Wedgie Pick / Plectrum

[aiorr]

Hello,

Has anyone ever tried the Wedgie picks? They are a rubber coated version ~ 3.1 mm thick. I'm curious how they compare to the Wholle plectrums (I have used neither). I'm currently using a Wegen and am exploring other options.

Thanks for any input,

[Bill Clements]

Thanks. Just ordered a couple of the .40mm nylon picks (.79 cents each) to try them out. Not a big fan of the Wolle plectrums but I know they are popular in Europe. While at the website, I noticed they offer a Thomastik "Super Flexible Medium E" string. Anyone have experience with this particular string?

[bratsche]

Unfortunately, I've used neither, either, and I've been looking for soft pick options. The main reasons I haven't bought the Wolle or the Wedgie is that their single available shape is not one I'd find comfortable to play with. If they offered them in large triangles with decent points, I'd probably have tried them by now. I got the impression from reading reviews on Amazon that the Wedgies are just solid rubber, not rubber coated (and some people complain that they shed like an eraser). In that case, they probably have a lot of flexibility, and I'm really looking for something stiffer, yet which is soft on the surface. My search has even prompted me to begin another thread in the Equipment forum a short while back, Quest for an oxymoronic plectrum, where I describe my objective and my adventures into hand-fabricating soft/stiff picks from different materials.

bratsche

[Martin Jonas]

Unfortunately, I've used neither, either, and I've been looking for soft pick options. The main reasons I haven't bought the Wolle or the Wedgie is that their single available shape is not one I'd find comfortable to play with.

I have a pack of 3.1mm Wedgies which I got a few years ago (I forgot where or why), and I have also tried a number variations on the German rubber picks. They are not particularly similar. The Wedgies are very grippy and completely unsuitable for any sort of bronzewound string: too much adhesion between string and pick resulting in even more pick noise than with conventional picks. They work in principle with flatwounds (TI or similar), but I didn't think that was a good combination either as it reduces the already quieter volume of the TI string compared to roundwounds even further. Thus, while I try them every now and then with new instruments or strings, I haven't yet found a context in which I like the Wedgies. German rubber picks are very different, a harder and more slippery material, but again not compatible with my strings/instrument preferences. It's possible that I just haven't figured out how to customise them -- as I understand it, the idea is that you file the tip and edge to suit your own preferences. Certainly the shape of the tip when I bought them looks unfinished and not ready to play right away.

I find that for my bowlbacks, the best choice for a softer attack and reduced pick noise are Dunlop nylon guitar, which are widely available for little money. I have a dozen or so of them in the two heaviest gauges they sell: 0.88mm (dark gray) and 1.0mm (black). Despite the small difference, they are very different in tone and while there is a bit of give, they are really quite stiff. I use the 0.88mm on my bowlbacks and the 1.0mm on tenor guitar. Bratsche: if you haven't tried them yet, you may want to look at these nylon picks.

Martin

[bratsche]

I would LOVE to be able to find some hard-ish rubber or nylon material in sheets of various thicknesses to be able to experiment with making my own picks. As it is, I've found thick leather a very interesting option that I'd like to pursue further. My experiments with silicone rubber yielded a too-grippy surface which, while it approximates the sound of my fingers better than most, does not want to let go of the strings fast enough (and I only use flatwounds).

As far as the Dunlops, I haven't tried them as I'm really a bit put off by anything that thin, as they always sound trebly and flappy to my ears. To me, even 1.20mm is incredibly thin, but I have a few Fender extra heavies around 1.20mm which are decent, that I went through a whole pack of 72 to find, measuring each one (most were 1.10-1.12mm).

Lot of materials I'd love to try, and really, I'd prefer to just buy a pick to try it, but so many are only available as thick as I'd want in the traditional "guitar pick" shape, and not large triangles. Ah, the joys of experimentation!

[crisscross]

Schneider Musik gives you the possibillity to buy three Wedgies for 49 cents if your order surpasses 10€. Theys seem to be their "Ladenhüter" (Shelf warrmers). So with my last order, I ordered three 3,1mm hard. They write about them that the material, Elastomer, gives you a warm sound without pick noises, similiar to the sound produced by a fingertip. This might be true, but what annoyed me, was, that the pick doesn't glide over the strings but gets stuck in them. Well, maybe I have to do some picking exercises with the Wedgie, just played with it for 10 minutes and then grabbed my Wolle.

[zedmando]

I've got some Delrin ones (1.14mm) which I sue on guitar--and I like them.
I tired a rubber one--but mostly on bass--and while it's okay, I mostly just got it as I like to buy unusual picks.

But I'll have to try them on my mandolin too.