Pick Recovery

[Mastertone08]

I dropped a new Gravity pick and it disappeared into the f-hole of my BRW mandolin. Not good! My sense is unless I got lucky quickly this was going be a long recovery process, and it was.

I started to shake the mandolin overhead but something that happened in 1966 in a pub in London, England came back to me. I watched a fellow swallow his pick during a break in an open-mic evening. It fell out of a guitar after he had been shaking it for a very long time. The pick fell into his open mouth. No gagging or coughing - just a gulp and that was it - gone! <g>

Anyway, in time-honored tradition I shook my mandolin overhead (with mouth closed) through several days of unsuccessful sessions. Pretty soon it became obvious that given small and irregular f-holes this was not going to work. Using tweezers and clamps was also unsuccessful.

I finally tried a piece of cellophane tape on the end of a 1/4" dowel. It was bridged across the end of the dowel and held in place with more tape on the barell after making sure sticky-stuff was well-exposed.

Some gentle fishing around finally got the pick near enough to the top of the f-hole to where it could be grabbed by a hobbyist clamp similar to a forceps. I suppose something like bees wax would do a better job but with none on hand tape was a good substitute and less messy.

It's pretty tight working through f-holes. Using the clamp to grab the pick after it got close enough to the opening turned out to be the best solution.

[Denny Gies]

You've got more patience than I do.

[Stephen Cagle]

You've got more patience than I do.


Way more patience than me! ~o)

[Pete Summers]

Way more patience than me! ~o)
For a cheap pick, maybe. But I'd be fishing all night if it was a Blue Chip. :grin:

[Dfyngravity]

Take the mandolin, strings facing the sky (ceiling), shake it until the pick it in the middle of the back. Take a metal coat hanger or anything small and flexible, attach some double sided tape to one end, lay the mandolin down and shine a line in one F hole and use your home made fishing pole with double side tape to snag the pick......works every time.

[Gerry Hastie]

I've thought it'd be a nightmare to get a pick in that situation. Thanks to those above who've experienced and shared. I will now know what to do!

[Phil Goodson]

I've rescued picks from instruments for 50 years. It's no big deal if you think logically.
Hold the instrument with the peghead towards the ceiling so that the pick drops to the tail, then move the instrument slowly, making the most dependent (lowest) part of the instrument the sidewall nearest the bass side of the hole (F or O). Then slowly turn the instrument topside down and let the pick slice towards the hole until it falls out or is visible and can be manipulated.
Hasn't failed for me yet. And usually successful within 30 seconds or so.

Random shaking depends too much on random chance.

[G7MOF]

Chewing gum on the end of a thin stick works well...

[JeffD]

It's no big deal if you think logically..

If I could think logically a lot of things would be different. :)

[mandobassman]

Thanks to my two small children, I have lots of practice.

[Charley wild]

See, you should have known using a pick called Gravity. You drop it, this is what happens!

[OldSausage]

It's easy - just attach a magnet to the pick before you drop it in...

[John Kelly]

Another possibility, along the chewing gum lines but more hygienic, is to use Blutack - that putty-like substance we use to attach temporarily pictures or whatever to surfaces. I have used this once or twice to recover picks from inside instruments ans it even can be useful for attaching spare picks to a mic stand - a little blob of the stuff on the stand and just push the edge of the pick into it then you have a readily accessible spare pick for when you have just dropped yours into the body of your instrument!

[Paul Edwards]

pick on a string?

[Ivan Kelsall]

Blu-Tack on a the end of a pencil works fine.The hard part is getting the pick under the 'f' hole to begin with & then trying to ease it out 'flat on' through the 'f' hole. I used a pair of tweezers to take the pick off the Blu-Tack & ease it back edgeways through the hole.Fiddly,but it worked ok,:redface:
Ivan

[Denny Gies]

OK, I'll admit that I would work for as long as it took to get my tortise shell pick out of virtually anything.

[Rodney Riley]

Two year old Grandblessing always puts his pick inside his Uke when he's done playing. :) Practice practice practice makes you an expert right? :))

[pickloser]

Two year old Grandblessing always puts his pick inside his Uke when he's done playing. :) Practice practice practice makes you an expert right? :))
Yes. 10,000 more hours of doing this, and you will be extremely good at it. ~:>

[Ivan Kelsall]

From Denny - "....tortoise shell ......." - Aaaaaggggghhhhhh !! - Unclean,unclean !!,:))
Ivan;)

[Phantoj]

I have two year old twins who think it's a fun game...

I just turn it over and shake the pick to an F-hole, then stick the tip of my pinky through one of the round holes on the end of the "F" and flip the pick out through the middle of the "F". Just takes a couple minutes...

[Mouse ear Mike]

I just must be lucky,I have shaken them out of Jazz box guitars and mandolinns for a while,usually within a minute.