Pickmaker?

[newey]

Under the heading of "Things one finds when looking for something else entirely", I found this:



Now, this is not to pimp any particular make/model of these things, I saw several different types advertised on EBay, with prices from $16 USD up to about $50. But, I'm intrigued. At any given time, I probably have 2-3 random gift cards, Starbucks or whatever, with about 17¢ on each, that would be more useful to me as picks than taking up valuable real estate inside my wallet.

Anyone have any experience with one of these? Do they work as advertised? Do I go $16 or $50 or somewhere in between?

[sumgai]

May 18, 2020 20:54:03 GMT -5 newey said:

......
Anyone have any experience with one of these? 

No, but whenever I see things like this, I always make sure that I can return it for whatever reason.  My wallet is allergic to "unwanted permanent obtainium".  (Betcha Chris would've liked that one!)




sumgai

[JohnH]

Yes my friend at work has one or something similar. He made me a pick out of a defunct membership card from a video store that had been loitering in my wallet. It does a decent clean job if the base material is a thickness that suits you.

[thetragichero]

figure out how to get Dunlop tortex grips on credit cards and I'm in!

[gumbo]

Get a machine that turns old picks into valid credit cards and I AM IN !!!

[reTrEaD]

May 19, 2020 7:20:00 GMT -5 gumbo said:

Get a machine that turns old picks into valid credit cards and I AM IN !!!

You never disappoint. lol

[reTrEaD]

May 18, 2020 20:54:03 GMT -5 newey said:

Do I go $16 or $50 or somewhere in between?

I dunno. Here's another list of possibilities.

wiki.ezvid.com/best-guitar-pick-punches

Many years ago I bought a gross of Fender Heavy 351s from my local music store (and five pick holders. Each holder has an adhesive backing with a removeable tape so they can be attached to a surface or just placed in your pocket. Each holds 5 picks.) That cost me less than $30 total.

I haven't bought a pick since. But I'll be due for another purchase within a few years.

[sumgai]

May 19, 2020 7:20:00 GMT -5 gumbo said:

Get a machine that turns old picks into valid credit cards and I AM IN !!!

And I suppose you want that card to be unlimited, and paid by someone else, don't you.....

[asmith]

At some point on my World Tour of the USA I lost all my picks but had a used phone payment card in my wallet. I took a pair of scissors to it and it worked great.

[thetragichero]

my dad used to cut up old milk jugs. but he also was a thin pick user

[newey]

Based on JohnH's favorable impression, I'm going to pull the trigger on one of these puppies. I'll report back. As Rt said, I too have a big stash of pickups, a gross somehow found its way into my Xmas stocking several years ago, and I still have most of them. This is not something I or anyone really needs, it's just sorta cool, and I'm in favor of repurposing plastic waste when possible.

Trage said:

figure out how to get Dunlop tortex grips on credit cards and I'm in!

My thought was that, if one used the old-style credit cards with the raised numbers(which are now mostly going away since no one uses card imprinters anymore), the numbered region of the card would give some grip-shun thereupon, by stamping through the raised numbering.

[frets]

Guys,
I just bought one for $14.98 (£12.25) with free shipping. I am constantly looking for picks; plus, it’s “Green.” I’ll report back. I think if one were to use the embossed section of say an old bank or credit card, that would suffice in terms of a solid grip.

[newey]

I think if one were to use the embossed section of say an old bank or credit card, that would suffice in terms of a solid grip.

Great minds think alike!

[sumgai]

May 20, 2020 15:33:33 GMT -5 newey said:

Great minds think alike!

Either that, or it goes something like "Great channels run in the same mind"... I dunno fer shur.


I'm still carrying around the same pick I got from Black Eagle Music, a long-gone store in western Montana.   After 30 or more years, you might think the thing would be worn down to unusability, but t'aint so. Other picks have come and gone, except for those made for me by quarry (He Digs Rock!) - they're made out of a cymbal, and you can't get any brighter of a tone out of whichever string you use, trust me on that one. (I still have 'em, quarry!)





sumgai

[newey]

So, I got this thing today- It's a "Pick-A-Palooza", "Blue Thunder" model. Or maybe it's a "Blue Thunder", "Pick-A-Palooza" model, it's not clear from the packaging which is which, or why it has two names in the first place. Looks like this:



It came with 15 sheets of psychedelic pick material, all of which seems to be the same thickness, although I didn't measure it. Roughly a "Medium" pick, I'd say. I seems to work as advertised. I was concerned whether the edges might be sharp to the touch, but that doesn't seem to be an issue.

I made up a bunch of picks out of one of the sheets, you can get 4 picks per sheet but maybe more if you align carefully and flip the sheet around after each one:

I also made several out of an old JC Penney credit card, to see if the embossed numbers added grip. However, the numbers are at the bottom of the card, so the embosssed portion comes out at the tip end. If you flip the card around, you miss the embossed part entirely. Hoever, I then trimmed 1/3 of the width from the top portion of the card; this allows the embossed portion to be centered on the area of thepick one would grip- and this seems to work OK, gives a good grip on the upper half of the pick.  You can see that in the center one of the three at the bottom; the ones on the left and right were my first two attempts, where the numbers ended up at the tip.

It also comes with a keyfob pick holder, made out of real leather, that holds about a half dozen picks, so one would always haave a pick (or, several . . ) so long as one carries one's keys. Of course, physical keys to things are quickly going the way of bank checks- I figure in about 10 years or so, no one will carry a keyring anymore, so the pickholder keyring will be superfluous. (you can see a portion of the keyfob in the first photo, just below my glasses.)

[JohnH]

I like it! Something we didn't know we all needed.

They say that 'tone is in the fingers', but obviously it's actually in the pick.

Now you can make the right tools for the job to play 'Blues' or get the 'Brown' sound. The old store card from the back of the wallet where you put the half-chewed piece of gum (for 'later'), will be great for playing 'Grunge'. When the plastic layers start to fall apart you can 'Shred'. But I advise against attempting 'Metal' since that will probably void the warranty.

[ashcatlt]

May 20, 2020 19:50:15 GMT -5 sumgai said:

...they're made out of a cymbal...

Great, now I need a bronze pick!

My first pick ever was a heavy stainless steel “trapezoid” shape which is really like a rounded triangle. I switched to more standard shaped steel after a while, but eventually I lost the couple I had and couldn’t find a source in those days when we were just inventing e-commerce. Switched to either just no pick or the purple Tortex. When I was in the goth/country band, I found out about Dunlop’s special black series and got a bunch of the purple-sized black ones. ‘Cause goth. It was great until you dropped the thing on stage... Anyway not too terrible long ago I finally got myself a couple decent steel ones again. It’s a different sound, and a different feel, and kind of makes me play different things, so I tend to keep it for specific things, though I did deliberately do an entire album with the steel pick not long ago.