Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Twaddlefish on March 25, 2009, 07:48:22 AM
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Yes! The unsung heroes of guitar playing, picks are almost essential for any player. So, what pick do you use, or do you use fingers?
I made this thread because last night I played a gig with the BKP pick that came with the pickups. It needs some kind of grip on it, because after 5 minutes I was sweat enough to make it all kinds of unusable, and I've never dropped any other kind of pick in my life during a gig.
Usually I'm in with .73mm or .88mm Dunlops
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3.0mm dunlop stubby triangles (not big stubby - these are too small and not triangular!).
I'm looking to try something a bit more hard-wearing, though, because they're getting shredded all over my lovely guitar!
Roo
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Yep Dunlop Jazz III's nice and thick :lol:
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Clayton (http://www.steveclayton.com) Delrin picks in the large triangle shape. Have been using .73 gauge for ages, but recently moved to .88 & sometimes 1.00...
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Dunlop Jazz III's. Usually the red ones.
I have been switching back and forth between the Jazz III's and the Dunlop .88 Sharp's. Can't make my mind up.
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Either Fender cellulose heavy's or Dunlop Tortex greens.
For strumming - its mediums or even a really thin Martin pick I have to get the really flapping stuff.
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I like the Ultex jazz IIIs
Big picks feel like dumb flappy elephant ears now, and everything but ultex seems to be slippy and/or wear out 10 times faster.
Is good. I like.
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Dunlop .88's for me.
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We are such a bunch of utter geeks. Every time someone starts a thread about picks (or strings) we can't resist all chipping in. Again. :lol:
Someone will start going on about those Red Bear picks which "only" cost about £7,000,000,000,000 each in a minute.
Anyway... Fender heavies, the clear ones. In blue.
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Oh dear, philly....Blue has such poor articulation. That dye causes the material to lower friction and lose grip on the string! Everyone knows blue picks are for n00bs!
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Oh god, I feel such a fool, Mark. :oops:
I do sometimes use the pink ("burgundy mist") ones when I'm working on my sweep picking :P . And "shoreline gold" for jazz.
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I like the Ultex jazz IIIs
Big picks feel like dumb flappy elephant ears now, and everything but ultex seems to be slippy and/or wear out 10 times faster.
Is good. I like.
+1
I come from red Jazz IIIs and recently changed to the Ultex version. On la-la-lah songs I sometimes use .60 dunlops for strumming, but never can find them when needed ...
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Oh god, I feel such a fool, Mark. :oops:
I do sometimes use the pink ("burgundy mist") ones when I'm working on my sweep picking :P . And "shoreline gold" for jazz.
Ah, thats OK, the pink is more hard wearing and has better toanez
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For Jazz ( Specifically for the fully hollow 'Archtop' - where acoustic tone is of paramount importance ).
Dugain Agate pick.
(http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u135/Fourth_Feline/ADG-AGATE-B-1.jpg)
Second choice being one of those small , thick Dunlop '205' jazz picks
(http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u135/Fourth_Feline/images.jpg)
For all other stuff and guitars , a B.K.P. Heavy Plectrum.
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No no no no no! All pics and infact any instrument or amp has to be RED or it just sounds rubbish!
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I use the green tortex (.88), anything else just feels wrong to me.
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Blue tortex, 1mm, no messing :)
Bought a bag of 72 off ebay a couple of years ago, not even half way through, and that's without wearing them down too much!
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I have a huge collection of pics but I mostly use red Jazz III XL and Jazz III Ultex (sadly not XL), I really like the thickness and the sharp point. They still seem to slip out of my fingers though :?
I'm going to order some D'Andreas soon, and I'm also trying to get some Killer Akira Takasaki signature picks which look cool. I'm sure I'll come back to the Dunlops again though :lol:
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J3 XL's (Red FTW) or Britpick 1.22mm.
Easier to grip the britpick, but picking isn't as smooth with it.
The britpick wears faster, but I file it down and sharpen it up every few weeks. Its gunna last!
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Drill a hole through the pick - works every time
Or use the pickby ones with the multitude of holes
(http://www.suncreekmusic.com/images/pib-pb44r120_md.jpg)
Jazz version
(http://www.suncreekmusic.com/images/pib-pb45r150_md.jpg)
I am very fond of the Ibanez Paul Gilbert picks - they are just a bit smaller
(http://www.guitarstop.com/acc/picks/Ibanez/gilbert.jpg)
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Someone will start going on about those Red Bear picks which "only" cost about £7,000,000,000,000 each in a minute.
I just got a new delivery of them in Garnett Red!
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Someone will start going on about those Red Bear picks which "only" cost about £7,000,000,000,000 each in a minute.
I just got a new delivery of them in Garnett Red!
Bulk discount Phil? Ten for £50,000,000,000,000? :P
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Drill a hole through the pick - works every time
Or use the pickby ones with the multitude of holes
(http://www.suncreekmusic.com/images/pib-pb44r120_md.jpg)
Jazz version
(http://www.suncreekmusic.com/images/pib-pb45r150_md.jpg)
I am very fond of the Ibanez Paul Gilbert picks - they are just a bit smaller
(http://www.guitarstop.com/acc/picks/Ibanez/gilbert.jpg)
I have one of the Pick Boy Jazz picks, It's good but I wish it was a bit thicker.
The holes do seem to work though, I might try drilling a Jazz III with my hand held manual drill (could be a whole afternoon's work without an electric one and a drill press :roll: )
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I use all manner of picks depending what I want, including one of Philly's favourite Red Bears :lol:
I find the BKP freebies with the pups a bit heavy, but I have a stock of "mediums" (for electric) and "medium lights" (for accoustic) - can't tell you the exact ones I've got, I'd have to look out the BKP invoice...
I have some green and red dunlop tortex from the "old days" that are not worn down yet - they're getting some use at the moment.
But right now, I'm back to my old favourite of 15-20 years: Dunlop Nylon, .88 I think. For me, I've found this is the best thing when I'm playing Fenders, which is what I'm doing most.
HOWEVER! I'm using an awful lot of finger nowadays, I don't realise I'm doing it, but often the pick is in my hand but not actually in use...
On resonators, I never use any picks at all.
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Am I the only one who finds the BKP free ones to have really rough edges after a few minutes of playing? I find them really "sticky" to pick with if that makes sense.
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I put a hole in a Jazz3 with a penknife reamer in a few minutes whilst watching TV. Just put an indent in first then just spin around and around.
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Blue tortex, 1mm, no messing :)
Bought a bag of 72 off ebay a couple of years ago, not even half way through, and that's without wearing them down too much!
Hooray! I did the same! But with 10, lol
I'm currently at 2 picks in use.
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trying to make my mind up between big stubby 3mm and 2mm (really stiff but don't last long)
I've been meaning to get some Jazz III ultex, the red ones ain't stiff enough and all my old black ones I've been playing around with are knackered (and probably not stiff enough)
I'm going to get a ton of new picks to try out, rusty cooley uses a dunlop gel heavy so I need to try one and the thickest tortex sharp I can get, I got a .88 one and it's hard to play but I think if I practice with one it'll refine my technique
any recommendations for really stiff Jazz III shape picks?
jonathan: how stiff are those holy picks of yours?
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JDC the ultex jazz IIIs are basically inflexible. You can bend them a little by hand, but they dont give at all in playing.
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I put a hole in a Jazz3 with a penknife reamer in a few minutes whilst watching TV. Just put an indent in first then just spin around and around.
I just remembered I have a pin vice that can hold small drill bits so I should be able to do one pretty well in a short time. Yay!
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Ultex Jazz IIIs for me. Very stiff which is great, as I usually bend picks into a banana shape after 5 mins of playing...
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i use dunlop gator grips because i don't drop them (often), and they don't seem to wear out so quickly.
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Am I the only one who finds the BKP free ones to have really rough edges after a few minutes of playing? I find them really "sticky" to pick with if that makes sense.
I do find that they wear the fastest out of the ones I use - and depending on what I've been playing, they go exactly how you describe - mebbe we're a bit too aggressive with them? :lol: But I do find the rough bit tends to wear down pretty quickly for me :lol:
I quite like the tone they produce, which was why I ordered a bunch...
But basically, I like nylon picks - they give me good bite to my tone, they're very expressive for me because they respond to lighter/heavier touch well, they wear slowly and consistently, they usually have a grip, they're nicer to chew on (! :roll:), when I was gigging I found I got less string-breakage with them... etc, etc
But I've found recently that harder plastics and mock tortoise-shell types can produce much better tones for some things where my nylon picks just give me a good compromise. But what the harder picks cannot do for me is the wide range of hard to mellow tones that a nylon gives me, they just seem more of a one trick pony in my hands. If I want that trick, that's the pony to use... But when recording a while back, I found that for all lead work I had to revert to nylon - none of the others had the requisite attack I was after or were enabling me produce enough "expression" in my playing.
I'm sure others can make the harder plastics more expressive than they can nylon - but that's the way it works for me...
It's making me wonder Tom - also based on the tones you use on recordings - have you ever tried nylon? You might get on with it...
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1mm Dunlop Tortex for me. I have been experimenting with Dunlop Jazz IIIs a bit, and I find them fine for lead work, but don't like them so much for playing riffs/chords.
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Am I the only one who finds the BKP free ones to have really rough edges after a few minutes of playing? I find them really "sticky" to pick with if that makes sense.
Strangely enough, I usually found the opposite; in that a new B.K.P ( D'andrea ? ) pick usually took a couple of days of playing, to round / smooth / polish the edges a bit for me. I have subsequently noticed ( and this is why I bought spares at the time ) - that compared to the Planet Waves celluloid of about the same gauge / material - B.K.P sounded a touch more muted / softer when 'worn in'. Unless I just got picks from a different batch a year or two back ?
As mentioned before though, a change in style / pickups / tonal requirement eventually made the B.K.P and Planet Waves sound a bit generic compared to a smooooooth Dunlop Jazz 205 or Smoooth , glassy , articulate and huge sounding Agate picks.
Be warned ( in a nice way ) - B.K.P. Manhattans in a hollow bodied guitar, played cleanly - make every little difference suddenly sound like a big difference.
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I liked the BKP picks a lot. I have been using 096 for a while and they work for me but I get through them quickly but that is probably cos I gig a lot.
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It's making me wonder Tom - also based on the tones you use on recordings - have you ever tried nylon? You might get on with it...
I use those thinner nylon ones on acoustic but have never got on with them for electric for some reason. Feel weird, and I actually found them to give a duller tone than tortex..
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It's making me wonder Tom - also based on the tones you use on recordings - have you ever tried nylon? You might get on with it...
I use those thinner nylon ones on acoustic but have never got on with them for electric for some reason. Feel weird, and I actually found them to give a duller tone than tortex..
I think you might be right there - I used tortex picks for years, but went back to nylon, I'll have to do a little test myself now :lol:
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I use Tortex or Nylon Dunlops mostly 1.00mm or the next size down depending what I'm doing.
I'm using one with Homer Simpson on at the moment made by Grover Allman M size. :D