Buffalo Horn pick - what's the deal?

[NotJethro]

I apparently bought a buffalo horn pick today - cost me a sawbuck, but the salesman claimed this would provide essentially the same tonal qualities of tortoiseshell. I stupidly didn't bother trying it out a the store, but when I got home, I discovered it sounds like @%$!. I mean it sounds SIGNIFICANTLY worse than your garden variety pick, on both mandolin and guitars. I'm curious as to what kind of experiences others have had with this. Will filing it down help? Is buffalo horn even considered a desirable and sought after pick material? Please, someone clue me in! Thanks.

[Jim Broyles]

Mine came with a kind of square edge, as if they were die cut, which has to be dressed to sound good at all. They do have a good tone if you put a bevel on them and ease the edges but to me they are too hard, like ivory or bone so they make way too much noise on the strings. I don't ever use mine.

[MikeEdgerton]

I've tried them, don't like them. I bought a bunch of unpolished blanks for about .50 each a while back and polished them down for a friend of mine. I've found that the closest thing to real tortoise (pre-ban of course) for me is the Goldengates that cost .95 each. I alternate between the two.

[Doug Edwards]

$10 for sure? Wow, $2 or $3 at best for an unbeveled one. I've found these to be quite inconsistant and hard to maintain. They warp easily and wear fairly quick. If you do find one, drop it on the counter. A clunkier sounding one works best.

[Bob DeVellis]

I had one that I'd bought for mandolin and quickly tossed back into the pick box. But I tried it recently on guitar and it wasn't too bad. It's still not my favorite, but it actually wasn't half bad on guitar. I liked that it slid off the strings cleanly and it was thick enough to feel good in the hand and give plenty of oompf to the strings. I certainly wouldn't get another, even if I lost his one, but it wasn't nearly as objectionable on guitar as I remember it being for mandolin.

[NotJethro]

$10 for sure? Wow, $2 or $3 at best for an unbeveled one.

Ten dollars. Really. Mind you, this is Canadian money I'm talking about. But still...

Lesson learned: try before you buy.

[D C Blood]

Last year I was in a Goodwill store and I found a couple of small serving dishes about 4x6 inches. Made in India. They obviously weren't cheapie plastic so I bought them (99 cents each). I took them over to Big Joe's and one of the guys there cut them into picks (in exchange for half the picks). The yield was about twenty picks. We finally determined they weren't tortoise shell, but buffalo horn (presumably water buffalo). I didn't like them at all. I've since given them all away. Can't say why I didn't like them...they just didn't feel good.

[Shelagh Moore]

I have one which I quite like and I use it for some pieces. It is much thicker and noisier on the strings than my usual picks (Wegen TF100 or Kasho 1mm celluloid). I did, however, have to reshape the tip and bevel it to my liking, and polish the refinished surfaces, before it was really usable.

[JEStanek]

I bought one and never shaped it. It's too easy to get a good pre-shaped pick for less. If anyone wants mine, PM me and I'll mail it to you.

Jamie- the slacker.

[Skip Kelley]

Don't like them!! Some guy in Vietnam sells packs of ten on ebay for around $6.00. I wouldn't give 6 cents for one

[Rob Powell]

I'm with the general consensus. I bought one to try and promptly put it back in it's nice little packaging. Sounded very "glassy"...

[billkilpatrick]

seems like it's thumbs down all around ...

i've used horn on the mandolin - popsicle stick sized strips of horn from an african longhorn cow. there are various ways to hold the pick: between the tips of your thumb and forefinger, as you would a pen or as you would while playing oud; peeking out between the thumb and second joint of the forefinger with the rest of the stick gripped in the palm of your hand - you can get a nice syncopation, using this method.

my only complaint is that the metal strings wear the strip down very quickly.

in another pick-related thread, i think it was big joe who said that after trying all the alternatives, a large, heavy, fender-style celluloid pick is the one to come back to.

[fishtownmike]

Yeah i have a couple of these and you need to bevel the edges. I used emery boards for fingernails and then touched them up with fine sandpaper.