| Skip the
nonsense and go straight to the instructions (especially
if you are inclined to argue, this is all just a bunch of opinion)
Points and Thickness
As soon after I started playing mandolin a little more seriously
I took lessons with Jack
Tuttle (footnote)
and he had me using Golden Gate picks. It takes some work
to learn how to drive a fat, round pick but it is worth it.
The thicker pick was an obvious improvement on tone and control.
When you drive the pick across a string you know when it is
going to cleanly "snap." A floppy pick is just a
little less predictable. I liked the rounded points but I
thought that maybe they were a little too rounded. I like
the sound you get when the pick isn't parallel to the strings.
When the pick is too rounded I think it tends to slide over
the string a little and make your note a little less predictable.
I'm sure this is never a problem for the John Reischman (footnote)
but I needed a little help. I reshaped them to a slightly
sharper point, just a little bit more like standard pick.
I think a slightly more pointed pick allows a little more
forgiveness without compromising too much on tone.
A problem with reshaping Golden Gates was that they would
be too small by the time I was done. The big Fender "dorito"
picks were way to thin to mess with.
Edges
One of the biggest problems with the Golden Gates is that
the edges are a mess. They just don't polish them like "the
good old days", whenever that was. I would always spend
10 or 15 minutes sanding the roughness off of the edges. While
doing this I discovered that I liked to have a little more
of an edge on the pick. If you take a close look at the profile
of a Golden Gate you'll notice that they have a very round
edge, a little towards the the "square" side of
a half circle. A thick Clayton is practically square with
only the very edge taken off. I like an edge that is still
convex, but that does come to somewhat of a point. I think
that it snaps off of the string cleaner. Don't go too far
though. A knife fine edge is another problem. It sounds thin
and wears quickly.
Materials
I tried a lot of different material. Mostly I have modified
commercially available picks. Most of the commercial picks
are too small to work with or too thin. I think a thin pick
leads to a pathetic little tinkley sound. You don't need to
use the heaviest pick available, but a Fender medium is just
no good. Enough said.
I have played with a few tortoise shell picks and they were
always too thin (both physically and sonically). I recently
got a thick piece from an old hand mirror. I made a nice thick
pick from it, and I think it sounds worse than the plastic.
There is too much "clatter" from the pick on the
string, as opposed to the string vibrating. I was disappointed
that I didn't find the "Holy Grail" of picks, but
I'm glad that no innocent turtles will die because of me.
Cow horn and bone aren't worth much either.
Eventually Gryphon started selling the Clayton
picks. They have almost squared edges and are way too
pointy but they make a good starting material. I've made picks
out of the thicker triangle shaped picks that they sell. The
thickest is the 1.9 (white, acetate) is my favorite. The the
1.52 (white, acetate) 1.52 Delrin picks also work great. I
can't distinguish much different between them and the Acetal
Polymer picks. They are apparently dyed after manufacture.
When you take off the points and edge you get down to the
"white" and the black ends up a very dark blue after
sanding. The 1.20 (yellow/amber Ultem) is preferred by some
of my friends. I think the 1.20 yellow picks look cooler,
but they don't take or hold an edge the same way as the acetate
polymer. I think they are a little bright and make alot of
clattery sounds when they hit the strings.
| Steve Clayton Says... |
| Acetal
Polymer is a unique material among guitar picks,
producing warm clean overtones, while holding up to the
most demanding performance. All are white, making them
easy to find when dropped on stage. |
Delrin
XL is a very tough material. It produces a brighter
sound than our Acetal/Polymer, but not as bright as Ultem
Tortoise. |
Ultem
closely resembles real tortoiseshell in sound, feel and
color. This new space age material produces a clean crisp
tone with limited flex. Unlike real tortoiseshell, the
material will not fracture. |
D'Andrea also sells
a very nice 1.5mm Pro Plec pick (their website says it's celluloid
but I don't believe it). It is a very attractive tortoise
shell looking pick and has, by far, the nicest "factory"
edge. If they were a little less pointy they would be just
about perfect out of the box. The material sounds a little
deader than the others (drop the different picks on a glass
or stone table. Some "plink" and some "thud."),
I don't know if that is a problem. It doesn't seem to affect
the instrument tone as much compared to the effect the shape
and edge have.
Grisman has a new pick.
They appear to be the same material as the D'andrea noted
above, but with the Grisman/Golden Gate rounded point. Nice
finish and all, but a little round for my taste and this isn't
my favorite material. Its a little softer and kind of dampend.
I work at Gryphon
Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto on Tuesday evenings
from 5-8. If you drop by and ask for me I'll show you how
I make them. Maybe I'll even really do a workshop some day,
although it's mostly just something I joke about.
Go to the Instructions
|
