D'Addario picks?

[HoGo]

A pick to a mandolinist is what a bow is to a violinist. No more, no less. Blue Chip picks are at the top end of commercially made pick prices and they cost around $40.00 with shipping. The best of the best in a violin bow can cost thousands and yes, even tens of thousands and more!
So I guess what i'm trying to say here is quit cryin'... we mandolinists get off easy! You can always buy a Proplec (large rounded triangle) for a couple of bucks or less or a Fender Extra Heavy style 346 (large rounded triangle) for about 75 cents. You'll still have PLENTY of money left over for your pint of beer...

Comparing tiny piece of ordinary comercially available plastic shaped into rounded triangle to master violin bowis quite wrong, IMHO.
The material for good bow is hard to get almost extinct species and also silver, gold and ivory are not cheapest materials either. Add to that VERY qualified and skilled work of master bowmaker.
You can buy PMMA, polyimide or whatever other material in sheets and 10 y.o. kid can shape it to rounded triangle and polish so 90% of the cost is in the material of which only PMMA and polyimide can go for more than $5 per pick if you buy in bulk (I haven't found a source for sheet casein plastic yet but I don't think it will be more expensive than that). Many other materials of so called boutique picks can be had for few cents per pick.

[V70416]

Still waiting for my D'Addario Thile pick from Sweetwater.

Anybody else get one recently. Like in the last month or so?

[Hobblecreek]

I ordered 2 yesterday and received a polite phone call indicating they were sold out and had no known new delivery date to their warehouse. I left my order open, I am curious to try the CT pick.

[HoGo]

I just want to edit my post above but it is too late now... I wanted to type PEEK instead of PMMA (which is ordinary plexiglass), sorry.

[Daniel Infield]

Comparing tiny piece of ordinary comercially available plastic shaped into rounded triangle to master violin bowis quite wrong, IMHO.
The material for good bow is hard to get almost extinct species and also silver, gold and ivory are not cheapest materials either. Add to that VERY qualified and skilled work of master bowmaker.
You can buy PMMA, polyimide or whatever other material in sheets and 10 y.o. kid can shape it to rounded triangle and polish so 90% of the cost is in the material of which only PMMA and polyimide can go for more than $5 per pick if you buy in bulk (I haven't found a source for sheet casein plastic yet but I don't think it will be more expensive than that). Many other materials of so called boutique picks can be had for few cents per pick.

Yes on the bow comment, but agree to disagree on the rest. Whether or not the materials cost $5 or so per pick, the little industry of boutique pick makers is just an example of the "invisible hand" at work... the amount of time and learning it would take to learn how to make a blue chip pick machined to an exact thickness and buffed bevel more than makes up for their cost, IMO. Particularly because they are nearly indestructible. All the 10 year old kids I know are playing video games anyway haha.

[HoGo]

I've made many picks out of various materials for me and for many local musicians (they still ask me if I have one of my favorite layered picks to give them - yes it is so simple task fo rme that it just didn't justice asking money for it, especially when I compare it to instrument work). I've used many different plastics, horn and other materials over time, perhaps even including PEI and PI, offcuts of whatever I got...
The process is pretty simple and starightforward no matter what material you use (perhaps except some plastics like acrylic, plexiglass where polishing is done differently), and it doesn't take ANY special skill, really. If you buy sheet material you can get it at precise thicknesses or thickness it on sander, cut shape (CNC or even press can do it) and bevel, polish. making one pick from sheet material using only hand tools took me some 15-20 minutes. I can imagine using cnc to precut the shape (with angled bits to get the bevels mostly shaped) and using power sanderx and buffers you can make 20-30 such picks per hour easily.
And if you outsource the work and get them made molded to your specs directly from the plastic manufacturer there's not much more than stamping your logo on it....

[Daniel Infield]

I've made many picks out of various materials for me and for many local musicians (they still ask me if I have one of my favorite layered picks to give them - yes it is so simple task fo rme that it just didn't justice asking money for it, especially when I compare it to instrument work). I've used many different plastics, horn and other materials over time, perhaps even including PEI and PI, offcuts of whatever I got...
The process is pretty simple and starightforward no matter what material you use (perhaps except some plastics like acrylic, plexiglass where polishing is done differently), and it doesn't take ANY special skill, really. If you buy sheet material you can get it at precise thicknesses or thickness it on sander, cut shape (CNC or even press can do it) and bevel, polish. making one pick from sheet material using only hand tools took me some 15-20 minutes. I can imagine using cnc to precut the shape (with angled bits to get the bevels mostly shaped) and using power sanderx and buffers you can make 20-30 such picks per hour easily.
And if you outsource the work and get them made molded to your specs directly from the plastic manufacturer there's not much more than stamping your logo on it....

That's a nice service for you to do for others, and it's generous, whether you view it as a lot of work or not. I disagree on what the value added is worth, but everyone is in a different position. For example, I learned how to hang my own doors because I knew that over the course of hanging 8 of them in my house the invested time would be worth it. By the third one, it was routine and i was knocking them out in 15 mins. I've even offered to do this for friends and/or teach them, as it isn't my source of income. But a handyman is still worth the $75 per door they charge to those who don't want to learn themselves. I see BC type picks the same way. Again, a matter of personal perspective.

[jim simpson]

I find that the Golden Gate tortoise 1.3 mm compares very well to the Thile/D'Addario 1.4 mm. Obviously less expensive to replace a lost Golden Gate, lol!

[Colin Braithwaite]

Here's a weird thing. I've been using the Chris Thile casein picks for a couple of years, hundreds of hours of playing time. Last Friday, at an ad hoc Irish session, I pulled the pick out of the strings of my mandola, gave it a tiny flex as I usually do, and it broke in half. At home later, I did the same thing to another of these picks. I was surprised, to say the least. I don't remember ever breaking a pick before. Does casein get brittle with age and use?

[doc holiday]

Casein picks break easily. This was the case when Red Bear started making them 10+ years ago (they warned against flexing them). IMO it's the nature of the material:

"Do NOT Bend or Flex your pick. The picks can get flexed or even broken by carrying them in your pants pocket or wallet.
Do NOT store your pick in-between your guitar strings especially the light and medium gauges.
Do NOT let your pick go through the washer and/or dryer"

[Charles E.]

I stopped using casein picks years ago because they would break unexpectedly.

[Cheryl Watson]

Resist the temptation to flex (except maybe at the gym).

I've had Red Bears go through the wash and be fine (but don't do that).

[Falconerguy]

Interestingly, I've had an opposite experience.

I was not aware of the purported brittle qualities of casein picks until reading this thread just now. I have had a Thile casein pick for about two years now, and it has spent most of its life woven between the strings of my mandolins while not being played.

It hasn't broken on me yet! It does seem to have developed something of a warp though, where the edges are want to curl up on one side of the pick. It is extremely slight and mostly just helps me grip the pick better now that there is a little thumb divot.

It may break on me one day, but it's been holding strong so far. And, for what it's worth, I prefer the tone of my casein pick to my Blue Chip.

[Colin Braithwaite]

Thanks for the comments. I'm not sure I can (1)not store my pick between the strings of my instruments (I'll just lose it) or (2) not flex it every now and again (old habits die hard). I have one more CT casein pick; hopefully it will last a couple of years. I've also started using a Wegenpick TF140; I like the sound on my mandola (tuned D,A,E,B for Irish music). I'd like to try a Blue Chip, but they're hard to source in Canada.