How pointy is your pick

[BloozeGit]

...pick?

I decided to take the plunge and get a John Pearse ebony sarod pick and the ergonomic improvement from the Jim Dunlop Big Stubby was a revelation, since I'm trying to get the curled-index-finger grip right.

However, this thing is quite sharp and doesn't really have any bevel, just a flat edge. I've tried filing it down but I'm still getting quite a bit of pick-drag (if that's the right term). What I'd like to know is, is there something in my technique that needs correcting or should I keep filing?

[earthsave]

Search Wegen. I currently use the M150, which is not pointy at all. Take your pick form the tons of pick posts/threads on here, some with pics/pix.

[duuuude]

I'd been using the same pick awhile back and recently ordered a new one, they're not the same as before. You're right about them being very sharp and thin-edged now. Used to be they were thicker, almost the same profile as the Big Stubby.

There was another brand of buffalo horn sarod picks on his site that I remember as thicker also, don''t remember the brand name but it wasn't too expensive and actually better than the Pearse in tone, IMWO.

[Jason Holmes]

I have a couple of Pearse horn picks. Not my cup of tea, but once I beveled the edges of one to make it much like a Wegen pick, there was a noticeable improvement to me in tone and playability.

On the note of shaping picks, I got a block with [4] different grits on [4] sides from the "nail stuff" section at Target. That thing works beautifully, shape, smooth, buff and polish. $1.79 very well spent. Here's a link to it, for that matter they make a number of products that work well on picks. My Favorite Nail Buffer For Picks (http://www.trim.com/cat2.php?cat1=1&nails)

[Schlegel]

I just made a Roman style pick out of mammoth ivory, and just out of a desire to make it shiny hit it with a cloth wheel buffing with rouge. I found it glides a lot easier now and reduced pick noise greatly. Very easy to do with a Dremel-type tool.

edit: It's a very pointy pick.

[BloozeGit]

Got myself the buffing thingy. Bit of coarse shaping with a file and finishing up with the buffer made it a lot better, though still not as slick as the Big Stubby. I guess the same material properties that make it glide across the strings also make it glide across the fingertips.

I still have the notion somewhere in the back of my mind to splurge on a Wegen some day...:D

[woodwizard]

I like to use a (not so pointed) pick myself. Like the Wegen M150 & the RedBear style "E". They glide over the strings pretty smoothly and I get great tone from them.

[BloozeGit]

This might be old news to some but a sudden flash of inspiration came to me...

The sarod pick was still rotating about the thumb, especially after it gets coated with a bit of perspiration. For better grip, I put a layer of superglue in the thumb depression and while it was still curing, drew lines across with a toothpick. The added roughness helps a bit, at least it gives me some sense of security http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Alex Fields]

I use a 1mm agate stone pick with the sharpest point available on those picks, sharper than a Wegen TF and without the bevel. I find that sharper points give much better control and speed and that, with a very hard pick like the agate at least, you can get as much tone and volume with considerably less effort, making it easier to keep good, loose right hand technique. I can't play most of the faster/trickier stuff I play using a rounded edge on a pick. It is just way too muddy and imprecise. Ymmv of course but I think you'll find that most or all of the players who play very fast and intricate stuff use pointy picks (Thile, Evan Marshall, Radim Zenkl, all of the classical mandolinists, etc).

EDIT: Curiously, from my limited experience messing around with guitars, I find that the rounded edges work better on guitars...so I wouldn't claim that anything I say about picks applies to instruments other than mandolin. Mandolin is the only instrument I'm really good at though so I am not really qualified to say either way.

[woodwizard]

The Dawg doesn't and seems to play pretty fast. Also Bobby Osborn uses an almost complete round pick. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
However Sam Bush gave me one of his picks and it was the shape of a tradional guitar pick. I think he uses the fatter round part of the pick tho.

[midnightmando]

Actually, I think most players who play very fast use rounded picks or picks turned on their side.

Mine is thick and rounded.

[mandolooter]

just about this pointy = no point at all

[Alex Fields]

There is a difference between playing fast and playing very fast. I don't know of any mandolinists who play as fast (cleanly) as the players I mentioned who use rounded picks. Doesn't mean there aren't any but if there are I want to know who they are. Either way appealing to examples like this doesn't really prove anyone's point, that comment was just an afterthought, the rest of my post was based on personal experience.

EDIT: Steffey might be an example, I think he uses the rounded edge of a traditional guitar pick...still though, he always plays the same type of stuff and I doubt if he could play the things Thile/Marshall/Zenkl do using a rounded pick.

No disrespect intended toward Steffey or Grisman or any other players, not trying to make any statements about which players are better/best, just talking about picks.

[Steve Perry]

Alex sez... # "Steffey might be an example, I think he uses the rounded edge of a traditional guitar pick..."

FYI...

In Steffey's instructional DVD he was using a triangle Dunlop. #Later on, here on the Cafe, I believe someone said that he had switched to a Wegen TF140.

[Fishmonger]

I play a 1.5 guitar pick on my guitar. But when I picked up the mandolin a few weeks back I all of a sudden started using a very thin pick! I do use the rounded edge however. From what I'm reading, it sounds like most of you guys are using at least 1MM picks or larger. Correct?

[Chris Biorkman]

I play a 1.5 guitar pick on my guitar. But when I picked up the mandolin a few weeks back I all of a sudden started using a very thin pick! I do use the rounded edge however. From what I'm reading, it sounds like most of you guys are using at least 1MM picks or larger. Correct?
I would probably say that most of the posters on this board use picks that are 1.25 mm or thicker.

[Fishmonger]

I'm gonna chuck that flimsy little pick right now! lol