The pick thread!

GuitarBizarre · 08-25-2010, 11:07 AM

So guys, I intend to embark upon a journey of discovery, regarding picks. Weird picks, standard picks, guages, types, materials, shapes, you name it, I'm interested in your stories!

DISCLAIMER - I'm not asking for your own reviews, only recommendations for what *I* should review

What prompts this?

Simple. I have just purchased some Jazz 3 picks with 'max grip' texture, and that are made of CARBON BLOODY FIBER. Obviously, this is a lunatics pick in concept, since carbon fiber isn't the first thing I think a pick needs to be made out of, but to my surprise they sound and play well. The max grip tech finally solves the one problem I've always had with ultex picks - The tone is great, but after a while they slip.

So, give me your pick recommendations. I'll buy a fivers worth of picks every month from Guitar Plectrums - The best plectrums & guitar picks at the best prices based on your recommendations to try new ones and see what they're like. (If your favourite pick isn't on guitarplectrums.co.uk, link me to somewhere I can buy it when you ask for the review)

The format will be this -

First impressions - Opening the packet and examining the pick.

Tone - A sliding scale of brightness vs softness of tone. I'll only start rating things 1-10 after a few reviews, to ensure I have a reasonable baseline to compare against (I suspect that my own favoured Jazz 3's will rate a comfortable 7 or 8)

Feel - How the pick feels. this probably will be the most subjective, since I know people like larger or smaller picks based on hand size and so on, but nevertheless I'll give my impressions.

Durability - I'll subject each pick to a 'stress test' - Stress test will essentially be a combination of speed picking, hard strumming, and pickslides to test how the pick stands up to abuse in the short term only. It'll be thorough enough to give an idea of whether the pick will break on you if you're a hard player, but don't expect long term testing here folks.

Overall feelings - A summary of how I find the pick, what its good for and bad for. Subjective again, but should give an impression.

SO RECOMMEND AWAY PEOPLE, WHAT PICKS SHOULD I REVIEW?

Addendum - I know there are lots of 'specialty' picks out there, and I'm happy to review them, but monetarily, £5 a month is where I set my limit for these tests. If people want me to review other picks, like Wegen's or V Picks, PLEASE let me know. I'll try and organise an option to donate via paypal to finance the purchase of these more expensive secondary picks, *if* enough people are interested. If that comes to pass, then we can try and get the fora to donate a quid here a quid there so I can afford to pay for these expensive picks and try them.

mr dave · 08-25-2010, 06:21 PM

i'm really curious about stone picks. i've seen the advertised a few times before, but it just seems so weird. how would it not crumble?

from that site though i'm curious about their Timber Tones line of picks. don't really care which one you go for. i'm thinking wooden picks would probably be better for acoustics, curious to see a review on that.

myself i've always used the dunlop tortex teardrop picks, between .7 and a full millimeter (yellow, green, and blue). absolutely cannot stand flexible nylon picks. so if you want to compare views on these relatively common picks that's cool too, but i'm really curious about those wooden ones.

Dylanist · 08-25-2010, 07:16 PM

I'm looking forward to reading about this. I personally only use a pick when I'm playing bass guitar because I dig those hard edged dry tones.

I have a pick that I'd like you to review, and the best news is... IT'S FREE! A fingernail. I've met plenty of guitarists, bassists, etc who prefer to grow their nails out and use them in place of picks.

Stone Birds · 08-26-2010, 06:25 PM

jellifish picks

thomasracer56 · 08-26-2010, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr dave

myself i've always used the dunlop tortex teardrop picks, between .7 and a full millimeter (yellow, green, and blue).

I always like those .56 mil picks, it's a good medium between stiff as stone and flexible enough to break between 2 fingers(not really, but you know what I'm talking about.) It's white, but I don't think it a teardrop. More like a triangle. Anyways, I can't stand the teardrop ones that are really tiny.

mr dave · 08-27-2010, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thomasracer56

I always like those .56 mil picks, it's a good medium between stiff as stone and flexible enough to break between 2 fingers(not really, but you know what I'm talking about.) It's white, but I don't think it a teardrop. More like a triangle. Anyways, I can't stand the teardrop ones that are really tiny.

i actually used to get the standard ones and rub them on a brick or some other rough surface to round them into a teardrop shape when i first started hahaha i actually find picking with a pointed edge tougher and slower than using one of the more rounded edges.

GuitarBizarre · 08-27-2010, 03:46 AM

Guys, its great you're recommending picks, but jellifish and stone picks and the like are all more than my alloted £5 a month budget.

I'll start off with the tortex guage reviews and a couple of wood picks, shall I start up a paypal donation thing so people can donate towards me getting one of the weirder picks? I've found stone picks for a tenner, and I've not looked for jellifish yet.

mr dave · 08-27-2010, 12:26 PM

that's cool, had no idea how much the stone picks would cost, i just saw them in some advertisement a while back so i figured - why not? they strike me more like douchebag musician accessories than functional gear.

Insane Guest · 08-27-2010, 03:18 PM

My friend gave me a DR Stainless Steel Guitar pick, I thought it was a horrible idea at first, but once I actually felt it and played with it, I realized, ****, this is pretty good. I don't really try to use other picks, have been playing with it for 4 years now, haven't used a plastic one since. It's also my good luck charm, carry it wherever I go.

VEGANGELICA · 08-27-2010, 04:34 PM

I'm curious what you think of these guitar picks, which are really thick:

D'Andrea Pro Plec Standard 351 Picks One Dozen, Shell 1.5MM

Amazon.com: D'Andrea Pro Plec Standard 351 Picks One Dozen, Shell 1.5MM: Musical Instruments

After my standard medium picks from Fender wore through very quickly, I bought these thick D'Andrea Pro Plecs, thinking they should last a lot longer. I'm curious what advantages or disadvantages an experienced guitarist such as yourself would feel they may have over thinner picks.

Now that I have a dozen D'Andrea Pro Plecs, I'm probably going to be using them for the next 20 years...but if there were some major reason to switch to a different type of pick, I might do so, depending on your review. For now, I plan to be using them for the next 20 years, so I hope you'll give them a good review if you review them!

08-26-2010, 06:25 PM	#4 (permalink)
Stone Birds myspace.com/stonebirdies Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Conor Oberst Was/is Here Posts: 1,401	jellifish picks __________________ Silk & Tree Records //\\//\\/\\/\/\/\\\\\\\\///\/\/\/\/\\////\/\\\\\///\V //\\//\\/\\/\/\/\\\\\\\\///\/\/\/\/\\////\/\\\\\///\V soundcloud.com/stonebirds [Link removed by mod, no advertising] ... Damn those mods are always gettin ya :)

08-25-2010, 07:16 PM	#3 (permalink)
Dylanist Music Addict Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 63	I'm looking forward to reading about this. I personally only use a pick when I'm playing bass guitar because I dig those hard edged dry tones. I have a pick that I'd like you to review, and the best news is... IT'S FREE! A fingernail. I've met plenty of guitarists, bassists, etc who prefer to grow their nails out and use them in place of picks.

08-27-2010, 03:18 PM	#9 (permalink)
Insane Guest Music Addict Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: CA Posts: 1,322	My friend gave me a DR Stainless Steel Guitar pick, I thought it was a horrible idea at first, but once I actually felt it and played with it, I realized, ****, this is pretty good. I don't really try to use other picks, have been playing with it for 4 years now, haven't used a plastic one since. It's also my good luck charm, carry it wherever I go.