CT55 vs TAD60

[MediumMando5722]

I've been using a TAD60 for awhile and have been very happy with it. I got a CT55 last night, and I think I like it better. There's slightly less perceived bass with the 55, but it has significantly less pick noise. I'm assuming this has more to do with the different bevel than the slight difference in thickness.

Anybody else have the same experience?

[Astro]

I have been going back and forth with these 2 picks. I now like them both. For me, I get more bark from TAD 60. But the CT55 plays melodies faster and seems easier through the strings. I'd say its a tiny bit brighter. I'd also say they are very similar picks and these things are subtle. The CT55 "seems" a little pointier to me but not sure if thats real or just the thickness difference or the bevel.

[Mark Wilson]

It's hard to tell for sure with the points but I think the CT55 point feels sharper pressed against skin than TAD point. It's bright but I like a bright pick playing in a group. I have been a TAD50 fan for couple years but now onto 55. I can see a 60 down the road

[spufman]

I have both and periodically do a blind back-and-forth to compare. I usually get it right, but they're very similar. The TAD is capable of maybe a little more umph down low, but the CT is sweeter up high. On the whole, I prefer my CT.

[MediumMando5722]

Sounds like we're all hearing/feeling basically the same thing.

[CWRoyds]

Yup. I agree with the consensus.
I have the CT55 and TAD60, and use them for different things.

The CT55 is a more agile, more subtle pick.
I like it for the majority of the time on the mandolin.
It is just a great pick.

The TAD60 is great when you want to play hard.
The tone is a bit more thick and forceful.
If I was to find myself playing with someone with a heavy hand, I would probably switch to the TAD60.

The TAD60 is also my pick of choice on my Taylor and Gibson Southern Jumbo.
For guitar I found that the CT55 felt just a little thin in the fingers on Guitar.
I am used to using the big Stubby 3mm
The TAD60 feels more substantial.
It delivers an awesome thick tone.

[Al Trujillo]

I find it easier to tremolo with the CT55. I switch between both it and the TAD60 for different songs and I'm liking both of them...for different reasons.

[Phil Goodson]

I've used both, for years, interchangeably. I find no perceptible difference after about 15 seconds.

[Billy Packard]

Ya know...

The difference between a 55 & a 60 is about the width of an ...a** hair.

AND, I CAN tell the difference. (Am I the Princess on the mattress with the Pea underneath??!!)

I really like the 55 and the 60 is too thick.

What bumms me is that Blue Chip WON'T do custom work anymore. A few years back they kindly made me a few custom picks that I will take to my grave with me....Unless my heirs decide to sell them off after I'm gone....assuming any of the guys that would kill to get mine are still alive.

(ps, the bevel is also fundamental to minimal pick noise.)

(These are truly beautiful. Perfect picks.)

[Mark Wilson]

Cool BC Billy. What all was custom about it?

[Billy Packard]

Mark,

The custom is the actual radius and thickness and overall size.

I have a plastic pick that's just right--except it's plastic! (Mike Marshal gave it to me BTW.) So I spoke with Matt at BC and he said, "sure!" so I sent it to them and they got the thickness and radius just right. Once I had it back I liked it so much I had a few more made.

Billy

[Phil Goodson]

Ya know...
The difference between a 55 & a 60 is about the width of an ...a** hair.

AND, I CAN tell the difference. (Am I the Princess on the mattress with the Pea underneath??!!)
....

Hey. No argument from me. If you can tell a difference, no harm in being the princess ...

[sblock]

If you're willing to put in just a little work, you can fairly easily sand down a BlueChip pick of the correct thickness and approximate shape to something you prefer. You can change the radius of the corner, for example, or the type of bevel. It's not hard to do. Just saying. You don't really need the BC folks to perform this custom work, although that may be more convenient.

[MediumMando5722]

... you can fairly easily sand down a BlueChip pick...

I added a slight bevel to my RB TAD60. Isn't it odd how resistant they are to wear from usage, yet relatively easy to shape with a nail file?

[sblock]

I added a slight bevel to my RB TAD60. Isn't it odd how resistant they are to wear from usage, yet relatively easy to shape with a nail file?

The "odd" distinction you noted is very real, and it has to do with the technical differences between various vaguely similar, but not overlapping, mechanical properties. These properties are commonly denoted by terms such as:

hardness
toughness
resilience
stiffness
brittleness

The special polyimide plastic that makes up the BlueChip pick is quite resilient: it is somewhat compressible, and so it can absorb and release energy once the load is removed. That is, it has some "bounce" to it, and it is therefore not especially stiff. When a string is pressed against it, it deforms the plastic surface ever so slightly, but it does not tend to "chip away" at it. So, none of the surface material is removed. Once the string is released, the plastic returns to its original configuration, and this leads to very little wear. The low wear is further improved because the polyimide plastic happens to be impregnated with graphite, a well-known lubricant formed from carbon. On the other hand, the plastic is not especially hard. Hardness, technically, is defined as how much the surface resists an actual penetration by a semi-static force. Diamond is the hardest known substance, of course. And it happens that steel strings are MUCH harder than polyimide plastic! And so, for that matter, are the common abrasives that are used in sandpaper and emery paper, such as corundum (aluminum oxide), garnet, and silicon carbide. (Actual sand, or quartz, is no longer used in "sandpaper"). Grains of these abrasives are all very much harder than polyimide, and so they will quite literally cut into it (penetrate it) on a microscopic scale.

The result is that you can scratch/penetrate/abrade polyimide plastic rather easily with the right abrasive -- an emery board used for polishing nails will do very handily! -- and you can also machine it with tool steel, or file it with a hardened file. But if you pass this same plastic surface it over a string, it will more easily slide and compress (resilience and lubrication), and not tend to get penetrated, nor to slough off microscopic flakes.

This explains why BlueChip picks wear so very well with playing, yet are nevertheless very easy to file down to a shape, or to machine. As it turns out, it is not "odd" at all!

They are fairly brittle, though, so be careful if you try to drill holes through them. They can snap. But's that yet again another materials property, worthy of its own discussion!

[Billy Packard]

Wow, Thanks sblock, that's very nicely put.

[UsuallyPickin]

I can tell the difference ....... I open my mandolin case and there is a CT-55 in the strings and when I open my guitar case there is a TAD 60 in the strings ....... yup ..that's how I tell em' apart...