The ads on the cafe homepage are effective I guess. I can’t bring my self to spend ~$30 on a bluechip but $5-15 I can indulge. Who uses them or has tried them? What models?
The ads on the cafe homepage are effective I guess. I can’t bring my self to spend ~$30 on a bluechip but $5-15 I can indulge. Who uses them or has tried them? What models?
I love my V-picks. Right now I am using the Lite Traditional model. I can use the same pick for guitar and mandolin. The material that the V pick is made of makes it very easy to keep ahold of.
Because mine has eight, does that make it twice as cool as a ukulele?
Thanks! T think I'm gonna try the pointed medium and the jazz mando II, i'll look up that model
Jalapeño has been my go to since I won a really cool set from the cafe!
Thanks,Scott!
Timothy F. Lewis
"If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett
I have tried a number of the V-Picks. The one I like best for the mandolin is the Saga-- it is a large triangle pick with rounded corners in the 1.5 thickness. Looks like this: https://v-picks.com/shop/saga/
I've used V-picks for a few years.
But, I just switched to Wegen.
1935 Gibson A-1 Wide mandolin
Late 1800's Unbranded German fiddle
I get a lot of string noise from the V-Picks I have tried. Maybe it is my technique, but I don't get that noise from other picks.
New to mando? Click this link -->Newbies to join us at the Newbies Social Group.
Just send an email to rob.meldrum@gmail.com with "mandolin setup" in the subject line and he will email you a copy of his ebook for free (free to all mandolincafe members).
My website and blog: honketyhank.com
Shop the classifieds for a Blue Chip, usually $25. If you don't think it's worth it, sell it for $25.
I now have two, but I have many more Wegens. I like to have a pick for every instrument. You just need to try everything. Some like Fender heavy picks, some various Dunlops, others like BCs, Red Bears and other exotica. The traveling pick collection would be good for you too.
Silverangel A
Arches F style kit
1913 Gibson A-1
I've tried different V-Picks on the mandolin and found they produced too much string noise as they are quite thick. That is, until I found the Tremolo P, which is only 1.00 mm - I haven't used another one since (three years now)! I absolutely love it!
Nothing against V-picks, but wonder why you can't bring yourself to spend $35 on a BlueChip pick when you've already spent vastly more than that on your mandolin, in the first place, in all likelihood? Also, the market for used BlueChip picks is very solid, since these things almost never wear out: if you don't like your pick, you can sell it easily for $25, so you're only out $10. Also, if you're even more stingy with your money, you can buy a used BlueChip in the first place for $25, and later sell it for the same price if you don't like it, as Br1ck pointed out. So there is no real price advantage with a V-pick versus a BlueChip if your only goal is to try them out. Also, as musicology wrote, BlueChip picks tend to produce less string noise than V-picks, and they are at least as fast off the strings.
I tried the V-pick. Did not like at all. First preference: Blue Chip. Second preference: Primetone. Third Preference: Pro plec. Very much a personal taste thing, though.
Gibson F5 'Harvey' Fern, Gibson F5 'Derrington' Fern
Distressed Silverangel F 'Esmerelda' aka 'Maxx'
Northfield Big Mon #127
Ellis F5 Special #288
'39 & '45 D-18's, 1950 D-28.
I have tried several models of V-Picks. They are one of the noisiest picks I have ever used. There are some qualities about them I like, but they not only are very scratchy-sounding, in my opinion, but they are very inconsistent. I had purchased 4 or 5 of each model I tried. Each one of the same model had a different sound. Even the 3 points of a triangle pick all sounded different. I still have one of the V-Picks I bought. I get it out every once in a while just for variety. Its a large triangle and two of the points are somewhat bright but the third edge is horribly bright.
I pretty much gave up on acrylic picks since I had the same experience with Gravity Picks.
Larry Hunsberger
2013 J Bovier A5 Special w/ToneGard
D'Addario FW-74 flatwound strings
1909 Weymann&Sons bowlback
1919 Weymann&Sons mandolute
Ibanez PF5
1993 Oriente HO-20 hybrid double bass
3/4 guitar converted to octave mandolin
The difference between Blue Chip and V-Picks is night and day. Blue Chip has about the smoothest edge surface I have ever seen on a pick, while the V-Picks are very rough and inconsistent. Same with pick noise. Blue Chip-virtually no pick noise while V-Pick has lots of pick noise, or "chirp" as some have called it.
Larry Hunsberger
2013 J Bovier A5 Special w/ToneGard
D'Addario FW-74 flatwound strings
1909 Weymann&Sons bowlback
1919 Weymann&Sons mandolute
Ibanez PF5
1993 Oriente HO-20 hybrid double bass
3/4 guitar converted to octave mandolin
I also found V-picks very chirpy and also extremely slippery. I guess they're supposed to become grippier as they get warm but I never experienced that.
I'm currently using Primetones but I also like plain old Tortex with a home-cut bevel. For guitar I've been experimenting with Herco thumbpicks that are shaped like a flat pick, and they're excellent for control but terrible for strumming.
I see this over and over again in Blue Chip threads. People that spent two or three thousand dollars on a mandolin complaining about $35 for a pick. Be glad you don't play a quality violin. Top quality bows sell for thousands of dollars. The pick is a tool to achieve the sound you want. If it takes a additional $35 to get that tone, so be it. It's well worth it.
Larry Hunsberger
2013 J Bovier A5 Special w/ToneGard
D'Addario FW-74 flatwound strings
1909 Weymann&Sons bowlback
1919 Weymann&Sons mandolute
Ibanez PF5
1993 Oriente HO-20 hybrid double bass
3/4 guitar converted to octave mandolin
The Jazz Mando is my default pick for mandolin. I have an irrationally large collection of picks. When I find one I really like, I buy several as back-ups. I have a lifetime supply of Jazz Mandos. I concur with the comments about variability in tone from one pick to the next. I think it has to do with significant variation in thickness and bevels in these picks. I am a bevel and point shape tweaker. I have a set of sanding and polishing pads made for lapidary use. I polish my picks to dial in tone and dial out string chirp. I have found that I can make radical changes to pick tone with these alterations. I also concur with mandobassman’s comments about pricey picks. I expect I have several hundred dollars invested in my pick collection, accumulated over 40+ years.
"Well, I don't know much about bands but I do know you can't make a living selling big trombones, no sir. Mandolin picks, perhaps..."
Your violin bow also doesn't disappear if you drop it, or leave it on your amp, or it got snagged when you pulled out your keys, or you accidentally sent it through the wash, or....
Plus, how many violinists buy "top quality bows?" Wouldn't a better question be: how much does the average fiddle player pay for a bow, and how long is it expected to last?
Do they sell violin bows in 12-packs?
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