Something I just noticed about picks

[slk]

I accidently dropped a Dunlop primetone today on the cement hearth and it sounded like a very high tensile pitch (rather loud). I then dropped various other picks and the difference in sounds was amazing to me. The Wegen with the 7 holes hardly even made a sound , and it is the one that makes the best sound on my mandolin so far. Anyone else ever notice this? Perhaps this is old news to some, but interesting to me.

Steve

[lflngpicker]

It is interesting. I hadn't thought about it, though I think the sound the instrument makes with the pick is more associated with the substance it is made from, the shape, and the thickness. I find that the shape, i.e.,the rounded picks vs. the pointed, is a fairly significant characteristic in making a difference in the mellowness or clarity of the sound produced, respectively. I am sure though, that the ringing, clanking or quite the pick produces when dropped on a hard surface must have an influence on the sound of the attack on the strings as you have indicated, but it wouldn't be the most significant in my mind. Others may have a different view. Very interesting concept, SLK!

[Tobin]

Yes, it's known as a "drop test". I described it in this post (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?115937-What-B-C-Picks-have-you-tried&p=1402528&viewfull=1#post1402528) last year. It's a fairly reliable way of predicting how a pick will sound when played.

Finding it out on your own, though, is rather rewarding in its own way!

[slk]

Yes the tone from the primetone sounded almost like one of those correll dishes (ceramic) hitting the surface.

Steve

[mandobassman]

Yes, it's known as a "drop test". I described it in this post (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?115937-What-B-C-Picks-have-you-tried&p=1402528&viewfull=1#post1402528) last year. It's a fairly reliable way of predicting how a pick will sound when played.

Finding it out on your own, though, is rather rewarding in its own way!

I don't find it reliable at all. Two picks made of the same material will sound exactly the same when dropped on a counter top, but if the bevel and point are different from each other the picks will sound completely different from each other on a mandolin. I have a BC TAD3R and recently tried a CT55. They sound exactly the same when dropped on a table but couldn't sound more different from each other on my mandolin. I have always thought the "drop test" was nonsense.

[yankees1]

The sound a mandolin makes sounds different to different players so I suppose the dropping of a pick may sound different to different ears !

[Kip Carter]

Drop the mandolin on the same surface and you'll get an entirely different tone as well!!

[Ivan Kelsall]

I recall Michel Wegen saying that he chose his pick material precisely because of the sound some off-cuts from the work he was doing sounded quite high pitched. Having used the Wegen Bluegrass picks for quite a long time (7 years),i remember how they sounded,but by comparison with the Primetone picks i use now,they sound very dull. Pick 'drop tests' are entertaining,but ultimately,it's how they produce the sound of the instrument that's important. I suppose that if anybody had the time & patience & a good supply of picks of differing materials/shapes/thicknesses,then maybe some corelation between a 'specific' pick & the tone produced with a 'specific' string gauge/brand on a 'specific' mandolin make could be arrived at. But thinking about it = a waste of time IMHO,far too many variables,:confused:
Ivan;)

[Willie Poole]

I tried this one time and my pick fell through a crack and I wasn`t able to get it back, YES..A wsste of time, like Bassman said rounded picks sound different when plucking mandolin strings but sound the same when dropped as others of the same material and thickness

[Bertram Henze]

standing by for people to claim that sound properties of the pick affect mandolin sound and that you should therefore not damp it with your fingers...:whistling: