I read the post over on Guitritus about getting a whole bag of new plectrums (plectra? Is it Greek?) with envy. I’ve got a problem with guitar picks: I only like one. There it is in the photo. It’s pink and it’s a millimetre thick and because I’ve had it for about ten years it’s got a weird wear pattern on the end and the logo’s nearly gone so I can barely read who made it but its mine and it’s the only plectrum for me.
Every time I drop it off the back of a badly lit stage I have to spend a horrified few minutes scrabbling in the mess of dust and cabling until I’m joyfully reunited with it. If I was to have a signature piece of guitar equipment, it would be a plectrum: I’d have my original mapped to micron precision with lasers and recreated exactly, but even then I’d not be happy with the copies and would keep using mine until its worn away to a nub.
Believe me, I’ve tried others, but they’re just not as good. Not quite the right flexibility, or too thick, or they’ve got funny dimples to aid grip, or (and here’s the catch) they’re just not worn in enough. I think I need to buy some more, but file the ends down slightly to match what’s happened to my pick.
Seriously, Eric Johnson might complain about the brand of his batteries, but he’s got nothing on me and plectrums.
Comments (5 Responses)
LOL. Oh you poor chap! Slave to the terror of plectrum loss!
How about you buy a bag of new ones and leave them overnight in a rock tumbler? ;o)
Si, seriously, Eric Johnson is not far behind….. He uses the little red Dunlop Jazz III (springier than the black) but was not happy with the more recent ones. He had them analyse one of his old picks and attempt to reproduce the nylon grade exactly to give it the required feel/attack. You are both pick-geeks. Me, not me. I haven’t imported 200 ‘Alice’ brand 1.2mm pick from America or anything because they are ‘just so’ and nothing else will do now. No no, that would just be silly….
And i got one word for you. Tubes. Don’t even get me started on how obsessed i am with those these days. Got me an amp that i can bias myself, and currently seem to have a different pair in there every week. I’m sure they all sound the same really, but have convinced myself otherwise. Even buying into the cryo craze now.
Expensive tinkerings….
Hi by the way. How you doin? 14 weeks til the full time guitar fun starts for me. Hooray. jef
I would say “You are shitting my arse” regarding EJ’s picks, but it seems that you are not. Even better is the reaction on the EJ website forum. I’ve never seen plectrums cause such excitement. I always had you down as an Alice band wearer though, Jeff :-p
Cryo craze? What you talkin’ bout, Willis? Is this kind of like keeping your CDs in the fridge because they sound better chilled?
lol! Glad the internet is, for once, able to substantiate my wild claims! AS for cryo tubes, start here: http://www.watfordvalves.com/products.asp?id=10 for a lowdown. Frosty! Sounds like whacko-homeopathic-crystal-aligning-dream-catching twaddle (well it did to me on first pass), but apparently there IS something in it (according to Nick Guppy at least). And NASA use it to tune shuttle parts, so must be clever. Although a cynic might say its a good way to part a wide-eyed, easily suggestible tone junkie from an extra £5-7 per valve…..
ps. Alice bRand. Evil man.
That cryo treatment is weird; I wouldn’t expect a treatment at low temperature to help a metal crystal lattice to move, I’d expect it to get locked into its current state. Some sort of annealing process is more what I’d have in mind, though I’m not a materials scientist.
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