WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
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"Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN
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HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
- Advice For Mandolin Beginners
- YouTube Stuff
Hello Cafe Peeps!
Final prep is underway for sending Pick Sampler #1 back into the wild. I'll be posting some pics and reviews soon but here is the current inventory with notes as needed. Based on previous records we've had a few important loses but overall the quality remains intact:
1. PLEC USA Andrea 1.5 (triangle)
2. Dark Wooden Pick - missing
3. Jim Dunlop 204 (small, thick, black, very round tips)
4. Jim Dunlop 207 (black, thick)
5. Jim Dunlop 208 (Black thick)
6. BlueChip TPR-50
7. BlueChip CT-55
8. Dawg
9. Golden Gate
10. Acoustic Music Works
11. Jim Dunlop (manually sanded?) – big, triangular, dark brown
12. V-Pick Medium R - missing
13 V-Pick Red-colored (Triangle, very thick)
14. V-Pick Large ULP - missing
15. V-Pick Ultra Lite medium - missing
16. V-Pick (Thick, white pearl colored)
17. Gravity Striker XL 3
18. Chicken picks 2.1 Triangle (White)
19. Chicken Picks 2.2 (White)
20. Dunlop Tortex 1.5
21. Wegen Black Triangle - missing
22. Wegen White triangle with round edges
23. Wegen Regular shape white
24. Ultra Cool Heavy 1.0 mm, black rectangle
25. Unknown, pointed, Black, 1.5 mm, with grip dots, black
26. Jim Dunlop Big Stubby 1.0
27. Jim Dunlop Stubby Triangle 1.5
28. Dunlop max-grip 1.8 (nylon) - missing
29. Dunlop max-grip 1.14
30. Dunlop max-Grip 1.0
31. Dunlop Primetone 1.5 Triangle (grip) - missing (replaced)
32. Dunlop Primetone 1.0 (grip)
33. Dunlop Primetone 1.3 round edges
34. Dunlop primetone 1.4 triangle
35. White and Hard - unnamed
36. Dark and Hard – unnamed - missing
37. Dunlop .96 pink - missing
38. Nylpro 1.4 green (D’addario)
39. Planet Waves x-heavy triangle 1.25
40. Fender Med metallic
41. Cool Heavy 1.0
42. Jim Dunlop Nylon .73
43. Cool heavy 1.0
44. Dunlop Tortex .50
45. Dunlop Gator .71
46. Dunlop Gator .59 (Avi A. vital) - missing
47. Prodigy Klassikh M (Greek Bouzouki Plectrum)
48. Prodigy Laikh M (Greek Bouzouki Plectrum)
49. Timber Tones Resin ‘Moondance’
50. Timber Tones Macassar Ebony
51. Timber Tones Horn ‘Starfish’
52. Gravity Striker Standard 1.5mm (‘Master Finish’ edge)
53. Gravity Axis Standard 1.5mm (polished edge)
54. Gravity Axis Standard 3mm (polished edge)
55. V-Pick Lite Medium Round
56. V-Pick Large Round
57. Clayton Acetal Standard 1.52mm
58. Jim Dunlop Americana Tri Pick Round 1.5mm x3
59. Clifford Essex ‘Mandolin 100’ rounded horn 1mm
60. Clifford Essex ‘Buffy’ horn 2mm
61. Snark Neo Tortoise heavy 1.07mm x3
62. Dogal x3 (flexible, medium and heavy)
63. Hawk SB
64. Pickboy Classic Pearl .75
65. Fender 346 Triangle Heavy - x 4
66. Dunlop Tortex .73 (yellow) - x 4
67. Clayton Duraplex Delrin Rounded Triangle 1.14 mm- x 4
68. D'Andrea 358 Teardrop Celluloid Jazz Shell Heavy - x4
69. Dunlop Stubby Triangle 3.0
70. Orbit Zero Gravity .6
71. Brain 1.0 - x 2
72. Dunlop Primetone Rounded with grip 1.5
73. Dunlop Primetone Rounded with grip 1.3
74. Dunlop Primetone triangle 1.5
75. Striped wooden
76. Authentic Hendrix heavy - x 5
77. Dunlop Max-grip 1.5
78. Buffalo ? triangle
79. Gibson triangle medium
80. Unknown small very pointed and thick black - x 3
81. Dunlop Ultex 1.0
82. Dunlop Ultex 1.3
83. Dunlop Tortex 1.0
84. Clayton triangle 1.0
85. D'Andrea standard heavy
86. Earnie Ball Brad Paisley
87. darrylicshon.com pink
88. Fidis Tamboti (wood)
89. Fidis Stratford Hall Plantation Cherry (wood)
90. Fidis striped (unknown wood)
91. Fidis Persimmon (wood)
92. Fidis Timborana (wood) - arrived broken
C.
Northfield F5S Amber #347 - 'Squeeze'
Mann EM-5 Hollow Body - Gimme Moore
Kentucky KM-270 - Not just for whisky
Flatiron 1N Pancake - Not just for breakfast
Epiphone Mandobird IV - Djangly
Cozart 8-string e-mando - El Ch(e)apo
Lanikai LB6-S Banjolele (tuned GDAE) - Plinky and the Brane
[QUOTE=Mark Gunter;1574576]Sampler #2 is on its way to Canada.
Shipped to starbuckna this morning.
whooo hooo, I'm next on the list !!!!!!
- 2013 Eastman MD 505
- 2013 Fender MandoStrat
- 2021 Eastman MD815
Northfield F5S Amber #347 - 'Squeeze'
Mann EM-5 Hollow Body - Gimme Moore
Kentucky KM-270 - Not just for whisky
Flatiron 1N Pancake - Not just for breakfast
Epiphone Mandobird IV - Djangly
Cozart 8-string e-mando - El Ch(e)apo
Lanikai LB6-S Banjolele (tuned GDAE) - Plinky and the Brane
Nice pick pic!
Looks like the white Wegen that started it all landed right in the middle of the pile for the pic. Or did you do that on purpose, Chris? Pretty cool either way.
...
It was an interesting assortment when I had it before, and now it has become a very interesting assortment! Bravo! Look what you started Caleb . . . that's like, way cool, man
A big thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. And thanks to Chris for helping to keep the picks flying!
WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
----------------------------------
"Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN
----------------------------------
HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
- Advice For Mandolin Beginners
- YouTube Stuff
Crikey that is a LOT of picks!!!
Paul Shippey Tone Mandolin
Paul Hathway Octave Mandola
Montana Lutherie Ranger Mandolin
Yamaha Stage Custom Drum Kit
I am super stoked for my turn with the Sampler. That photo looks awesome!
WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
----------------------------------
"Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN
----------------------------------
HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
- Advice For Mandolin Beginners
- YouTube Stuff
Hey all, I've got Sampler 1, and should be able to send it back out by this weekend.
Here's a bump for the distribution list:
Sampler I
Paul Merlo
RFMando
jtv
Lowlands Blue
Kennyz55
henryswift
Popolopolos
Mando Barber
MontanaMatt
John Garcia
Sampler II
(edit: Mark G sent it to the great white north)
Starbuckna
mtm
RFMando
Kennyz55
henryswift
Mando Barber
John Garcia
MontanaMatt
Paul
Weber Custom Vintage A
Alvarez A-100
'82 Fender Bullet (USA)
'55 Harmony Master Model
'62 Harmony Tenor Guitar
Northfield F5S Amber #347 - 'Squeeze'
Mann EM-5 Hollow Body - Gimme Moore
Kentucky KM-270 - Not just for whisky
Flatiron 1N Pancake - Not just for breakfast
Epiphone Mandobird IV - Djangly
Cozart 8-string e-mando - El Ch(e)apo
Lanikai LB6-S Banjolele (tuned GDAE) - Plinky and the Brane
Well my adventure with Sampler 1 has ended. If I learned one thing, I learned I know what I like. I picked through Sampler 2 last fall and tried a large variety of shapes and sizes. (see post #491) My favorites were all similar: 1.0 - 1.5mm thick, large triangle shaped with a slightly beveled edge.
This time through, I figured I could skip over anthing that didn't fit that description. I didn't tho - I tried a few guitar style picks and remembered why I don't use them. I had no idea what to think about the wood picks. I think seeing a broken one in the mix soured me on the idea - but was pleasantly surprised when I tried them. One (unmarked) gave a real neat "old timey" tone, and another was fun to strum with but I can't see myself using them often.
Again, most of my favorites were similar but a few stood out:
Blue Chip CT55 - it was nice getting another shot with this one because it strikes real smooth and gives a strong tone. It started to grow on me a little bit more this time, but I still didn't notice a huge advantage over the D'Addario Pro Plec 1.5 or the Acoustic Music Works pick.
The purple Clayton 1.14mm pick has a nice soft texture that's a pleasure to hold, but it's tone was too dulled for me.
The Gravity Striker XL 3 was very light and fast to pick with, but the edge bevel skipped over the strings too much for me and I heard more "pick click" on the strings than tone some times.
One pick that I really liked was the Hawk SB. This one is a little thicker than some of the others and it has a quick strike and strong tone. It feels nicely balanced between my fingers too. I think the 3 different tip profiles were a cool feature because I could get different sounds (but the dull corner was a bit too dull for me). This one definitely makes the "I might buy a few" list if I ever lose all my Dunlop ULTEX 1.14's.
So good luck to you in your search for the perfect pick!
Paul
Weber Custom Vintage A
Alvarez A-100
'82 Fender Bullet (USA)
'55 Harmony Master Model
'62 Harmony Tenor Guitar
anxiously awaiting sampler #2 from "Starbuckna"... RFMando, you are on deck !!!!!
- 2013 Eastman MD 505
- 2013 Fender MandoStrat
- 2021 Eastman MD815
Woot!!
Looking forward to these, can't wait to see if something can beat the infamous Blue Chip CT55 :-)
I safely received sampler #1 from Paul today; thank you! I'll give these a good work thru and then confirm when sent on! -RF
UPDATE:
Working my way thru Sampler #1 and down to the final "dozen"
Going to give these a final duel off work out on mando and if needed take it to the acoustic and electric guitar to nail it down. I must say it has been an interesting adventure - as much as anything help me narrow/eliminate some i'd yet to try and rule out some materials entirely.
What a great resource; guessing this will mail by the weekend, early next week at latest, I'll confirm when its on its way to jtv!
-RF
Alrighty-O
Is there a winner? Hard to say....the BlueChip TPR-50 and CT55 are definitely nice...the CT55 is what is already in my case at all times....but man what a fun journey! thx to all that helped make this happen!
However there were several others that for a WHOLE lot less surely get the job done...
Golden Gate - classic that has the rounded thing but still gets tone/clarity
Cool Picks 1.0 and Triangle....never heard of these but dig them! I like not fumbling the grip these are great for that!
Hawk SB - a nice surprise, never played one of these and will consider one down the road for sure!
Clayton Purple Triangle 1.14 - bang for the buck!
Wegen - regular (or is it the Gypsy?) like this grip oddly better than the triangle or rounded triangle I own....
They all would get the job done, pic shows my faves as well as five more pics I've added to the collection!
I'll have sampler #1 manana to jtv
Looking forward to sampler #2
RF
Pick Sampler #1 has been mailed to jtv - thx again to all for this cool experiment! -RF
You blazed through those quickly! Thanks for the thoughts on what you found interesting and I can't wait!
I'm getting closer to the top of the list, yay!
I'm on new pick purchase moratorium until get a chance to sample
2007 Weber Custom Elite "old wood"
2017 Ratliff R5 Custom #1148
Several nice old Fiddles
2007 Martin 000-15S 12 fret Auditorium-slot head
Deering Classic Open Back
Too many microphones
BridgerCreekBoys.com
Alrighty ... Sampler II has made its way from Canada and arrived today !!!!! I'll settle into some "hot" picking this evening. To be clear, it's climatcially (a word?) HOT in MKE right now. My picking ... not so much.
RFMando is next on the Sampler II list .....
- 2013 Eastman MD 505
- 2013 Fender MandoStrat
- 2021 Eastman MD815
Ok, so not a lot of time to sample the newly arrived Sampler II this evening but ... have to try some, right? Being rather unsophisticated, I always used a Golden Gate but recently picked up a Dawg and Primetone Triangle 1.5 upon a recent, very brief stop at Elderly while passing through MI (very fun store, but I only had 20 mins before closing). The GG is no match for either, but I clearly like the Primetone much better than the Dawg.
So, I went right to the Blue Chip CT55 and the Wegan 'trangle white'. I have to say, the Blue Chip is my least favorite among the three. It's 'buttery', but a bit muted and doesn't have the volume of the others. I even had my wife give a brief listen ... which took some doing but she couldn't resist the "can you tell the $2 (Primetone) pick from the $35 (BC)?? She also liked the Primetone for pretty much the same reasons. Perhaps in someone else's hands , the BC wins but for me, the Primetone is my choice.
Great idea, this sampler ... and full of surprises !!!!
- 2013 Eastman MD 505
- 2013 Fender MandoStrat
- 2021 Eastman MD815
And sampler 1 came today! Got home late so I didn't really have a whole lot of time to play around with it (and what I did was quietly to not disturb the neighbors), but I can't wait to explore it more!
Please add me to the list.
Thanks!
Bob Faulkner
Mid Missouri M4
Too many geetars to list.
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