HIGH DOLLAR PICKS....Yea or Nay?? Do you Use One or No Way??

[David Lewis]

I think, for me, the v-picks help. As a guitarist, I dropped too many picks, so use fingers. A mandolinist doesn't have that luxury. I love th jazz mandolin picks too. I drop the thick picks very rarely. Of course, that's me. Others don't need it. There are tonal advantages too: I do get a thicker fully sound with a thicker pick.

[DavidKOS]

Yes, those. They wear down pretty fast and keep a max. of two weeks apiece, so they may be more expensive than a BC in the long run, but the tone is worth it for me.

The Ultex/Ultem last a lot longer than that for me, but I'm playing with very light strings on my mandolins, and even on guitar I find the Ultex to wear better than the Tortex. Like you, I like the tone, and I like the feel of the material.

[Rich Michaud]

The best pick I have is the yellow McCray pick that is no longer available. I have tried many many picks TS, Bluechip, ivory, stone, all the plastic picks and by far the McCray 1.5 suits me the best. To spend $35 dollars to play on an instrument that costs thousands is a relatively small investment for an important return.

I hope that McCray finally gets his website up and running and he goes into production. It is the best pick on the planet in my humble opinion. Bluechip is a close second. Rich

[mandroid]

Half gross for$35 lets you sand and fille your own speed bevels on the cheap .

[Hallmark498]

BC is cheaper than TC and I never have to dress it!

[JeffD]

The best description I have seen on how stiffness, size, bevel shape, point shape, and material affect the tone is here: http://jazzmando.com/tips/archives/000718.shtml

With the mandolin, little things mean a lot. I have tested all my different kinds of picks on guitar, and from my experience what ever differences there are between how picks sound, its much more noticeable on mandolin than on guitar. So for guitar I go with the feel of the pick in my hand, while for mandolin I go for how it effects the sound.

[JeffD]

I don't modify my picks. I got into too much of that when I played clarinet and bassoon - always carving and adjusting the reeds. It can become a second hobby.

Music is my hobby, and only peripherally the paraphernalia.

[Timbofood]

Nicely put Jeff!
The "sniglet" I like to use is "Gizmosis", definition: "The uncontrollable need to acquire every and all equipment relative to the hobby."
A malady not uncommon to photographers, musicians, artists, woodworkers, mechanics......
I have finally realized that I do indeed suffer from this disease, I'm working on improvement, slow progress.

[Rob Zamites]

I bought some 'Dawg's a couple of v-picks and two 3 packs of Primetones and tbh, I like my cheap-o Elderly picks. Might just be a case of me getting used to them, but thick picks seem.....I dunno, unforgiving to me. Glad I didn't drop the coin for a BC. YMMV.

[Spencer]

Have used all kinds, now use mostly Blue Chip, like the feel of it and the fact that it doesn't wear. To my ears, there isn't a huge difference between that and a lot of others, but band mates tell me it works pretty well, so I use it. Technique (or lack thereof) assumed to be the limiting factor. When playing at a big jam session, I revert to a Wegen Big City 1.8mm, as I can't hear myself with the BC, but the Wegen comes through loud and clear to me at least. Go figure. I really like the Big City, but in spite of the name, it is quite small, and takes getting used to if you want to hang on to it.

Neither the Wegen nor the Blue Chip wear to any extent, and I don't want to waste time trying to reshape things, so that is a pretty big factor for me.

It's nice to have a lot of choices, as compared to when I started, something for everybody, and every mandolin now.

Spencer

[Nick Quig]

I like the Big City pick too but have just discovered these... https://www.guzzguitar.com/S3_GUITAR_PICKS.html
the 'Skinny' (2.10mm!) is very similar in sound and feel to the Big City but is much more comfortable to hold (351 shape) and has a slightly warmer tone to my ears, this is my new favourite pick now!

[jhammond]

I just bought one of those darned expensive picks yesterday(Blue Chip). Had to see what the hype was about. Haven't gotten to play with it much but it sure feels good and sounds good the little that I have. Hopefully I'll have time to get to know it better soon.

[Timbofood]

I haven't bought one simply because I'm cheap! It was very cool to have won the "V-Pick" set, have not used them much yet, but I will.

[JeffD]

I bought some 'Dawg's a couple of v-picks and two 3 packs of Primetones and tbh, I like my cheap-o Elderly picks. Might just be a case of me getting used to them, but thick picks seem.....I dunno, unforgiving to me. Glad I didn't drop the coin for a BC. YMMV.

So if other high end picks you have tried don't impress you, there is no point in trying the BC? Borrow one at a jam, you may be surprised. Or not.

[Ultra Turtle]

Well, I got it in and have to say I'm really impressed. It was way too rounded and thick to use as a mandolin pick so I was going to send it back. The next day I pulled it back out of the packaging and tried it on guitar. Wow, I will not be returning it. In fact I will end up ordering a more pointed version for mando. I A/B it against a couple of different BC picks and it doesn't have the volume as a BC pick but it has a lot darker tone with almost no string noise. Perfect for recording.

Yeah, they're pretty darn good. I have quite a selection, and one I've been using on mando is the 3mm Trias. The 2mm Trias sounds great as well.

Another one that sounds really good is the Django model, 5.5mm. Yes, a 5.5mm pick on mando

I'm pretty sure that DjangoBooks.com has all models now too.

[Jim Garber]

I am not about to read thru this whole thread but I did find a site that makes Blue Chips seem like Potato Chips in comparison. Stoneworks Collector Series. There are some on sale for $200 (marked down from $300). NFI for sure on my part.

[Bertram Henze]

Stoneworks Collector Series.

agatized dinosaur bone - Yabbadabbadooo!

[Astro]

I'm saving up 20,000 dollars to buy a Celeb Pick.

I'm getting the pointed beveled one made from Chris Theile's baby teeth.

[Joey Anchors]

I'll be buying my first "high dollar" pick (V-Pick Freakishly Large Rounded 3mm) next week. I've been playing with Fender Extra Heavy 351 picks for the past two years and dig their tone, but curious about other materials and thicknesses.

[Jeff Mando]

I am not about to read thru this whole thread but I did find a site that makes Blue Chips seem like Potato Chips in comparison. Stoneworks Collector Series. There are some on sale for $200 (marked down from $300). NFI for sure on my part.

We now live in an age when buying a pick is a major purchase! I worked in a retail guitar shop for years and we carried picks and strings, basically to get people coming into the store, so they could look at instruments. We basically sold them at cost. We weren't in the pick and string business, we were in the instrument business. Do I think expensive picks are silly? Sure, of course! Do I have some? Sure, of course! Do I think they will improve your tone? Yes, they can, but it will be on the order of a 1-3 percent improvement, if that. Can a musician hear such a difference? Sure, if you have an experienced ear. Do I think an audience of beer drinkers can hear such a difference? Of course not! You're dreaming! Do I think they will improve your attack and playability. Sure, I do. And, if your playability is improved, your enjoyment of playing is improved. How much probably depends on the player and again, the player's experience. I give the example of when I started to play "professionally" in my 20's, I probably broke three strings a set, playing guitar, that is. It didn't take long for me to develop a better attack where I never break a string and it has been that way for years. Strings die of old age on my guitar! The same pick attack can be felt when you switch from a med to an extra hard pick. But, your hand or technique quickly adapts--I've been playing extra hard picks for years, but if someone handed me a medium, I would be fine, also. I think we are talking about optimizing and fine tuning. Like I say, if you play a little better and the tone is a little better, more power to ya!

Now, we get back to price. If they were a quarter, everybody would be using them, right? (of course, they would no longer be high dollar picks, would they?) For the last 40 years or so, I've carried 10-20 picks in my front pants pocket, in case I stumble upon a guitar or mandolin or some kid who needs one. I would feel strange without a pick on me, or my pocket knife, for that matter. At $200 a pick, I couldn't afford to carry so many!

[JeffD]

Do I think an audience of beer drinkers can hear such a difference? Of course not! You're dreaming!

Can't disagree with that.

Using audience expectations as a standard for sound quality when you are playing for a bunch of semi-sober yahoos who couldn't tell you which instrument is the mandolin without a lifeline, the pick doesn't matter, and for that matter the type of mandolin doesn't matter. Just get a tiny guitar and be done with it.

But the sound quality and playability does matter in intimate venues, coffeehouses and such, small jams, and playing with friends and at home. This is the overwhelming majority of my playing.

A high end pick, for me, is no more silly than buying a mandolin in the first place. Its all an avocation, to me anyway. A passionate one where the details matter, but only matter within the context of the avocation.

[Colin Lindsay]

I like the Big City pick too but have just discovered these... https://www.guzzguitar.com/S3_GUITAR_PICKS.html

That’s frightening reading. I started looking for how much memory they have and what pixels the camera has.

[guthriej]

Magic picks are nonsense.

Jeff, You have never been more wrong in your life.

[markT]

New to Blue Chip picks and I love them! Triangle 55 & 60...

[dulcillini]

I have a cup full of various picks that I have tried over the years. Actually, all of them work well, but I keep going back to the pick that I started with as a beginner, the Wegen 1.00 mm ! I also use a V-Pick Tremolo Pick. Lots of great picks on the market today. The Wegen line runs about $5 each, as do most of the V-Picks. I have never spent more than $10 for a pick, so I guess I am no expert on the real high end ones. Good luck in your search. As for the question, "Does it make a difference?" It certainly must, because I have attended workshops by great players and they are very fussy and protective of their picks.