How To Avoid Losing An Expensive Pick

[Br1ck]

How many hundred dollar bills have you lost? Treat it the same way.

I have a friend that has one BC used for all his instruments. Keeps in in a BC key ring holder. I like a pick for each instrument, so my BC lives stuck in the strings of one mandolin. The others get Wegens.

[Jill McAuley]

Similar to foldedpath, I have a very set routine I go through regarding where my BC picks are stored and where they go between tunes if I'm not playing/going to get a pint etc. I've been using BC picks for 10 years and never lost one yet. I use BC picks for both the mandolin and acoustic guitar (and with guitar I switch between several different shapes) so I at this stage I've accumulated about 9 of them - see, that's MY problem: rather than losing them they're multiplying!!

[Jim Garber]

Each of my prime mandolins has its own BC pick. If I switch in the rotation I sometimes will switch pics as well. So yes, it stays in the case. I also have a similarly shaped Dunlop Ultex in my pocket at all times in case I am at a music store to play something. I almost never find any mandolins in these stores so don't need to have the pick with me, besides I can extrapolate the sound I will get from the BCs anyway.

[Mark Wilson]

It is in the strings or my hand, haven't lost one yet.

Adopted after losing my first bc

[Jonathan K]

Thank you so much for your suggestions! Y'all with the set routines are awesome.

I'll do my best!

[Jim Garber]

I am waiting for Blue Chip to have a tracking computer chip embedded in their picks. Do you think they are reading this thread?

[Dave Hanson]

The best way not to lose an expensive pick is not to buy one.

Dave H

[Frankdolin]

Best way is just don't be a loser.

[Jeff Mando]

I am waiting for Blue Chip to have a tracking computer chip embedded in their picks. Do you think they are reading this thread?

Great idea, but, would it change the tone?

[Roger Adams]

Great idea, but, would it change the tone?

Don't know about changing the tone, but I bet it would change the price!

[OneChordTrick]

If you practice in the spare bedroom don’t buy a pick the same colour as the quilt

[Rush Burkhardt]

How about a "Clapper"?

[journeybear]

I have used the same pick for 4 1/2 years. I got it from the guitjo player in Old Crow Medicine Show while passing through Nashville. (The bass player in my old band is a longtime friend and was staying there.) He uses one pick for a gig and then never again, claiming they're burnt out after one night. Had a ton of them sitting in a pile on his table. I've gotten a lot of use out of this "reject." There's a line from Psalm 118 that has stuck with me for most of my life: "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." This is a lesson in valuing.

It's a Dunlop 1.5 mm. It stays in my strings when not in use. It belongs nowhere else, having no other use. If I had a Blue Chip or Wegen or other, it would be the same. But it might mysteriously vanish.

[darylcrisp]

bluechip has a small wooden box with a slide top, for storing picks, you can probably get 3 or 4 in the box. if you don't store it in the strings, you might get one of the boxes and form the habit of putting it in the box soon as you finish.
https://shop.bluechippick.net/bluechip-pick-box/

[Gelsenbury]

It reminds me of that joke that a keyring enables you to lose all your keys at once.

[stevedenver]

Im with pops....i keep my blue chip in the strings.

That’s because i play at home, jams, open mics, gigs, friend’s homes.
So a dedicated holder doesnt really make for a universal rountine.

All other picks reside in my jeans small pocket.
Havent lost these.....


Ive lost a blue chip.
It bugged me way too much, because i rarely lose stuff.

I DO change picks at times, while playing. Im not married to BCs at all, and now prefer Wegens, prime tones, among others.

I stupidly put a BC in my shirt pocket, once, at a jam, in a dim room, and, because i never do this, unwittingly, leaned over. Gone. Actually, im pretty sure a visiting mando player snatched it off the floor.

Fwiw, i also find adding a brightly colored dot of paint, to both sides, is acomfort. Easier to find in dim lighting, on a dark floor. I also etch my initials, but only because of the above event.

[DHopkins]

After much experimentation, I settled on the Dawg pick and that's what I regularly use now. Fortunately, they're not terribly expensive. As a matter of fact, he offered a deal a few months ago and I picked up a dozen of them at a great price. Of course, I try not to lose them and, so far, I've been successful. My biggest complaint would be putting the Monster Grip on a new pick. That takes every bit of 10 seconds.

I simply don't worry about it.

I am not affiliated with either Dawg (he has better taste) or Monster Grips (I'm sure they do, too).

[Tom Haywood]

I don't use an expensive pick. Problem solved.

Actually, I have tried the expensive picks but have come back to something more basic.

I use a pick for several months at a time. At home, it stays on my desk with my capo (yeah). Playing out, it stays in my pants left pocket (with my capo and a backup pick) unless I am playing. There is also a backup pick in the case. I lose a pick about once every two years. The biggest risk I see is handing the pick to someone for whatever reason. It always winds up in their pocket. Habit, I'm sure.

[Astro]

Tell your wife how much you paid for that piece of plastic triangle. After that you wont be losing it.

[Elliot Luber]

I keep this attached to my keys. https://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Purse-...P9R8T9FMWSPM4R

[DHopkins]

I keep this attached to my keys. https://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Purse-...P9R8T9FMWSPM4R

$5.49?? Businesses used to give those away. ♫

[Timbofood]

I use an old hunting case from an “O” size pocket watch, they are eating a little harder to find but, they are out there. Find an old PW that does not work and have a watchmaker take the movement and crystal out, you kind of want the bezel intact, it looks nicer.
Then you store that in your case and put it in your vest pocket (or watch pocket) WITH a chain just to be sure. I’ve been doing that for thirty years and it’s been really practical, until I started using the watch pocket in my Levi’s for my flip phone!
But, I don’t carry one of those high dollar picks so, this is all window dressing for me.

[Eric Platt]

Even precautions might backfire. Yesterday played at a nursing home. Was switching between guitar and mandolin. After tuning both instruments went to help my wife get her kantele sounding good with a microphone. Went back to my instruments and couldn't find the BC pick. Slight panic. Although I had other picks and grabbed one to get ready to play. Then looked again at the table behind the instruments. The brown topped table. Yup. There it was. Right where I put it. Blended in quite nice. Ugh.

[Jim Garber]

Even precautions might backfire. Yesterday played at a nursing home. Was switching between guitar and mandolin. After tuning both instruments went to help my wife get her kantele sounding good with a microphone. Went back to my instruments and couldn't find the BC pick. Slight panic. Although I had other picks and grabbed one to get ready to play. Then looked again at the table behind the instruments. The brown topped table. Yup. There it was. Right where I put it. Blended in quite nice. Ugh.

A cautionary tale! From now on when I send a contract for a gig I will always request a contrasting colored table. In fact I will also request a room without a brown rug. Otherwise, I will zero out all my $35 dollar gigs.

[pops1]

Strings or fingers, no problem about forgetting where you left it or what color the table, floor, etc. is.

I have gone to a Wegen, so not as expensive, but I don't think I have lost a pick in decades of playing. My partner is always looking for her pick as she lays it down somewhere, it's hard to remember where that somewhere is these days. Strings or finger narrows that down a lot. Hmmm it's not in my fingers, must be in the strings.