Beveled Pick Question

[tonyg]

Do beveled picks give the perception of being somewhat thinner or more flexible? For instance, would a beveled 1.5mm celluloid pick feel or play more like a 1mm or 1.2mm unbeveled pick when strumming or flatpicking?

[Ten]

Id say the amount of bevel, shape of the corner, thickness of the pick, and the type material all factor in. It certainly takes some width off and may provide some flex. I use size 60 TADs and get none/very little. With a size 50 there’s more flex. ymmv.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by tonyg

Do beveled picks give the perception of being somewhat thinner or more flexible? For instance, would a beveled 1.5mm celluloid pick feel or play more like a 1mm or 1.2mm unbeveled pick when strumming or flatpicking?

More flexible, not really. The bevel isn't that wide and is only on the edge so something like 95% of the pick is still the same thickness as before it was beveled. The pick may feel a touch thinner though due to having to push less pick through the string but it's a negligible amount. If there's a certain pick size you already like, I wouldn't adjust that choice on account of the bevel.

[Brent Hutto]

Bevel makes it sound like a slightly thinner pick but you won’t feel it flex any more.

[FrankHudson]

I'm nutty about picks. I think I notice all kinds of things as use different picks, and I'm not even sure what is placebo/psychological. So, this is my experience so far.

Bevels differ with pick thicknesses, so I'd expect variation in what they effect. I have some super thick hard black plastic Primetones (3-5 mm thick) that I've almost never used on a guitar, but I do use on bass sometimes. They appear to me to be sort of on the Wegen concept, but I've never seen a Wegen as thick as the thickest of these. Without their pronounced bevel I can't see how one could even use them. On the other hand, the intended to be symmetrical bevels on my 1.5 mm Fender F grip picks are so small that their effect might be minimized. Some picks have rounded/ramped edges (like the Dunlop Flow line and others) that for those who use only the barest pick contact might act much like a larger bevel for them. I'm sure the differences in how different players use flat-picks and how they vary their attacks could change what impact a bevel has.

I'd suppose bevels might affect the attack on the string part of a picks sound, in the same way that materials used and thickness might. Some feel it adds to speed as one flows through faster passages, by "ramping" off the string is some more slippery way, but I find Casein is naturally slippery in that way even without bevels.

My conclusion, from my use: much as I think I notice all kinds of things, I really don't feel or hear the difference on the picks I've tried that are 1.5 mm or below. There might be a tiny sound difference, but the materials make so much more difference I think, so this effect is masked. I don't know that I've ever personally had to identical picks except for the bevels.

[TedBPhx]

BlueChip TD50 with the speed bevel is my pick of choice but I am starting to think that edge on that extremely hard material eats strings. Set of Elixir Nanos only last about a month.

[Brent Hutto]

That material might eat the Nano coating but Blue Chip’s plastic is many times softer than the actual bronze wire.