What would wood picks sound like?

[FrDNicholas]

Maybe different woods would have a different sound? I just saw someone selling wood picks with Padua? He also had some different woods.

[Marty Jacobson]

I used to make some, they can range from sounding scratchy, to tinny, to warm and round. Ultimately I have discarded all wood picks I've made. They can be pretty, though.

[LongBlackVeil]

I don't think they make great picks. I've used rosewood and ebony, both way too warm and lacking in volume. They also wear pretty quickly

[sblock]

Among the more desirable characteristics in a flat pick are these:

1) Elastic, but with high stiffness (stiff, but still flexible)
2) High material strength (durable, hard-wearing)
3) Isotropic (non-directional)
4) Low coefficient of friction (slides off strings)

Among the natural organic materials, wood (made of cellulose and lignin) has very few of these desirable properties, and is therefore a poor candidate for flat picks. Horn and shell (made of keratin protein) come much closer, particularly some types from endangered reptiles, so these are not on the table! And some casein-based (semi-artificial) materials can work.

Among man-made materials, some plastics and composites do substantially better then others. Among the best plastics are certain formulations of polyetherimide (PEI), which include brand names like Ultex, and polyimide, which include brand names like Meldin. BlueChip picks are polyimide; Dunlop Primetone picks are polyetherimide.

You can use softer plastics, like nylon or Delrin, but these are much less popular among mandolinists, where the string tension is so high and the scale length is so short.

Actually, you can fashion just about anything into a flatpick, including stone and metal. And you will find some folks who will swear by these, too. But not many. You can even polish up gemstones, or even some meterorites, if you want to use a really rare material.

But no matter how you slice it, wood is a poor material choice for a pick!!!!! Even hardwoods like ebony, or even lignum vitae, don't slide off the strings like polyimide or shell. And they won't last, because steel strings abrade wood quickly. And they don't flex nicely.

[Mark Wilson]

What would wood picks sound like...

..if a wood pick could pick good?

[sblock]

..if a wood pick could pick good?

I hear that woodchuck teeth make good flatpicks...

[Mark Gunter]

Among the more desirable characteristics in a flat pick are these:

1) Elastic, but with high stiffness (stiff, but still flexible)
2) High material strength (durable, hard-wearing)
3) Isotropic (non-directional)
4) Low coefficient of friction (slides off strings)

Among the natural organic materials, wood (made of cellulose and lignin) has very few of these desirable properties, and is therefore a poor candidate for flat picks. Horn and shell (made of keratin protein) come much closer, particularly some types from endangered reptiles, so these are not on the table! And some casein-based (semi-artificial) materials can work.

Among man-made materials, some plastics and composites do substantially better then others. Among the best plastics are certain formulations of polyetherimide (PEI), which include brand names like Ultex, and polyimide, which include brand names like Meldin. BlueChip picks are polyimide; Dunlop Primetone picks are polyetherimide.

You can use softer plastics, like nylon or Delrin, but these are much less popular among mandolinists, where the string tension is so high and the scale length is so short.

Actually, you can fashion just about anything into a flatpick, including stone and metal. And you will find some folks who will swear by these, too. But not many. You can even polish up gemstones, or even some meterorites, if you want to use a really rare material.

But no matter how you slice it, wood is a poor material choice for a pick!!!!! Even hardwoods like ebony, or even lignum vitae, don't slide off the strings like polyimide or shell. And they won't last, because steel strings abrade wood quickly. And they don't flex nicely.

Definitely the best concise treatise on flat picks I've ever read!

I recently tried a bloodwood pick and loved it - however it had all the short-comings mentioned. What I loved about it:

1. It had a unique tone among the other 40 or so picks that I compared it with in the same sitting.
2. The tone was warm and scratchy which I might find desirable on rare occasions
3. The pick was like butter playing tremolo, which is to say I was able to tremolo with ease

On the negative side, the pick's scratchy sound would not be pleasant for most situations, the pick produced little volume, and the wear was so swift that the pick would leave "sawdust" or, more accurately, a fine, dark powder of wood dust on the strings and between the courses after playing only a few strokes. The dust was quite noticeable after playing a short tune through.

In my case, I liked the bloodwood pick as a matter of taste, but it would get very little use from me, it would be useful for the rare occasion. As to other wooden picks, I would assume that density of various pieces of wood as well as shape and thickness of each would yield some variation in the sounds produced, but I can't speak to that out of experience, and in any case, I would imagine that for the reasons cited in sblock's post above wooden picks would appeal to but a few pickers, and of those I doubt many if any would use one as his everyday go-to pick.

I made a video comparing seven different picks and the last of the seven was the bloodwood pick, if interested you can see the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5K_PvuSyC4

Bloodwood pick is reviewed beginning at 11:04

[Pittsburgh Bill]

I bought a few picks made out of what is known as the world's hardest wood.
I ended up drilling wholes in them and making them into necklaces for my musician friends.

[lukmanohnz]

I've made a couple - one from figured maple and one from Brazillian rosewood. The maple one didn't wear that great. The rosewood one is surprisingly durable and gives a nice warm tone. But it's a bit too stiff. I keep meaning to take the thickness down a bit to see if I can find a good balance of stiffness and flexibility. Then I pick up my Red Bear and just play the mandolin...

[Mandobart]

I've tried some of the Clayton Exotic picks: coconut shell, sheesham (wood) and horn. I did not care for any of them.

[Drew Egerton]

My dad gave me one a while back, kind of more of a neat gift than useful to me. It's beautiful but I did not care for the tone. It was bright and loud, but like others said I found it scratchy and tiny. I have no idea what species it was made from.

[fentonjames]

made one of rosewood. sounded fine, but i didn't like the way it played. it could be the "scratchy" others have described. it didn't seem to glide on the strings, they grabbed them. they were finished well, but felt like i was playing with sandpaper.

[mandroid]

The sound of One hand clapping? [Zen]

[JeffD]

I bought some picks made of lingam vitae. It is a unique wood, almost greasy feeling.

Being familiar with the wood in an industrial context I thought it might be really interesting. But ultimately I did not care for the sound so much.

[Jim B]

Brossard picks sells some made from wood. Usually a very hard wood (ebony or rosewood) along with bone and various other materials.

I've used on electric guitar where the low volume can be made up with amplification. The feel is nice. For mandolin or acoustic guitar the feel is not correct and there is not enough volume.

http://brossardpicks.com/

[Zach Wilson]

I have not tried any wood picks but them interesting.

http://www.dugainplectrums.com/ this brand was brought up in a different thread. All kinds of materials used here.

[Barry Wilson]

I made some a while back now out of spare carbon fibre chunks I had laying around that worked well. I gave a few away to friends that liked them. Now I am out of carbon

[Pittsburgh Bill]

I bought some picks made of lingam vitae. It is a unique wood, almost greasy feeling.

Being familiar with the wood in an industrial context I thought it might be really interesting. But ultimately I did not care for the sound so much.

These picks make nice necklaces!.

[meow-n-dolin]

I have tried wooden picks. The tone can be interesting, but they tend to be noisy. Not a fan.

I also had an ivory pick a few decades ago. Too brittle.

But then, I have tried many tortoise picks, too, over the years, and was not all that impressed.

Plastic rules