Pick your pick

  • Thread starter Thread starter WhiteStrat
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WhiteStrat

WhiteStrat

Don't stare at the eye.
Once upon a time, I started a near riot with the topic of Elixir strings. Somewhere along the line, I joked about picks. Joke's over. To prove no topic is too banal, I pose the questions: What kind of pick(s) do you use? Why?

I used to think my J Dunlop black nylon 1 mm's were thick, but now I've switched to a J Dunlop Big Stubby 2.00 mm--hard plastic. The switch took a couple weeks, but I love the new picks. They're still too thick for acoustic for me though--still using the 1.00 mm nylons on acoustic.

Your turn. Really. We want to know...
 
the grey nylon....i think its more of a habit now. started using them because they lasted longer and lived a long long way from a store that sold picks...before Gore invented the internet and people didn't have cell phones or VCR's and cable hadn't been wired yet.

i don't think its too crazy a question, some players get really "picky" about it...:rolleyes:

the grey ones worked good with electric and acoustic is another thing I liked about them.
 
I really like the Dunlop Tortex 1.14 mm (the fuchsia ones). They are stiff, which suits my style, and they get slinky after some use...greasy feeling and expressive.

Of course, I also play with my fingers (bass) and plastic fingerpicks (Dobro) so I don't like a lot of action in between my fingers and the strings.
 
I use wooden picks that I manufacture from Ebony, Ipe, and Lignum Vitae and Snakewood when I can afford it. I used to use stone picks but the wooden picks produce the best tone that I have heard. They range from 1.5mm, 2mm, and 2.5mm depending on my mood. I also have a 3mm pick but I only make the 3mm for myself. I normally use the Ebony picks on electrics and the lignum vitae picks on acoustic guitars. They all produce different tones.

They are a pain in the ass to make and I do on occasion make a few extra and sell them to a few discriminating players that I know.

I am going to make a some next week. If I get a chance I will post a few pictures.
 
JTC111 said:
Ipe picks? They must weigh about 5 pounds each.
Click to expand...

They don't weigh 5lb but they are very hard. Some guys like 'em so I make a few here and there when I need to make picks. I prefer Ebony myself.
 
Henry Mars said:
They don't weigh 5lb but they are very hard. Some guys like 'em so I make a few here and there when I need to make picks. I prefer Ebony myself.
Click to expand...

A friend of mine built a deck out of Ipe. I'd never seen Ipe before and he handed me a little piece of scrap. I was stunned at the weight of it. That's some very dense wood.

When he was building the deck, he couldn't drive screws through it without drilling pilot holes first. That's some tough shit.

But onto the original topic. I rarely use a pick and when I do, it's just to get the sound of the pick on the strings, so I use very thin picks.
 
You'll have to pry my nylon white Dunlop(.38mm) from my cold dead fingers...and the gray one(.78) from my toes....:D
 
I did Dunlap nylons for a while but got on to how they soften with temperature and 'feather edge as they ware.
Back to Fender heavys.. I need the bite and stability. Goes hand in hand with 'Skinny Top/Heavy Bottom's, and clean tone. :p
 
I usually just use my fingers. When I do use a flat pick (hardly ever), it tends to be whatever I can find lying about, which is usually a medium "guitar store brand" pick that I've picked up for free from my local guitar store. Thin picks are too flappy and noisy when I use them, so mediums seem to work just fine.
 
Fender Heavy and Extra Heavy, depending on what I'm doing, and what comes out of my pocket when I'm looking for a pick.

I've tried a bunch of expensive picks, and I love a couple of them, but while the Tor-tis pick may be the best feeling pick I've ever tried, I can't bring myself to use a $25 pick (I've got one that was a gift from a supplier trying to get me to carry them in the shop, I would never buy one). It's just dumb. I have a bunch of friends who swear by their real tortoise shell picks, but there you're getting into $100+ picks, and I just can't get my head around that at all.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Duntop Tortex .88's "The Green Ones"


Best ever. used to use the yellow ones, but i switch between guitar and bass so much that it just got easier to use the green ones all around. i love em now, can hardly play with anything else.




Adam
 
Ibanez sand-grip picks. perfect size, sharp point, and you can get a lot more control because of the sand-paper grip.

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--IBABPA16S

bpa16ms_b_picks-8f62de70c63174dbc120757140e24962.jpg
 
Dunlop Tortex reds or purples depending on what I'm doing. I tend to prefer old worn down ones, or I file them down.
 
Tortoise shell made by yours truly. I have a load of the stuff kicking about the workshop from god knows where. When this stuff runs out I'm going to have to switch to something else. I wont trade in tortoise shell but need it for repairs and such. I get it from scrap furniture etc. same as ivory.
 
There are four or five red tortex picks on every flat surface in my house.
 
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