I now have two Apollo casein picks (blue and mandarin orange in 1.75mm/standard bevel) and they are PERFECTION. They sound great on all three of my mandolins, surprisingly. They have very good volume and the least pick noise of any picks I have used. I have not tried the Peek or the Mike Marshall signature picks yet, so I cannot comment on those. These casein picks tame the slightly biting tone on the upstrokes of my E course on one of my mandolins (my most expensive mandolin (sugar maple and Adirondack spruce) and yet do not dull the E courses of my other two mandolins. They feel great in my hand, glide off of the strings extremely well, and produce the warmest, fullest, yet articulate tone I can imagine. Casein won't last forever, of course, and you have to take care of it--wipe it off, never let it go through the wash (never putting put one in your pocket and using a case pouch instead solves that matter for me) and I do not leave them in the strings which can score and weaken them. I have another brand (1.5mm) casein pick that I love and it is probably 10 years old with a lot of scores in the middle, but I happen to not be hard on casein picks and I re-polish the points about twice a year. Just a little thicker--1.75mm sounds best to me on my mandolins and it does not really feel thicker in my hand, which surprised me. I have another Apollo pick on order from Nik (just like these) and now I know that I will never regret spending a whopping $40 on it. I have found casein to be easily re-shaped and polished easily, so that is another upside for me. I happen to be "blessed" with very sensitive to tone ears and it drives me crazy. I am also very picky about volume, attack, and feel in the hand, and I have to use a pick that will somewhat stick to my skin so that there is less likelihood that I will drop them because I play with a very loose grip. Is it crazy to pay $40 for a pick? Maybe, but then again, fiddlers are very picky about their bows and they cost a whole lot more dough. Picks and bows make a HUGE difference in the sound, volume, and playability.
I have played extensively with three Apollo picks our band's guitarist picked up from Nik's regular factory seconds sales and enjoyed them. I decided to place a custom order when Nik re-opened his shop and did so on March 15th. I received the pick on May 2nd.
I am debating whether or not to send it back, mostly because the aesthetics are dissimilar to what was presented in the sample images. About half of my pick's overall area is fully transparent, lacking the gorgeous mosaic look. This is especially disappointing because I chose the mosaic look after talking to Nik over email, where he guaranteed that would be the result. Nik has a very generous 40 day return window, but I'm curious to know what other people think of the final result. Is it worth returning the pick over?
1913 Gibson F2 (Blacktop)
2022 Big Muddy Mandola (M-16, Ziricote back and sides, Adirondack top)
2022 Kentucky KM-120 (Elevated fretboard conversion)
1940s Kay Banjolin
1930s Martin Style 0 Ukulele
1920s Vega Senator Plectrum Banjo (GDAE octave mando tuning)
After testing out CT55s, the D'Addario Chris Thile pick, Pro Plecs, Grisman Dawg picks, T-Shells I use with my guitars, and the Apollo Mike Marshall pick, the Apollo John Reischman pick is far and away my favorite. Glides through the strings smoothly, no clicking, feels great in my fingers.
I recently went back and re-tested all those other picks to see if they've grown on me and the Reischman is still my fave by a long shot.
I have a variety of Apollo picks (and the other high-end picks) and will second the motion that Apollo John Reischman pick is far and away my favorite. To my ear it just sounds the best of all I've tried, feels the best.
That said, I'd also keep the multi-colored pick, looks fine to my eye. I'm sure Nik would replace it if you asked - he's a great guy to work with.
1913 Gibson F2 (Blacktop)
2022 Big Muddy Mandola (M-16, Ziricote back and sides, Adirondack top)
2022 Kentucky KM-120 (Elevated fretboard conversion)
1940s Kay Banjolin
1930s Martin Style 0 Ukulele
1920s Vega Senator Plectrum Banjo (GDAE octave mando tuning)
When I first ordered a couple of picks from Nik, the ones he sent were thinner than I requested so I sent them back (the cost of a postage stamp) and he made new ones the right thickness. I had a chance to play an MM pick that a friend had and just ordered one today.
Charley
A bunch of stuff with four strings
Just an FYI to anyone interested. Nik has an “already made” sale going on that started yesterday. There were 64 available, not sure how many are left. I’m looking forward to trying out the one that I grabbed!
https://www.apollopicks.com/
1924 Gibson A Snakehead
2005 National RM-1
2007 Hester A5
2009 Passernig A5
2015 Black A2-z
2010 Black GBOM
2017 Poe Scout
2014 Smart F-Style Mandola
2018 Vessel TM5
2019 Hogan F5
ph - i got one of the Reischman's w/ his left hand bevel. Since so many jazz guitarists also play with the back edge (left-handed to a righty) i thought it wouldn't be a big deal to make that change, as i kinda pick that way anyhow. Well, it turns out that i really don't play like that as much as i thought i did. It does sound good and the tone isn't a whole lot different than the 1mm Wegan with that shape, but it does require the posture that John uses to make it work. It's kind of a novelty to me, but i have a metric load of picks and will probably offer it in the classifieds someday. i might like to try the Reischman with right hand bevel, tho'.
I have four of Nik's casein picks. I find the quality to be great and the sound is warm with very little pick noise
I got my MM Apollo pick yesterday and discovered that with my playing style the E and A strings were very weak. The pick is somewhat larger than I am used to but I can adjust to that. All of my other picks have a right hand bevel on the points so I sanded in a RH bevel on the MM, polished it and wow, what a difference. The E and A strings came alive. This is a very nice pick with very little "click".
Charley
A bunch of stuff with four strings
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