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Thread: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise pick!

  1. #1
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    Default Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise pick!

    I've had a tortoise pick that I got in a trade a few years ago just seems to feel better than any other pick I've used on mandolins. I know I'll lose it one day... actually misplaced it for ~6 months and found it when I was doing my annual car clean out!

    My tortoise pick is 0.95" (2.4mm) thick.

    I bought a few Dunlop picks (they have the Primetone brown color) that I can no longer find that - I've had to thin from their 0.125" (3.2mm) thickness, quite a bit but the footprint is very close ~1.25" 'diameter' on the three partially rounded points. These pix have "Jim Dunlop", "ESTABLISHED 1965" between a scroll lines and finally a Star in the middle, on them.

    I use Dunlop Primetone 0.051" (1.3mm) with the same footprint shape/size as my mandolin pix on my acoustic guitars. I find them as good a feel for my wide range of playing as I've ever used in ~40 years of playing.
    ArchaeoMandologist in training

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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    My micrometer was acting up! My tortoise pick is actually 0.072"/1.83mm thick but my Jim Dunlop thickness is good.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    0.95"=24mm


    Picky, I suppose.

  4. #4
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    Backup pick? I want a backup mando!
    Gibson A-Junior snakehead (Keep on pluckin'!)

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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    I used to use T shell picks exclusively. Tried a Bluechip about five years ago, and have used one ever since. To me it has the sound and feel of a real shell pick. I'm sure if you check their website they will have something similar in shape and thickness to what you are currently using.

    Adam

  6. #6

    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    blue chip..... blue chip ....bluechip

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    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    Apollo picks....

    https://www.apollopicks.com/
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

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    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob A View Post
    0.95"=24mm


    Picky, I suppose.
    To be clear, the OP caught his error and posted a correction, an hour and a half before your post. I don't understand your purpose there.

    It's a good thing I'm not picky.

    ANYWAY ...

    A few years back, when this town had a luthier, I hung out with him a good bit, just because. He was good company, knowledgeable about instruments and his craft, and had a seemingly endless supply of entertaining stories.

    One day he presented me with a pick he had fashioned from a tortoise shell he had found beachcombing. No animal cruelty was involved, as it seemed an easy assumption it had died of natural causes. It was indeed a marvelous tool, just the right thickness and flexibility. I did cherish it. Indeed, it was stuck in the strings of my late lamented F-12 when it was stolen. So not only did I lose the instrument that had been my companion for nigh unto 30 years, I lost that fine pick as well.

    I've been using a Dunlop 1.5mm with some texture on the grip for something like five years. I'm not saying it's of comparable quality, but it works just fine for me. I've recently been gifted a Primetone, and also one of my recent instrument purchases came with a Golden Gate pick, among others. But I just keep at it with the Dunlop.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  11. #9
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    a few years ago I saw an old blues guy playing guitar on a street corner in baton rouge, louisiana. he was using a piece of a plastic cup for a pick. sounded pretty good. I try not to "overthink" picks, strings, etc.
    Primetones or Wegens do a good job and they're not so expensive that I'll cry when I lose them.
    YMMV.

    Kirk

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    Registered User William Smith's Avatar
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    Conversations about tortoise shell is out of bounds. Refer to the Posting Guidelines
    Last edited by JEStanek; Feb-28-2022 at 8:22pm.

  13. #11
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    William, discussions about the selling or buying of tortoise shell picks is a violation of the forum guidelines.
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

  14. #12

    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    changed my mind...

  15. #13
    Registered User oldhawkeye's Avatar
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    If I may ask a question, how do you tell if a pick is TS or not? A really old pick came with a bowl back I bought and was just wondering.
    My Avatars' Indian name was - Snakes in Head
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  16. #14

    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    Quote Originally Posted by oldhawkeye View Post
    If I may ask a question, how do you tell if a pick is TS or not? A really old pick came with a bowl back I bought and was just wondering.
    I have a bunch of tortoise picks I’ve collected from many many years ago. I asked an expert once how you can test it. He said the only way was to put a flame to it and go by the odor. �� I think he was serious.

  17. #15
    Registered User oldhawkeye's Avatar
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    Quote Originally Posted by GChris View Post
    I have a bunch of tortoise picks I’ve collected from many many years ago. I asked an expert once how you can test it. He said the only way was to put a flame to it and go by the odor. �� I think he was serious.
    Well, his answer to you stinks if you ask me. But just in case I decide to set fire to the pick what should it smell like?
    My Avatars' Indian name was - Snakes in Head
    Mine is - Runs with Beers

  18. #16
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    It would smell like burning bone. If you really want to test one, heat up a pin or a knife blade instead of putting a flame to it. Plastic melts, tortoise doesn't.

    I've had only 2 tortoise picks. One I gave to an old friend who had broken his, and the other one got lost somewhere.

    I prefer plastic myself. I'm happy with my Fender celluloid extra heavies and my Dunlop 1.14 Delrins. If I need something brighter than that, I occasionally use a 0.96 Delrin.

  19. #17
    Registered User Kevin Briggs's Avatar
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    Cool thread!

    I swore by the purple Dunlop Tortex licks for a few years, then Dawg picks for a few. After I tired of Dawg picks I spent some time collecting and trying out lots of different ones, momentarily settling in with Wegens for a spell. Then…

    I bought a used Blue Chip CT55 from the cafe classifieds and have had it ever since. Can’t believe I haven’t lost it. However. I’m so particular about it I keep it on my bed stand. I only use it in my bedroom, lol.

    For anywhere else (including other rooms of the house) I use Clown Barf X-Stiffs. They sounds like good celluloid picks, and they’re hard to lose at gigs!

  20. #18
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    I've used purple Dunlops too over the years. They're the right thickness for me - the 1.5mm ones - and, well, they're purple. I still have a 2mm as a spare sitting in my case.

    The main reason I'm using the plainer Dunlop 1.5mm right now is more or less to prove a point, and/or it's a key player in a drama about tilting at a windmill. A few years ago I made a side trip to Nashville during a trip up north to visit my friend the bass player in a few bands here, who was spending a couple of months at the time visiting the guitjo player in Old Crow Medicine Show, a high school buddy of his. There was a pile of something like 100 of these picks on his dining room table. He said he burns through a pick a night, that they're dead after a gig. I don't get that kind of attitude. I abhor waste, vastly preferring getting the most out of anything and everything. I've had this one pick since then, played many many gigs with it, and it's shown very little wear - and somehow I've not lost it.

    I'm not saying it's better than a tortoiseshell pick, but it sure is A-OK. I'm thinking the OP may be overthinking this. IMO, YMMV, natch,

    Oh, and I've never been crazy about Dawg picks. Just don't care for points that are that rounded. The Golden Gate I mentioned is like that, and I'm probably not going to use it. I've always used standard guitar-pick-shaped picks, except for a while when I'd found some lovely big triangle picks with slightly rounded corners - completely triangular ones don't appeal to me. Wish I could remember the brand. They were very light colored with an orange eagle on them, somewhat like a Harley Davidson logo.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  21. #19

    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    I have used the Blue Chip CT55 for many years and recently acquired a D'Addario Thile signature pick which I also really like. But my favorites recently have been the plain old triangle picks that The Mandolin Store sells in packs of 5 for $5 dollars. It feels like the same material as a Dawg pick but in the Thile pick size. I love them. I've purchased three packs because I'm afraid they'll go away some day. They are extremely close in terms of tone and volume to the thile Casein pick but at 1/25th price. They roll off some high end and don't have near as much pick click as the bluechips. I would love to try an Apollo pick some day.

    https://themandolinstore.com/product...arge-triangle/

  22. #20

    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    Not a BC pick owner, but I have "invested" in a couple of the Apollo Mike Marshall picks, which is what I'm using now (until I lose them, anyway). I am a big fan of Primetone picks, and what I started using when I got the mando last year, but these days I only use them (1.5mm, large, smooth triangle) on guitar. They are a good backup, and what I keep in the case, along with DAndrea's Pro Plec (1.5mm large triangle), which are noticeably darker in tone.
    2018 Kentucky KM-950, 2017 Ellis A5 Deluxe

  23. #21

    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    I went pretty deep down the pick rabbit hole and landed on Apollo's John Reischman pick. Sounds like the t-shells I use on my guitar - smooth, glassy, transparent and for some reasonI just really like the way it feels in my fingers.

  24. #22

    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    Quote Originally Posted by mikerofone View Post
    I went pretty deep down the pick rabbit hole and landed on Apollo's John Reischman pick. Sounds like the t-shells I use on my guitar - smooth, glassy, transparent and for some reasonI just really like the way it feels in my fingers.
    I have been wondering about the John Reischman pick. Did you get the pick with or without the speed bevel?

  25. #23
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    There are many choices. And really, no point in choosing.

    I think losing or setting aside the TS can be a freeing experience.

    Pick choice makes a bigger difference on mandolin than it does on, say, guitar, I am guessing the mandolin is so small that everything means a lot.

    I have have a little selection of picks that include BC, Red Bear, Wegen, Primetone, Pickboy, Dogal, and some no name picks. They all have their place, their uses, their advantages, times when nothing else will do.

    This may of interest.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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    funny....

  26. #24

    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    We are very lucky to have so many choices in regards to picks. I am really liking the Red Bear picks I received yesterday!

  27. #25

    Default Re: Backup mandolin pick for when I eventually lose my tortoise p

    We are very lucky to have so many choices in regards to picks. I am really liking the Red Bear picks I received yesterday!

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