slippery pick fix

[roanokejake]

Here's a way to reduce or eliminate pick slippage.
1.Go to a home improvement store.
2.Get a sheet of the black sandpaper-like stuff with an adhesive back that one uses on steps to keep them from being slippery.
3.Use scissors or a hole punch to make small circles or squares out of this stuff.
4. Peel off the backing, revealing the sticky stuff.
5. Press one on each side of your flat pick.
Can't remember where I learned this but it sure helps.

[Nevin]

Yep, you can also use the same sandpaper to rough up the part you grip.

[8ch(pl)]

I use 2 side tape to fix normal silicon carbide sandpaper to the pick. After applying tape to the sandpaper, I cut a circle with a 1/2 inch fabric punch, remove the backing and stick it in place on the pick.

[Wynning13]

....... or drill small holes in the pick, like Wegen picks.

[mandroid]

Wash pick and hands with Soap and Water, together.

[Jackgaryk]

or...get a Jim Dunlop primetone sculpted 1.4 plectra.

[JEStanek]

I've drilled a few holes in some... Works great.

Jamie

[Jackgaryk]

don't rule out ....Gorilla Snot!

[Barry Wilson]

scrape cross hatch patterns is free too

[John L]

....... or drill small holes in the pick, like Wegen picks.

ditto... I drill a hole in the centre of the pick and six around that in a circle. I usually do 5 or six at a time by taping them to a board then doing the drilling.

[Jackgaryk]

ditto... I drill a hole in the centre of the pick and six around that in a circle. I usually do 5 or six at a time by taping them to a board then doing the drilling.

I am curious...with all that drilling, does the pick lose a little bit as far sound goes. seems to me it would change the structural integrity of the pick and cause it too loose some of it's solid striking ability and most likely break. what say you John

[derbex]

don't rule out ....Gorilla Snot!

Ordinary snot works fine too, and saves you having to pick a gorilla's nose

[Bertram Henze]

Rosin powder. Nothing like it.

[mandroid]

Is there Rosin powder in those Bags on the Baseball Pitcher's Mound?

maybe something like that , all you have to do is pick it up, to get some on your hand,
and that is sufficient.

[John L]

I am curious...with all that drilling, does the pick lose a little bit as far sound goes. seems to me it would change the structural integrity of the pick and cause it too loose some of it's solid striking ability and most likely break. what say you John

I can't hear much difference, if any, and I have never broken one. I use Dunlop Ultex 1.14 - try it yourself, the experience will cost you about $0.50.

[JeffD]

I second the Gorilla Snot. It works well.

[JEStanek]

I drilled a D'Andrea Pro Plec... No difference in sound and the pick hasn't broken. This are pretty THICK picks and the holes are quite small and nowhere close to the striking edges. I don't understand how the holes could possible alter the sound from the pick if the modifications don't lead to more flexing of the striking edge...

Jamie

[Bertram Henze]

Is there Rosin powder in those Bags on the Baseball Pitcher's Mound?

maybe something like that , all you have to do is pick it up, to get some on your hand,
and that is sufficient.

I guess that is talcum - just dry, not actually sticky. With rosin powder, the pitcher would find it hard to get rid of the ball.

[DavidKOS]

Yep, you can also use the same sandpaper to rough up the part you grip.

That's what I do to the pick blank material I use to make picks.

[Willie Poole]

I pitched for years and that is rosin in those bags...

I always drill a small hole in the center of the pick and then install a reinforcement that is used on loose leaf notebook paper, those little round things with a hole in the middle that look like a donut, works great for me....Mostly I use a round pick and just drill a hole in the middle....Then if it turns in my hand it doesn`t matter....

[Bertram Henze]

I pitched for years and that is rosin in those bags

Standing corrected, I am now completely out of understanding why the stuff is not more in use among US mandolinists, seeing as how there is so much of it around.

[Ivan Kelsall]

A tiny piece of Blue-Tack squashed onto the thumb side of the pick did it for me when i began playing mandolin,
Ivan

[David Smith]

Get a tack cloth from the hardware store and rub your thumb and index finger on it. Pick will grab like crazy.

[dorenac]

After experimenting with drilling holes in circular pattern , I felt the pick was slightly weakened resulting in more flex, less stiffness. Since those experiments I use a very large diameter drill bit and just dimple the pick rather than drill all the way through. Sorta likea countersink.

[rubydubyr]

Here's a way to reduce or eliminate pick slippage.
1.Go to a home improvement store.
2.Get a sheet of the black sandpaper-like stuff with an adhesive back that one uses on steps to keep them from being slippery.
3.Use scissors or a hole punch to make small circles or squares out of this stuff.
4. Peel off the backing, revealing the sticky stuff.
5. Press one on each side of your flat pick.
Can't remember where I learned this but it sure helps.

OMG, what an AWESOME and easy fix!!!!! I'm gonna try it and stop looking for the "perfect" pick if it works. I have a bag of 1.0 mm hard picks that I LOVE the sound of, but they are soooo slippery. (Doesn't help that I have a skin condition on right hand only that dries out the thumb and finger I hold the pick with either). I cross hatched one of them, but I still have to dampen the thumb and finger to hold the pick properly, which means stopping practice often to re-dampen. Thanks for such a great and easy fix!