Gasp! Guy reviews picks, likes affordable best

[Jaxon]

Joseph Hanna... My comment "and for all the v-pick lovers here haha-hardy-har"

you keep referring to my little "hardy har" comment that was directed towards "all the v-pick lovers" which are very few and not high-dollar picks...don't know how that comment got your panties all in a wad. I didn't say a word about anyone who buys bc's etc.

The cost means nothing to me, like I've said I've bought 2 bc's and simply didn't care for them...guess that's means anyone who's not a Blue Chip lover is a sub-par player without sense to know good from bad according to you...jeeze...chill!

[BoneDigger]

Primetone is my go-to pick. Second is Ultex.

[edgrissom]

I’ve tried expensive picks before, but my favorite picks are the ones left laying on the floor around the bandstand from earlier giggers.

[YeOldRocker]

[QUOTE=Joseph Hanna;7440899]

Originally Posted by YeOldRocker

So, let me get this straight. Folks who can't (or don't want to) pay for overly expensive picks/guitars/etc., are making the one's that can feel bad?

Hmm... seems a bit backwards....[/QUOTEi

Sorry you’ve missed not only the point but the intent. I don’t give a hoot about who can and or who can’t afford anything. What I grow weary of is those that come here (with money or without money) and make hardy har-har comments about who chooses to use a more expensive pick. As if they've risen to a higher level and identified the snake oil us putter goofs have clearly missed. It’s a palpable story of those whom choose a 25 cent pick while scoffing at those who chose, in my case, Charmed Life picks. I can't find anyone here, and in any post, myself included, who would turn those tables on someone using a 1968 Fender medium pick. As I've said in virtually ALL of my post's, one should use the equipment that returns the very best sonic outcome for the player. Scoffing at one's personal equipment choices seems a high and mighty high road. As always however, that's just me.

So, distilled and in response, no....my point doesn't seem backwards.

I may have missed your intent, but you seem awfully touchy about the intent of others excited about a pick choice that happens to not cost much, as if they're attacking you personally.

My perception on forum threads is often the opposite of your intended point; posters are often made to feel there are better options out there, if only they'd spent more money. Personally, I try to ignore those posts and try to glean wisdom in the gray areas between. I'm sure some of the more expensive picks are great, but for those who are made to feel they must try a $50 pick or lose out, I think it's heartening to read a post where someone is excited by an affordable option.

[Marshall]

I venture that any pick discussed is within the discretionary budget range of anyone on this thread. That being said, I lose a lot of picks and prefer to have a lot of them. So, cost is a factor in my day-to-day decision. Plus, there's a simple kindergarten-like joy in trying out new picks. There have to be hundreds of them in this house. Maybe a thousand if I check all the drawers and under couch cushions. So, the total financial outlay (over decades) amounts to much more than a handful of premium picks.

Nobody take offense, please.

[keith.rogers]

I've tried a lot of picks, but I've been pretty settled on the Primetone large triangle picks for quite a while. (Just checked, my first order with Sweetwater that contained a bag of those was almost 5 years ago - 04/19/2019!) 1.5mm, smooth surface is it. Now, I got a bag of a dozen white Clayton large triangles, 1.52mm, and I bevel those and use them fairly interchangeably, especially at "campfire" jams, where a dropped, dark brown pick means a lost pick, but the Primetones are still what I'll usually find woven through the 1st three strings when I open the case.

I do go through a lot wider range of picks on mandolin, and, somewhat surprisingly, I've never liked the Primetone picks on that instrument, while the Claytons still seem to work well, though not my first choice (when not sitting by the campfire ).

(p.s./edit - I rarely lose picks, and have some heavy Fender teardrops that must be 40 years old, and most of my Primetone picks have no visible printing left.)

[PineMarten]

I think there's something to be said for trying a range of picks and figuring out what works for you, but there isn't a universal best that applies to everyone. The pick click that might annoy one player in a close listening environment might provide a welcome rhythmic element to an ensemble player in a busy mix, and it's the former setting where a lot of the heavy gauge boutique picks really shine. I certainly hear advanced players who are strumming with lighter picks and some elbow movement for a specific sound and feel - one example would be DADGAD rhythm styles in some modern Irish folk. So I don't feel like we can dismiss players who make those choices.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

........ snip .......

"I'm not a bettin' guy but if I were I bet one could go back 30 threads and virtually all of them at some point simply must revert and distill to how foolish one is as to invest $30.00 in a guitar pick when 30 cents buys one that serves just as well."

If a cheap pick serves you as well, then a better pick will not benefit you, and a cheap guitar might be as satisfying for you as an expensive one.

When I first heard of "BlueChip" pick referred to in revered tones at bluegrass functions, I also thought they were a scam.
Then I got one - can't remember how, I think someone sent me one - a TAD40 1r. Still got it.

I really didn't want to like it, but was "secretly" impressed - not least the 346 large triangle shape, but - the "bevel".

The only other pick with similar qualities are the Dutch made "Wegen" picks - the TF ones specifically.

I bought every mass produced large triangles I could and commenced to try to polish and bevel them. I improved them (apart from celluloid which just melts/burns), but they didn't have the "feel" of BlueChips.

Try as I might no mass produced 346 picks gave the same "playing" benefits as the Bluechips.

Dunlop reacted fairly quickly with the muddy brown coloured "Primetone" series which were visually good copies, but lacked the properties of the Vespal material.

I admire Jeremy, and enjoy his videos but to compare the sound of picks is largely pointless.

Obviously, the sound of thin flappy picks is going to be poorer, but mainly because of the energy sapping lack of control for the player.

The advantage - is less about perceived sound - than the ease of playing by the player.

I'd say that BlueChip and Wegen picks are simply "better tools."
I've tried many other expensive picks and have not thought them worth the expense.

My guitar playing hobby costs money, of course, but my investment in over a dozen Bluechip picks and a similar number of Wegens over the years is far less than my string purchases. (I don't lose them).

Further, I have a number of genuine "tortoiseshell" picks, some pre-date the ban, but some were bought at bluegrass functions by a gent who made picks out of old TS ornaments and vanity sets.

The material is fine but not miraculous. It depends on the way that it is polished and bevelled.
Further it wears badly and is liable to chip and break.

If your $1 picks satisfy you, then that is fine.

Like a cheap car, a bicycle or even (heaven forfend!) a bus ride, it will probably get you where you want to go.

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by Jaxon

Joseph Hanna... My comment "and for all the v-pick lovers here haha-hardy-har"

you keep referring to my little "hardy har" comment that was directed towards "all the v-pick lovers" which are very few and not high-dollar picks...don't know how that comment got your panties all in a wad. I didn't say a word about anyone who buys bc's etc.

The cost means nothing to me, like I've said I've bought 2 bc's and simply didn't care for them...guess that's means anyone who's not a Blue Chip lover is a sub-par player without sense to know good from bad according to you...jeeze...chill!

Naw, that phrase came off the top of my head and had zilch to do with your post. I didn't even take notice of the wording of your post. My panties are decidedly not in a wad thank you and in the end, it's a phrase I've used, on and off, for 40-some years now. I'll however give you credit if it helps.

Once again and with virtually all the responses here you've missed the point in its entirety. Perhaps my articulation abilities have diminished over the years? That's certainly possible. I've proffered, in this post and with every other of the dozens and dozens of posts with similar topics, "By all means the answer is use what works best for the player" regardless of price. Similarly, you can, and folks here have, purchase a $300.00 capo. By all means, have at it and I'll back you up. Use what works. I simply don't have the balls to criticize. It's just not my place to do so and doesn't advance the ball in any conceivable way. I've repeated that mantra hundreds of times, here and with other threads, and for good measure I'll repeat it here again before my panties wad. Use whatever pick, at whatever cost that works for the player. Use what creates the best tone the player can produce regardless of cost. They all (picks) produce a sonic and if the sonic of a Fender Medium is the target then, no matter the cost, that is the definitive correct choice.

Embryonically that's the gist of my post(s). I'm behind the "to each their own choice" with absolute certainty and I've posted that more times than I care to recall. The rub, again and again, and again, is the criticism and hardy har-finger wagging (* see footnotes) from those who insist on throwing darts about spending $35.00 on a pick, particularly from those who either haven't bothered to try the pick or, for whatever reason, are unable to hear the differences, good, bad or indifferent, gets titanically wearisome. Hence my unusual rants. It's the old rock throwing in a glass house. The best idea in getting a point across is to hold on to the rock, as slinging it, without doubt, has palpable ramifications.

In the end, it's the tiresome notion that those who use Charmed Life picks are simply chasing a unicorn while slurping snake oil.

I hope that, to some degree, clears up my thoughts.

Footnotes: Hardy har har used from the previous post. Jaxon credit.

[Tleek]

I always think it’s kind of funny how people argue about things that are totally preferential. Who cares what pick someone likes better? That’s a subjective opinion. I know I’m new here, though I’ve been a lurker for a long time and first made an account in 2011, and I don’t like stirring the pot, but this happens a lot on forums. I’m big into hunting, fishing, bushcraft, etc and it’s worse in those communities.

That said, I haven’t even used a pick in months but I’d like to try a blue chip. I might pick one up to give it a go.

When I used picks more often my favorites were Dunlop Tortex, standard celluloid fenders, and graphtech Tusqs.

[Joseph Hanna]

[QUOTE=YeOldRocker;7441008]

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

I may have missed your intent, but you seem awfully touchy about the intent of others excited about a pick choice that happens to not cost much, as if they're attacking you personally.

Ha. I'm touchy only in the friendly confines of internet/forum discussions. As I've said dozens of times I have zero doggies in the fight over the cost of anything acoustic guitar-related. Picks, stands, seats, strings, you name it I'm behind it if it works for the player, and in the years and years I've been here I can honestly say I've never even remotely hinted at scoffing over what someone has purchased, no matter the cost. As I've now mentioned 3 or 4 times in this thread, if a 1968 Fender Medium pick produces the very best tone and sonic a player can produce it is indisputably THE right choice and I'm behind that 1000%.

Originally Posted by YeOldRocker

posters are often made to feel there are better options out there, if only they'd spent more money....... , but for those who are made to feel they must try a $50 pick or lose out, I think it's heartening to read a post where someone is excited by an affordable option.

I've never, ever, ever, ever even remotely suggested on this forum or the Martin forum, or any forum that a player is somehow missing out by not spending more money on any equipment, picks included, and honestly, to my recollection, those here that are BlueChip/Charmed Life user have never done so either. What gets tiresome for me is the opposite. Those who have never tried, or for whatever reason can't hear the difference in the BlueChip or Charmed Life picks, feel motivated to scoff at the mere thought of spending $35.00 on a pick. It's a critique virtual void of substance and it's mostly intended to mock. From a previous post, as to suggest we're all just chasing around a unicorn and refreshing ourselves with snake oil. Hence the hardy har har comment. Footnote to Jaxson

Originally Posted by YeOldRocker

I'm sure some of the more expensive picks are great

That's not necessarily accurate. I can't recall any BC, or Charmed Life users ever positioning these picks as unilaterally great. They're different, they produce a palpably different sonic, and in some hands are noticeably better at whatever task may be at hand, recording, couch-potatoin' ect. In the end, and I'll say it with reluctance, my Charmed Life picks are, for me, and because of the sonic and tone they can produce, worth every cent of what they cost and I say that from long-term actual use.

[Seb_274]

I have two bowls: one with >1.00mm picks and one with <1.00mm picks. I rarely play picks above 1.00mm. I'm more in the 0,5-0,88 range...I generally have Fender "thins" and "mediums" and the red, orange, yellow and green Tortex. Have a wide range of other picks but generally don't use them. On some of the thinner picks you do get that "flappy" sound. Occasionally its useful, but mostly not

[Moldstar]

I have tried all the 50 dollar picks, and have settled on purple tortex 1.15. IME, a note on the comment of 'the expensive picks seem to be used by the heavy pick players' - heavier picks are used almost exclusively by the pros because you can get a huge range of tones from a heavy pick; a thin pick really limits your options. I'll use a thin pick for strumming in heavy mix, or if a recording needs a more percussive approach, but there is no way in heck you can play fast lines on a dreadnaught with 13-58's, or achieve any kind of single string volume. And, the sound of the thin pick is outrageously loud through a sensitive mic, with thicker picks you can get rid of a lot of the attack. The money picks do all of this, but so does the purple tortex. The few very expensive picks I own sound very good, but it's a pick and I will lose it asap. So, no go on the money picks because they are liberated much too easily from my possession in all playing situations.

[Br1ck]

I did not like red wine. Then someone poured me red wine I can't regularly buy due to cost. In the end I like a goos French or Italian table wine, the wine you get in a carafe in a French or Italian cafe. But give me a Chianti Classico or a great California Cabernet for a special meal.

I did not like single malt scotch either. Now a Glenfiddich 12 is like a prime tone pick for me. Great, but a Glenfiddich 18 is a bunch better.

I thought for decades that boutique or the increasingly expensive top tier manufactured brand were not worth the extra money until one day I found my Santa Cruz. My Guild D 35 is the Primetone of my guitar collection. It's really good.

About the only opinion I can't get behind is the no pick is worth $40-50 from those that never bought one. The I tried a blue chip and like Primetones better, or Primetones are good enough I can't justify a Blue Chip is as valid purchase is as valid an opinion as any. There are people that bought a Martin and sold it to go back to their Eastmans. Very different from the Eastman as good or better folks who haven't owned a Martin.

I have never owned a Porsche. Me saying they aren't better than my Miata is just foolish. Maybe I'd sell my Porsche and buy a Miata, at which time I'd be entitled to say I like a Miata better.

Not to try something that is $40 on general principle seems short sighted too. But I'd buy a Charmed Life casein before a BC. BCs are my spares these days.

[PineMarten]

I haven't tried a Blue Chip as yet, between my Hawk casein pick for mandolin and Wegens for guitar and cittern, I'm not sure what problem it would be solving for me when I've dialled in something that works for me with those. If I try another players BC pick at a session some time and like it, I wouldn't have a problem going for one. I'd feel a little daft spending the £40 (UK), but that passes! Though I do like the option of picks in lighter colours that don't disappear against a sofa, carpet or the ground in dim light.