The Song Fight Bulletin Board

A music store near me happens to have a number of picks in their pick case that are very similar to the ones in this picture:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Martin-Vintage-Heav ... dZViewItem

The only difference is that these are not blue, they are brown and translucent. And they are a *lot* cheaper than these ones being sold on e-bay

I bought one and I really liked the way it felt, and the way it sounded. Although I did manage to break it sooner than any other picks I've ever used. I would be genuinely saddened if it turned out that these were some kind of vintage item that is no longer made so that when the store sells out of them, I will only be able to get them at jacked-up prices on e-bay.

Should I go out right now and buy up all of the ones at the store? Or are these actually a common commodity that I don't need to worry about running out of?

Well, if you like them, buy them up before they go. But maybe it broke quicker because it's 30 year old plastic? Might be the same for all of them. Maybe get some and try and match up some newer ones to the qualities you like about these. I use both Dunlop Tortex and nylon .88s. The rounded corner ones get demoted to bass work then tossed.

What I like about them is the extra thick part of the pick that you hold. It's got to be like 1/4'' or thicker. Being able to get a better grip on the pick, I think, has a positive effect on my playing.

I usually avoid traditional plain plastic picks because I find them slippery, going instead for the nylon ones with the grippy areas built in. But this completely kicks the ass of nylon in terms of crispness of sound. These things have attack and bite. They make my strings snap and quack like the final solo of "The Ocean". Nylon don't sound like that, and most other picks don't give me a firm enough grip to play that hard.

The next time I break one, I'll try setting it on fire to see if it's celluloid, or something else.

Picks get dull. That crispness you're hearing might just be the sound of an unused pick.

Oh, that's part of it I'm sure but it ain't all of it. I lose picks so frequently that I'm always using new ones anyway.

You might like those ones with the star shape cut out of them. They're heavy and give a different grip. Or try that gorilla snot stuff maybe.

JB does have valid point about the importance of new shit.

I was always the sort of person who will replace individual strings when they break, never replacing the whole set. "Thank God For Memphis" was the first time since I joined Songfight that my acoustic guitar had an entire new set of strings, all put on at the same time. The improvement in sound was enough to convince me to change my ways.

I exclusively use Jim Dunlop .38m nylon picks for guitar. I just can't use those heavy hard picks. But I do have a few cool old school picks with cool designs and graphics on them that I've acquired through the years. I buy them and put them in a box that I will someday turn into some kind of art. I'll probably glue all of the picks to a big piece of black velvet to form a great big pick, then frame it and put it under glass.
......and maybe even make the frame out of 4 old guitar necks.

http://www.davapick.com/

Been using these for years. They are expensive, though.

This reminds me of toothbrush commercials. They all have these new features, like bent, super duper grip handle, with massaging bristles, and plaque-fighting coating blessed by the pope. When it comes down to it though, it's still just a stick with bristles on it.

I like the grippy Jim Dunlop nylon ones best, although I like the thin plastic Martin ones, because I can kind of change of the stiffness by how i bend it when I grip. I usually just use whatever I can find lying around the house.