Dunlop Primetone picks

[HoGo]

I can. Good luck on your Mando journey

Do a blind test with picks of same shape and size. I DID so I know. Otherwise your ears will hear what your mind wants to hear knowing which ick is being used. As a player I can feel difference in fingers - the grip will tell you what you are playing and your brain will search for something in sound to grasp...
When all picks are of same shape and polished perfectly smooth you can hardly feel any difference nand you'd be hard pressed to guess which pick you are playing just using your ears (in cold room you may also feel different thermal conduction of some materials - casein especially feels warmer and also natural materials like horn)

[maxr]

For me, picks are a consumable commodity, I reckon the Eater of Socks gets them. I find the Ultex 1.4 big triangle seems end up in my hand more often than more expensive picks - but maybe the sound could be too bright and percussive for some, and I don't have a premium instrument..

[Bren]

For me, picks are a consumable commodity, I reckon the Eater of Socks gets them. I find the Ultex 1.4 big triangle seems end up in my hand more often than more expensive picks - but maybe the sound could be too bright and percussive for some, and I don't have a premium instrument..

There is a school of thought that says, "The more you pay for a pick, the less likely you are to lose it" but maybe those people don't have guitar-playing sons borrowing their picks at random, oblivious to the notion of expensive "premium" picks.

[Bob Buckingham]

This clears up a lot. I think feel and shape are more important than how much you spend. I too change picks with the weather and whether or not I am liking it at the moment.

[keith.rogers]

I was prowling YouTube and I came across this video. The guys plays nine different "high end" picks from Blue Chip to Clown Barf.

I challenge people to watch this video and then tell me you can detect ANY difference in tone, because I couldn't. ...

The differences are subtle, but if you don't hear *any* difference, you may need a different listening setup. And, YouTube's compression algorithm may have a lot to do with it, so make sure you have the settings (for this specific video, watched on YouTube) to be HD, and probably at the highest quality you can get. It would have been nice if he'd provided download links to the actual, non-lossy audio track.

Just like the difference between mandolins that are separated by price differences of hundreds, thousands or even 10s of thousands of dollars, the difference probably doesn't matter to a huge percentage of the listeners, and in some cases, even the players.

[BUT] With time, and, perhaps, starting to chase the tone of some specific pros, you may develop an ear for these tiny differences, and it's worth trying other picks to see if they do impact your playing, because material, thickness and flexibility, even bevel, definitely come into play. If they didn't, folks wouldn't have preferences.

In the meantime, don't spend more than you need (one of my favorite sayings) - just keep on picking!

[Kevin Briggs]

Yes, I hear the differences, really between each one. For example, the difference between the Pro-Plec and the Primetone is marked. The Red Bear sounds stiff and the Casein was a little darker and deeper but not as much as the Pro-Plec. It's interesting that he chose the Clown Barf pic as it didn't come across as well as the others, perhaps only better to my ear than the Primetone. I do, however, love the Clown Barf pick for when I leave the house. It's easy to see when dropping it and it makes for a good anecdote. It also sounds great as do all of the picks he reviewed.

It also helps that he's sampling picks on a mandolin with fundamentally amazing tone.

My arsenal of picks includes the Blue Chip at home and the Clown Barf everywhere else. If I get to record something where subtleties matter I'll use the Blue Chip. On another note, I am curious about what a non-beveled Primetone would sound like, as I think the bevel on the Primetone is where the thinner sound comes from. I also assume a non-beveled pick would be a little less costly produce.

[Bill McCall]

Unbeveled Primetones are available to those with a file

Cheap experimentation.

[HoGo]

Unbeveled Primetones are available to those with a file
Cheap experimentation.

I do that all the time. All you need is zour wife's fingernail set. Adn some fine sandpaper or micromesh for polishing.

I do hear subtle differences in the video posted above but those picks are not the same shape/size/bevel/surface texture so they necessarily sound slightly differently. But try to shape them identically and try again.
I just had some time in my workshop and tried the stash of picks mentioned above and they sound and feel just plain the same. I won't claim my ears are best in the world but I'm not deaf, yet.

[Martin Beer]

I recently picked up a Hawk SB pick - a casein triangle pick with three differently shaped corners. That makes a nice illustration of the effect of point shape, as obviously the material, the thickness and surface finish are constant when comparing corners. Of the two pointed corners, the less heavily bevelled one seems a little less bright with my technique than the more bevelled one (which is closer to a triangle Primetone). So I presume the same pattern would carry across to a less bevelled Primetone. Though there are a large number of options in the Primetone line already, so perhaps they wouldn't be so interested in expanding it further.

[Zach Wilson]

Do a blind test with picks of same shape and size. I DID so I know. Otherwise your ears will hear what your mind wants to hear knowing which ick is being used. As a player I can feel difference in fingers - the grip will tell you what you are playing and your brain will search for something in sound to grasp...
When all picks are of same shape and polished perfectly smooth you can hardly feel any difference nand you'd be hard pressed to guess which pick you are playing just using your ears (in cold room you may also feel different thermal conduction of some materials - casein especially feels warmer and also natural materials like horn)

Cool idea... But how each pick feels in my hand is a big part of why I like some over others. As in... the BC has the perfect amount of stickiness and the Wegan is somehow smooth but grippy. Why would I want to deduct these qualities with polishing when those qualities are what make them stand out?

[DaveGinNJ]

Like Zach, I too found Primetones to be on the click-y side. I use Bluechip picks for both acoustic guitar and mandolin playing. When you consider that I've had my TPR35 for going on 11 years, with barely any visible wear on it, that's pretty decent value for money in my book. Used ones pop up in the classifieds quite frequently and are easy enough to sell on if they don't work out. On the affordable side of things, my go to cheap picks are Jim Dunlop Delrin 500's - I play with the shoulder end of the teardrop ones and could happily only use them if there weren't any Bluechips in the world!

I agree that there is more clicking sounds with the Primetone. That is what made me switch to the Wegens. But, then I also learned that I could play with a bit more precision with the Primetone. Life is full of trade-offs

[HoGo]

Cool idea... But how each pick feels in my hand is a big part of why I like some over others. As in... the BC has the perfect amount of stickiness and the Wegan is somehow smooth but grippy. Why would I want to deduct these qualities with polishing when those qualities are what make them stand out?

BC is generally more smooth on the surface than Primetone (perhaps it's the printing process of dunlop that leaves less smooth surface) but once polished to same level they feel the same. Wegens have the rough machined surface (and holes) that I hate as I attack string at smaller angle than the beveled edge offers.