Hey all! Long time no see! Nolly's signature set brought me back, so thought I'd pop in and see who's still around. Hope you're all well. ^_^
So obviously I've not been around here for a fair while, I've been off on some adventures.... physically, spiritually and tonally. I posted a while back about our first trip to Japan and we've been again since, and I'm on the cusp of planning our third for in a couple of years' time. My wife and I are also adopting a kid, and he's all kinds of awesome! We're hoping to plan our next Japanese adventure to coincide with the new Studio Ghibli theme park opening, because much to our joy he loves My neighbour Totoro.
But on to something more topical: Guitar Picks. The interface between you and your instrument (unless you're a finger-style player, of course!)
My eyes have been well and truly opened the last couple of years. One of my best mates, John, has been a collector and champion of the thicker pick for a long time, and I decided to have a look through his collection and see if anything could make me cheat on my trusty old green Tortex. By Odin, I had my mind blown, hah! I can no longer play anything under 2.4mm. I've played picks made from stone, agate, horn, wood, tagua, resins, acrylic, juma, kirinite, the list goes on. So far, tonally, I'm really into acrylic acetate and tagua, with hard epoxy coming in a close third.
You get quite a bit of chirpy attack with a thicker pick, but I was surprised at how much certain materials can add to tone in general. Wood and Tagua for example I have found give a bit more of a bassy boost, whilst acrylics / acetates etc can give you a bit more in the mids.
So of course I had to get in on the action, I've started a small collection but honestly the money sink is a scary prospect so I'm being careful with what I choose to buy. I've seen some of these things go for hundreds of £ depending on what it's made from and who is making it (there's even someone making Diamond picks that go for £1000's, but I can't imagine it sounding very nice.
)
I've also started my own range of picks (link in my sig to John's site where my shop is) with my own take on some classic tip shapes. But honestly, before my friend told me about this stuff I thought Plectra were just what you get on a guitar shop counter and that's it, I had no idea there was an entire plectroverse out there. There are some guys making really crazy, out-there stuff.
Here are some of my creations for your perusal, enjoy my weird brain-pictures come to life!
