Ranieri Style pick

[dfxlr]

I've been contemplating making a Ranieri pick. I'd like to try "Tortex" material. I think it's commercially called "delrin". I use tortex picks when I play, and I think they feel great.

Anybody think a Ranieri tortex pick would work?

[mikeyes]

You can make any kind of pick out of any material, but I'll bite, what is a Ranieri pick?

[mikeyes]

OK, I'm not that lazy, I found it at Ranieri Pick right here on mandolincafe. Tortex should work, it is stiff and sort of like TS which seems to be the original material of these picks.

[berkeleymando]

Is there a good online source for synthetic materials that can be made into picks? Tortoise-oid plastic, Tortex and the like?

[Paul Hostetter]

I have never found Delrin in sheet form. Obviously the Ranieri pick is significantly larger than any D'Andrea or D'Addario pick, so you can't just rework one of them. Pity. I did manage once to buy a small block of Delrin but once I got a sheet out of it, the consistency was entirely different than what's in the Tortex picks. So I would recommend a couple of more readily available things, such as celluloid sheet (electric guitar pickguard, etc.), polyester sheet, and so on. What thickness do you want to start with? You need a piece that 2-5/8" long by 5/8" wide to make the pick in the photo that Mike linked to, above. Actually, you need several for practice.

The good online sources are dwindling fast, thanks to new hazmat regulations that have driven Stew-Mac, for example, right out of that line of their business. I'd suggest Allied or LMII in the meantime. What you're after is what's usually found in scrapboxes, though.

[glauber]

FWIW, i'm not sure Tortex is delrin. There are picks made of delrin, though - i think Dunlop makes them. Delrin is a commercial trademark for a kind of plastic called acetal. I found several references to "acetal sheet" in Google.

[mikeyes]

Does anyone know what the thicknes and the bevel type is on these picks? I realize that the thickness might vary with the material and you can fool around with bevel, but what are the specs on the originals?

[John Bertotti]

All you need to know about this plectrum is in the classical section. Search the link above. Also search other threads in that section. This is covered n a couple I just can't remember them at the moment. Search Ranieri and plectrum. There is a wonderful photo how to in one of the threads with all the dimensions you need. I made one out of the material suggested there and had bratsche make me one out of ivory. I would like to try one a little narrower. John

[mikeyes]

All those thickness measurments were guesses, but I suppose that a 1 mm thickness is a good start. I have a ton of Corian, it might be a good project depending on the fillers in the Corian

[Paul Hostetter]

D'Addario's Totex picks are now known as Delrin® GUITAR PICKS



Planet Waves Delrin guitar picks are precision die cut and tumbled from Delrin material. The picks have a unique matte finish for excellent grip and offer maximum memory with minimal wear.Color-coded by gauge, Planet Waves Delrin guitar picks are available in 100-piece refill bags, as well as 25-packs.

Super light gauge .018" (.46mm) - Red
Light gauge .024" (.61mm) - Orange
Light medium gauge .030" (.76mm) - Yellow
Medium gauge .036" (.91mm) - Green
Medium heavy gauge .041" (1.04mm) - Blue
Heavy gauge .046" (1.17mm) - Purple

Dunlop markets Tortex now and describes it (obliquely)thus:

Tortex® picks are carefully designed and manufactured to give the characteristic maximum memory and minimum wear that made original tortoise shell famous. Dunlop's Tortex® picks are available in a variety of shapes and gauges.

Tortex® gauges correspond to these millimeters/colors unless otherwise noted: .50-Red, .60-Orange, .73-Yellow, .88-Green, 1.0-Blue, 1.14-Purple, 1.35-Black, 1.5-White.



Same stuff.

[glauber]

Good to know, Paul. I can think of very few things that are less "organic" than Delrin. Somehow i doubt that it's much like tortoise shell. It's an interesting material, nonetheless. It's famously slippery.

[Paul Hostetter]

I'm a longtime user of Tortex picks, preferring the big green triangles which I reshape a bit for guitar. They lack the visual elegance of some celluloid, but they sure work well. I find them neither slippery (they make them with a matte surface) and eerily like tortoiseshell in other ways. One of the little tests they put out to potential consumers when they first marketed this stuff was to drop one on a really hard surface and compare the sound it made when they hit to the sound of a real tortoise pick. It's true they have the same bright clatter. They're not quite the same in real use, but they're pretty close. That's why I said I found such a disparity between the Delrin I was getting from industrial suppliers to the stuff the commercial picks were made from. There must be more to Delrin than we little string-plinkers think. I have tried to buy sheet from D'Andrea and they won't sell it. Drat.

[glauber]

Hmmm, maybe it's the way it's machined. I have a plain/shiny delrin pick and i don't like it. I'll buy a couple of Tortexes next time i go shopping for picks.

Hmm, it looks like Delrin is a kind of acetal, so there may be other kinds. In my other life i'm a flute player, and flute makers talk of Delrin and acetal as if they were the same thing. Delrin definitely is a Dupont trademark.

Here (click) is a place that sells Delrin acetal by the sheet (courtesy of Google).

Here's the Dunlop Delrin pick:


I tried this one and didn't like it much.