Re: V-Picks....Anyone Play Them?? Thoughts....
They're certainly worth a try. One nice thing is that when you order a couple of picks, Vinni will almost always throw in a sample of a different pick for you to try. I have tried four different models, including the one that JazzMando sells on its' web site. That one and the Saga were the ones I liked best, but I never really was comfortable with them. The things I liked very much with V picks were 1-the grip, very easy to hold onto. 2- Volume, the material produces very nice volume. 3- overall tone, it produced a very complex tone that gave the mandolin more depth and overtones than I was able to get from any other pick. The Negatives: 1- pick noise, very clicky, especially on the unwound strings. 2- this was the main thing that I stopped using them, every pick to some degree had a scratchy edge that was very noticeable on tremolo mostly. It was worse on some picks than others, but it was always there. The first order I placed was for 4 of the same model pick, the Freakishly large rounded. Not only did each pick sound different because of the different level of scratchiness, but even each of the three sides of the same pick were different. I looked at the edge of the pick with a magnifying loop and you could easily see the diagonal lines from the buffing, looking more like it had been buffed with a fine sandpaper. I looked at other picks I had and the edges were smooth and clean. I even tried to buff it better myself but could not get rid of the scratchy tone. I finally stopped using them altogether and sold them.
Lots of players really like them, and they do have some very good qualities, but the clicky noise and scratchiness really got in the way of good tone for me.
Larry Hunsberger
2013 J Bovier A5 Special w/ToneGard
D'Addario FW-74 flatwound strings
1909 Weymann&Sons bowlback
1919 Weymann&Sons mandolute
Ibanez PF5
1993 Oriente HO-20 hybrid double bass
3/4 guitar converted to octave mandolin
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