Qualities of Various Pick Materials [Archive]

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stevel

12-31-2009, 02:07 PM

p.j.

01-01-2010, 05:58 AM

I like at least 1 mm thick picks made of materials that aren't too clicky. (Those red jazz picks just make me crazy for exactly that reason. Click, click, click, it drives me crazy.) I just got a really thick Wegan pick about a month ago and have had a hard time playing w/ it because its thickness actually slows me down. It sounds really cool though, especially w/ distortion. I generally prefer the Clayton picks made of acetyl or picks made of derlin. I have stone picks and picks I've made myself out of sorts of materials. (Picks made of jello or pudding just never sounded that good for some reason!) I have found the longer I play the more flexible I am w/ picks as long as they are small jazz or teardrop shaped and not too thin. Really thin picks just throw me off and I end up just playing w/ my fingers.

=-) PJ

eliot1025

01-01-2010, 06:58 AM

My Wegens sound great on single string lines. I don't like them as much for strumming due to the click sound. V-picks have a great grip but I don't like their heavy click sound and their tone is not as appealing to me as the Wegens. The bevel makes a difference, too.

I use a nylon pick mostly. That eliminates the clicking. Snarling Dog brand - good grip.

stevel

01-01-2010, 05:31 PM

:bumpbump

Steve

mrkenny

01-01-2010, 06:40 PM

There are tons of pick choice's out there but I'm stuck on "Pyramid" heavy's. They give me everything I want. They are expensive and a little hard to find.

Tomo

01-01-2010, 07:09 PM

I have tried many different kinds. I collected many types.

For my playing. I prefer not to make picking "click" sound and I prefer my picks naturally wear out. So my choice is a Vintage Classic (Celluloid)
by Pickboy. 1mm.

Tomo

rongtr

01-01-2010, 08:25 PM

The old standbys- Fender medium and heavy 347's (I think that's the number). I use one of the corners of the picks- medium for rock, blues, & rhythm- and heavy for a darker jazz sound.

RJLII

01-02-2010, 05:27 AM

I've used these for at least 20 years. Hard to beat in my book.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2600/4105860507_2372607f01_o.jpg

Flyin' Brian

01-02-2010, 05:46 AM

I'm sold on the V Picks "Snake" 4.10mm thick. Maybe it's my attack but I have absolutely none of the chirp that some others have. It stays in my hand, it glides across the stings and it provides great tone.

p.j.

01-02-2010, 05:51 AM

I've used these for at least 20 years. Hard to beat in my book.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2600/4105860507_2372607f01_o.jpg

When I started playing I used those big Tortilla looking picks and held it w/ my thumb and 2 fingers. Cool!! Now I can't handle anything larger than jazz sized picks. I wonder if anyone makes really small triangular picks? Mini chips, so to speak?

=-) PJ

MikeMcK

01-02-2010, 06:41 AM

I'm currently weaning myself away from Dunlop Stubbies (3.0 mm) because the chirping/harshness would always get to me after awhile... it came off as brittleness that couldn't be tone-controlled away in any way that didn't leave me lost in a band mix.

I messed around with Jazz IIIs and finally "standard"-shaped Fender mediums, thinking that I could always grab a dozen anywhere in a pinch. During my last GC stop the only ones they had in stock were red ones that felt thinner and got "mushy" after they warmed up in my hand. The Jazz IIIs are great except that I get too much string noise on the lower wound strings... with the Stubbies I'd gotten used to angling the pick so it's parallel to the strings, and I find that much harder to do with Jazz IIIs for some reason.

This is a long-winded way of saying that after 40-plus years, when someone asks if I play guitar, I say, "I'm learning...":.

bigdaddy

01-02-2010, 08:30 AM

I'm with Brian on the V-pick. I just got the starter kit and I'm really groovin' on the medium rounded. I was looking to get rid of pick noise - like tomo describes - and this pick does it in spades. It's made me fall in love with my Martin again...

stevel

01-02-2010, 10:36 AM

stevel

01-02-2010, 10:47 AM

stevel

01-02-2010, 10:52 AM

When I started playing I used those big Tortilla looking picks and held it w/ my thumb and 2 fingers. Cool!! Now I can't handle anything larger than jazz sized picks. I wonder if anyone makes really small triangular picks? Mini chips, so to speak?

=-) PJ

The one that was "standard teardrop" shape like this one was my go to pick for years.

Then I found the "gator grip" ones that were 2.0 mm.

Then I found the Dunlop "Jazztone" series. The 208 is the one I use because it has a sharp point and produces a real nice crisp "ting" as each note is picked - unfortunately, the tip wears, so it starts to lose that clarity after a while. There's a 207 they make in that series that's a rounded tip which is much too "smooth" sounding for me - it's a nice round sound, but not what I want.

These are thick too - inflexible as well - probably 2.0 or a touch bigger - it's also a little over-sized than the standard teardrop (like someone took a fender heavy and "inflated" it a bit).

Steve

Clifford-D

01-02-2010, 11:01 AM

1.5 green Gator Grips

Jamie_Mitchell

01-02-2010, 11:06 AM

Yep - Thick as a Brick.

Well, what I was hoping for was less of "what pick have you settled on" and why, but what characteristics you found you liked or disliked about various pick materials.

For example, many have mentioned "chirping" - do you find that this is a drawback of a certain material? - to me "glassier" plastics, metals, minerals, etc. would be more prone to this.

Steve

We just had a great mandolinist sit in with our band for a while and he uses a good DI and transducer pickup. He uses a David Grismon signature pick, which is made of some kind of tortis-shell imitation material. Plugged into an acoustic amp, we were switching back and forth between that and my regular pick, which is a normal Fender Heavy celluloid. The Grismon pick was so much darker, it specifically took out the high end chirp that happens with a piezo pickup with the Fender pick. Super cool, and specific enough of a use that you might only use it for that one application, plugged-in-acoustic. Cool!

Tomo

01-02-2010, 12:17 PM

Try these.
http://images.google.co.jp/imgres?imgurl=http://image.rakuten.co.jp/taketora/cabinet/kitchen/sa00215-kat1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://item.rakuten.co.jp/taketora/sa00215/&usg=__sgJV8vlgEyjlsPZxHFu9DJmWyNU=&h=428&w=600&sz=64&hl=ja&start=2&tbnid=y69I5YM2bYts9M:&tbnh=96&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%25E3%2581%2597%25E3%2582%2583%25E3%2 582%2582%25E3%2581%2598%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Dja

Tomo

stevel

01-02-2010, 12:29 PM

Try these.

Tomo

I do. All my cutting boards and wooden kitchen utensils are bamboo (a sustainable resource I'm told).

The only one that seems to work for guitar is my Wok Spider though, where the metal net makes a delicious scraping sound and acts like a small satellite dish picking up RF interference from every outlet in the house :dude

http://www.shopfosters.com/store/product.php?productid=3819

Steve

Tomo

01-02-2010, 12:53 PM

I do. All my cutting boards and wooden kitchen utensils are bamboo (a sustainable resource I'm told).

The only one that seems to work for guitar is my Wok Spider though, where the metal net makes a delicious scraping sound and acts like a small satellite dish picking up RF interference from every outlet in the house :dude

http://www.shopfosters.com/store/product.php?productid=3819

Steve

Hey Steve,

You got better taste than I do!

Tomo

Flyin' Brian

01-02-2010, 02:29 PM

Yep - Thick as a Brick.

Well, what I was hoping for was less of "what pick have you settled on" and why, but what characteristics you found you liked or disliked about various pick materials.

For example, many have mentioned "chirping" - do you find that this is a drawback of a certain material? - to me "glassier" plastics, metals, minerals, etc. would be more prone to this.

Steve

OK I like the V Pick Snake because :

It's thick and easier for 62 year old slightly arthritic hands.
It's highly polished and has helped me overcome a problem I've always had with string skipping low to high.
It give me a tone that I love
It makes me more careful. At 10 bucks a piece I don't lose them and Midnight Lady doesn't find them in the dryer.

The downside is that you can't just stick them between the string to keep them. I'm gonna have a strap or two made with a pocket for 'em.

MikeMcK

01-02-2010, 02:41 PM

For example, many have mentioned "chirping" - do you find that this is a drawback of a certain material? - to me "glassier" plastics, metals, minerals, etc. would be more prone to this.

Steve

To me, the answer is "yes". Lexan picks, for example (like Stubbies) have this quality, as do the V-Picks a lot of people prefer. For me, as the night wore on I'd be less and less tolerant to the brittleness associated with chirp... it wasn't annoying when I played for 4 or 10 minutes.

The way I can tell if a pick attack will wear out it's welcome is to mute the strings while picking with my right hand... if I hear the "chirps" I know that pick won't work for me. Sucks, too , because I spent years adjusting my picking style to the advantage of those Stubbies. Plus, I have hundreds of them around the house by now.

78deluxe

01-05-2010, 11:06 AM

The other post about picks got me wondering - what do you guys think about the qualities of various pick materials.

I'd like to hear what you think the sound quality of various materials are (on electric and/or acoustic) and what affect the shape has if any.

I'm primarliy a 1.2mm or thicker player, with my thickest pick at the moment being a V-Pick 4.10mm

So many manufactures suggest their material sounds like Tortoiseshell (TS). The problem is, nothing really does other than the real thing.

Take ULTEX/ULTEM for example. It is a much brighter sounding material than TS. I wish some manufacture would make picks at greater than 1.2MM since most TS picks are at least 2.0MM thick, so a better comparission could be made of the material. (I do have the Dunlop 2.0 Sharp ULTEX pick, but it tapers to less than 2.0, and the extremely rounded sides that are 2.0 still don't sound like TS).

The Dunlop JazzTone 208s have a warmth that is much closer to TS. Though it still falls short in high end and articulation, IMO. I do find this material (whatever they use) to be a little more articulate sounding than acetal of the same general thickness. And the point helps this as the rounded 207 is less articulate.

Acetal is a little muddy in thicker guages, and thin guages are good if you like thin picks and can deal with the thin tone they provide. I perfer them in thinner picks as they flex better than ULEX/ULTEM and ULTEM/ULTEM is way too bright for me in thinner guages. If I only need a little flex, V-Picks ultra lights provide great articulation, and great tone for the size.

Wegens remind me of a little warmer ULTEX/ULTEM material.

V-Pick's cast acrylic material sounds very good, produces articulate sound and has good lows and highs (somthing typically lacking with other thick picks).

I haven't tried the V-Pick Snake yet, but do have the B# (which is the same thickness, with rounder corners). The only problem I see with the 4.1 thickness is that you lose dynamic response. The regular V-Pick thickness is great though, very dynamic, and plenty of tone. (If you want the evenness in dynamics that a compressor provides without a comp pedal, 4.1 V-Picks work remarkably well for this).

Pick noise is common on any thick pick, different materials make different noise, and as others have stated, the bevel, and technique do impact the pick noise. I find the ULTEM/ULTEM and Dunlop Jazztone to have a pick noise that isn't very pronounced for the size of the pick. Though the reduced/differnt noise comes at a tradeoff of some of V-Picks tonal qualities and size differences.

I like a number of different picks for various purposes.

Some of my favorite picks (outside of real TS)
V-Picks Large Rounded
V-Pick Screamer/Acoustic (sounds fantastic on acoustics, though I tend to dull the point before playing with them)
V-Picks B# (sounds awsome on Bass)
Dunlop Jazztone 208
Clayton Triangle ULTEM 1.2
Wegen TF140

DanR

01-05-2010, 06:58 PM

I've been using the standard Fender medium picks for years. For electric guitar, I like a little 'give' or a slight flexibility in my picks, but not much. The Fender mediums are perfect for what I like. Unfortunately, the Fender picks tend to get raggedy of the edges pretty quickly. On a gig, after one 50 minute set, the edge is noticeable raggedy. In all actuality, I'm not sure that affects my playing or sound (I really don't notice it) but it bugs me. I could easily go through four picks in a night's gig.

I have been on a quest to find a pick that has the same feel as a Fender medium, but doesn't wear out nearly as fast. I found some generic nylon picks at my local store that tend to last a lot longer than the Fenders. They're about a buck a pick as opposed to $4 per dozen for the Fenders.

I tried the V picks and just couldn't bond with them. The clincher was when I used the V pick while playing an archtop acoustic and the tone was noticeably worse IMO. And, like I said, I like a tiny bit of flexibility in my picks.

Acoustic guitar picks are another story. I've used to like thin Fender picks but after a while they would break. Around ten or so years ago, I was ordering something from Musicians Friend and on a whim, I decided to try some Ernie Ball Nylon picks. I ordered them in medium as I planned on using them for electric guitar. Once I received them, I realized that their idea of medium and Fender's medium were two different things as they were too flexible. They were roughly right between what Fender would call thin and medium. And that ended up being perfect for acoustic guitar for me, as I like the percussiveness when strumming an acoustic guitar. And those buggers have proved to be indestructible. I ordered a dozen over ten years ago and they have not broken or worn out. I'm not sure how many I have left cuz I lost a few, but I still have some and I use them. I just ordered a dozen in heavy thickness and hopefully, they will be close to the equivalent flexibility of Fender mediums, but more durable. I will find out shortly.

SwedeRacer

01-05-2010, 07:14 PM

Give me the black tortex Dunlop jazz picks. Just like the Jazz III pick but no clicking sound

Daren Anderson

01-05-2010, 08:51 PM

I started making my own picks out of antler about two years ago. I got hooked on them. I really enjoy trying different picks. I bought a few V picks and various others, but I always come back to the antler picks. I made a few out of iron wood (LIGNUMVITAE) and they turned out pretty cool. But the antler is my favorite. They take a little time to get just right, but it is worth it.

I highly recommend trying to make your own.

cpike

01-05-2010, 09:35 PM

...my choice is a Vintage Classic (Celluloid)
by Pickboy. 1mm.

Tomo

D'Andrea Classics are still made of celluloid, too. Like the old Fender picks, before they switched to whatever that stuff is they're making 'em from now...