes a favorite until I pick up something different again. I just hate feeling cornered into depending on a certain pick. If I had to choose a favorite, I really love those stainless-steel Fender picks. They just grab the strings and makes every stroke feel like it counts. The only reason I rarely use them any more is because they're sharp and shred the wound strings. But I'd use them all the time if it were not for that. The only thing they're not good for is for softer tones. 

I also like picking with the nail of my forefinger as if I were holding a pick (makes it impossible to drop your pick that way).. Doesn't Jeff Beck pick only with his finger?

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Andy from Pro Guitar Shop/Tone Report Weekly uses no pick/ just his index and thumb pounding the strings as thoughhe has a pick in there. I’m too delicate for that!

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On 10/21/2017 at 12:25 PM, sixesandsevens said:

...

  • V-picks:  Good all around, lots of thicknesses, and smooth or rough edges.  They're pretty sticky too.  My current pick is a glow-in-the-dark v-pick, largely because glow-in-the-dark

There's something else about that glow material that makes them different from other v-picks.  I don't think they are offered any more, or at least the old ones aren't- but I have two glow medium v-picks, one rounded and one pointed, that I have kept up with for years because they sound different/better.  They don't chirp like other v-picks and are closer in feel to the Gravity acrylic picks.

The other picks I use the most are Wegen bluegrass, I guess they were designed for acoustic but they're my fave electric pick.  They are a rigid delrin-based material IIRC, but different from other delrin pics I have used.  The have asymmetrically beveled edges that really have a sliding effect on alternate picking.  If you're left handed they'll bevel the opposite edges.  

bluegrasspicks.jpg

 

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I can never totally settle on a pick. Dunlop maple most of their picks in standard tip and pointed tips. I never tried a pointed tip. Always mostly use Tortex standard yellow .73 picks until I tried a pointed one. Now I`m between .73 and .88(the geen one). I want to try a green pointy one. I wanted to like the gator models but I just can`t bond with them. Like the grip, don`t like the feel of them. Does anybody use the .73 or .88 Tortex pointy Dunlops?

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