Would anyone have any advice how to best (most economically) get hold of a Blue Chip pick in the UK?(I'M after a SR60.
Many thanks,
Mollina
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Would anyone have any advice how to best (most economically) get hold of a Blue Chip pick in the UK?(I'M after a SR60.
Many thanks,
Mollina
Mollina, did you try calling Blue Chip direct? They are super-nice folks.
Ph. (865) 622-5044
They are in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Billy
JP Guitars in Bristol:
http://www.jp-guitars.co.uk/sales/st.../blue_chip.htm
New Acoustic Gallery in Austria also carry them and have an SR-60 in stock. €45.
http://n-a-g.info/index.php?option=c...&limitstart=10
Have you actually used a Blue Chip SR60 pick ?. Purely as a suggestion,you might care to try out a Dunlop 'Primetone' pick (unless you already have done).There are several different shapes / thicknesses folk on here mostly think very highly of them,especially as they're a fraction of the cost of a single BC pick,
Ivan;)
Look here :- https://www.gak.co.uk/en/dunlop-prim...-514p1.3/98550 The price is for a pack of 3.
Primetones and Blue Chips are very different. Different feel. Different sound. I have both and while the PT are good, I massively prefer the Blue Chip on mandolin.
I have no advice to give, but just to underline the importance of asking the question: I recently got charged £14 in customs fees, in addition to the shipping cost from the USA and the price of the pick itself, bearing in mind the weak pound.
That's a lot of money for a pick. It's a nice pick, but still not my favourite.
Incidentally, I've never been charged fees for other picks ordered from the USA. Luck of the draw, I suppose.
Hi,
I would try a wanted ad. Probably like you, I struggle to find nice picks, armrests, tonegards, cases, etc in the UK.
There are a lot of Uk members on the Cafe. Last summer I was looking for an armrest and put an ad in the classifieds. I got 4 replies and managed to buy a couple at about half the new price. Worth a try...
Regards,
Same thing happened to me, plus (if I recall correctly) an £8.00 handling fee. A VERY expensive plectrum, I do love it but would not have paid that much if I had known before hand.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gelsenbury
I ordered a CT55 one direct a few years back, but I always take it that a dollar price will be the same number but in pounds by the time I get it in my hands, so the additional costs weren’t a surprise.
It was nice to do so I knew where it fitted into the grand scheme of things.
I used it for a bit but haven't for quite a few years now as I found it lacked clarity and there was a lot of pick click by comparison with those I use now. I keep it to use it to let people try them out at sessions etc so they can get an idea if it suits them.
Those ones Almeriastrings posted up from JPGuitars in Bristol seem to come up at a fair price.
JP Guitars in Bristol, £38 for a Bluechip plectrum [ pick ], outrageous IMHO.
Dave H
They are $35.00 US..... so £38 including import costs and UK VAT is actually rather good....
N. B., the New Acoustic Gallery is in Wuppertal, Germany, the very town where Caterina Lichtenberg and Mike Marshall reside.Quote:
Originally Posted by almeriastrings
From Almeria - "..... is actually rather good.... ". Only if you actually like the pick !. A few Cafe members have used both BC & Primetone picks & a few have commented onthe similarity of one to the other - but,that will depend on 'which' BC & 'which' PT.
The Primetone Teardrop shaped,1.5mm 'grippy' picks are the best i've ever used. A fellow UK mandolin player uses a similar BC pick which i've tried,it sounded very similar to my PT my ears, & i couldn't tell which was which when he played his mandolin with both.
Possibly on other instrument / string combos. a 'difference' would have been heard - maybe !.
Rob - The £8 ''handling fee'' - That's what the UK Post Office charges us for putting it on a shelf for you to collect. I used to get that on my string purchases from the US,so i started buying from the UK at a slightly higher cost,but at least i got my strings, usually within 3 days at the most.
Gelsenbury - Our 'import allowance' from the US is £18 max. :- ".... and Import VAT (if over £18) on top of the purchase price...". On top of the cost of the item,add postal costs,& the total is what you'll pay UK VAT on + usually,a UK Post Office handling fee of £8,
Ivan;)
I bought 3 direct from BlueChip, it attracted £16.87 VAT and an £8 "Royal Mail International Handling Fee". So the total price per pick worked out about £36. JP Guitars looks reasonable on that basis - you'll get it quicker and won't have to phone Royal Mail to find out where your parcel is.
Gifts sent between private individuals don't attract VAT if the value is under £39, so another legal option would be to persuade a friend in the US buy one for you...
I agree 100% with this. I would rate my pick preferences as the following: Blue Chip CT-55, Wegen (same shape as CT-55), Fender heavy (same shape as CT-55), and then the Primetones.Quote:
Originally Posted by almeriastrings
I can never understand why people get in such a huff and try to talk people out of trying Blue Chip picks. I understand they are costly, but so are Ellis mandolins...
You should also check out Hawk plectrums in the UK. Similar material I believe but much cheaper (around £12). I got them to make something along the lines of the SB signature model, but with grip holes. Superb sound.
https://hawkpicks.co.uk/simon-brady-signature-pick/
Robbie
Similar to Red Bear and several others - totally dissimilar to Blue Chips. Completely different material.Quote:
Originally Posted by ukrobbiej
I’ve bought mine from JP Guitars. I have a broad selection of picks including Primetones, Wegens, TS and V-picks and none of them are like the BlueChips which I much prefer for mandolin. They certainly are expensive and it took me a long time to take the plunge for that reason and general scepticism but, for me, they are worth it.
Totally agree with Richard Moore, Almeriastrings, and others. Blue Chips are great picks - but you have to get the right one for you, your ears, and your mandolin!
I've tried a couple of the more rounded ones, and they do nothing for my Northfield - I'm prepared to accept that this could be down to my playing style, as I've heard Jordan Ramsey use a rounded one in a jam and the tone he got from it was amazing. However a TP60 delivers a stunning, and beautiful, tone.
The Prime Tones are also great picks - I reckon the large triangle plain brown ones in 1.4 or 1.5 are fantastic. But a BC is just that bit better. Put it this way - if I lost my TP60, I'd buy another one.
At the end of the day, we're all different. Our mandolins are different and the way we play them also differs.
Try Wegen picks too, on the Netherlands
Few months ago I posted some blind recordings I made with four picks made of different materials but same shape/thickness. There was BC and Primetone among them... I remember no one really dared to guess which sample is played with which pick.Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny60
Well I'm slowly upping the ante on my picks so I've hopefully got some arriving today. Enough people enthuse about various picks that there must be something in it :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivan Kelsall
Other than the cost,i've nothing against Blue Chip picks & i even understand the reason for the cost = expensive material. The main reason that i don't use a BC pick,is because there's nowhere close to me for me to ''look at them / try before i buy''. I'm not about to buy via post,something that i might not like & need to send back. It's as simple as that. As i mentioned above in post #13,i've tried a very similar BC pick,& to my ears,it sounded very similar to my PT pick,both on my own Ellis "A" style on on my friend's Heiden "A" style.
For me,when i got my first PT pick, it boosted the overall 'sound' of my mandolins to a degree that i thought was amazing. I simply cannot imagine any other pick changing the sound to a similar 'higher degree'. Yes,there may be a change,but would it simply be a ''difference'' & not an improvement ?. Until i can get close to a few dozen BC picks,i'll never know,but until then,my PT's sound excellent in every respect - to me,
Ivan;)
It is not just the sound. They feel different. Very smooth off the strings...
Have you tried the Gold Series from Gravity Picks? It feels quite similar to the Blue Chip, and I like the sound even better.
Ivan I used one borrowed from a friend ( 2songs with him standing beside me watching) true it was only one style maybe the wrong one for me. I didn't really have anything against it but I didn't see that it was any better than my Fender extra heavy. It probably would last longer but the fenders are about 2or3 for a dollar and if I lose one so what, if I wear one out I just grab another.
Almeria - I find that the Primetone picks are ok for me with regard to beings 'smooth',especially the non-grippy ones.They look & feel very much like my friend's BC pick. However,i have trouble with any smooth pick.I don't seem to be able to prevent them slipping in my fingers. The PT 'grippy' ones stay put (to a degree),& to my ears,they're also a tiny bit brighter,
Ivan;)
Attachment 165520
First impression of the Primetone is favourable. The increased thickness feels odd at the moment and it's about 2mm shorter than my old pick so my fingers brush the strings sometimes when I play. But I like the sound which is the main thing.
Those dark brown Primetones are seriously good picks. I used a large triangle 1.5 for well over a year until I got a Blue Chip TP60. Still use the Prime Tone in loud jams, as it has a little more "punch".
I also use a dark brown teardrop Prime Tone .96mm for all acoustic guitar playing (used to use a Blue Chip TD40, but my wife "liberated" it!).
And yes, Ivan's right, the "grippy" Amber-coloured Prime Tones are brighter than the brown ones, but I personally don't care for the tone or the feel of them in the hand. I found that, despite the grips, they just spin around in my fingers, whereas most other picks just stay in place. Your mileage may vary, etc etc.
Of the two Primetones, I prefer the plain brown ones. The "grippy" ones sound quite harsh to me on mandolin and I did not like the feel of them at all.
Almeria - I do think that the 'grippy' Primetones are a tad brighter than the same thickness of 'plain' ones - but - although they're supposed to be the same thicknesses,the 'grippy' ones being a moulded item,rather than made from sheet material,are a tiny bit thicker & maybe that's the cause of the brightness.The plain (smooth) ones,are a tiny bit more rounded off. I've got 1.3mm / 1.5mm 'grippy' & 'smooth' ones, & i've played them back to back several times. Needless to say,sometime i'll prefer one to the other,but mostly,i use the grippy ones as they stay in my vicinity a bit longer !,
Ivan:redface:
I second that. The Gravity Gold Tripp XL I have is my personal favourite. Great sound and volume, and less pick noise than my BC.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gelsenbury
As for obtaining Blue Chip Picks, I jumped on an offer they had one new years for free international shipping. They advertised it on facebook iirc. I don’t remember getting stung for import/handling fees, but really I think I was just lucky in that respect. Otherwise, I’d say JP Guitars would be the safest bet.