Have you guys ever tried bevelling your own picks?

[SpencerMando]

So I'm on the edge about ordering a blue chip, I heard that they bevel their picks. Didn't know what that was so I looked it up. I decided to take some sandpaper to a 1.5mm delrin since I had a few others so I could do a sound test with/without. The difference is crazy, without the bevel the sound just sounds flat and dead but with the bevel it sounds bright and is easier to play. This just edges me closer to clicking the buy button on the BCs.

[Tobin]

It used to be that picks didn't come with bevels. Users would have to wear them in, or sand them to a bevel of their own liking. It's been done this way for a long, long time. Factory bevels are pretty new.

I tried doing my own bevels on a couple of picks, and the result was awful. I'd rather spend my time playing the mandolin than ruining picks, so I just buy them with a bevel (yep, Blue Chip).

[OldSausage]

Yes I have. Beveling your own picks is almost as good as having a nice Blue Chip

My first mandolin teacher told me that a really good way to get the right bevel on your pick was to scrape it on the paved surface of a parking lot. It may have worked for him, but it never did much for me.

[Rodney Riley]

I've got a Blue Chip TD50 and a Dunlop Delrin 1.5. And lately I've been choosing to use the Dunlop and not the Blue Chip. Not sure why, they both seem to stick to your fingers. But the Dunlop seems to be easier/smoother to pick with. Not sure about the Dunlop's bevel. It was givin' to me used. But then again, if I'm having trouble holding on to picks. I go back to my old stand by. An Anglepick M10R.

[Iron]

I really like speed bevels on my picks Wegens for guitar, I make my mandolin picks because I have never found one that is as big as I like and do bevel those.

[Shelagh Moore]

It's not difficult to bevel a pick (I use fine wet and dry paper and finish with metal polish). A good bevel can make a big difference to playability and tone.

[ccravens]

Dremel and sandpaper works for me.

Or a Blurchip, pre-beveled.

[OldGus]

Thanks for the tip, Spencer. Have you tried punching a hole in the center to help with grip? I have used some pics like that and it does help.

[SpencerMando]

Have you tried punching a hole in the center to help with grip? I have used some pics like that and it does help.

I haven't tried that! I have actually never had problems with grip, perhaps its due to the fact that I don't sweat much or something. All of my picks (ESPECIALLY the delrins and the V-Picks) grip onto my skin like glue. I think it might have to do with my finger acidity (or lack thereof) too. I can use (guitar) strings for months before they start to rust, I play them a good hour-2hours a day.

[mandroid]

Treat the pick like your fingernails ..same tools work. files & such ..

[OldSausage]

Treat the pick like your fingernails ..same tools work. files & such ..

Just don't expect it to grow back.

[Ken_P]

Red Bear sells a "Pick Maintenance Kit" which is just a collection of progressively finer files. I've been using that to reshape my own picks for years and with a little practice, it's very easy to get exactly the shape and finish you want.

[Charles E.]

I tend to reshape and bevel my picks no matter the brand. I like a teardrop shape, so now am playing custom shaped Golden Gate, V pick and John Pearce FT's. I use micro mesh for the final polishing.

[Tobin]

It's not difficult to bevel a pick (I use fine wet and dry paper and finish with metal polish). A good bevel can make a big difference to playability and tone.

That's a little like saying it's not difficult to cut your own hair or sharpen your own knives. Certainly, they can be hacked at by almost anybody with rudimentary tools. But doing them well is another matter altogether.

[bratsche]

I tend to reshape and bevel my picks no matter the brand. ...
I use micro mesh for the final polishing.

Me too, although my preferences are large triangles and the elongated Roman-style picks. But I've also made numerous picks from scratch since I started playing, always experimenting to find just what I like and/or need (BCs didn't do it for me).

And I sharpen my own knives (and lawnmower blades), and have cut my own hair for almost 40 years...

bratsche

[Shelagh Moore]

It's not difficult to bevel a pick (I use fine wet and dry paper and finish with metal polish). A good bevel can make a big difference to playability and tone.

That's a little like saying it's not difficult to cut your own hair or sharpen your own knives. Certainly, they can be hacked at by almost anybody with rudimentary tools. But doing them well is another matter altogether.

But a skill worth acquiring if you can get 30 well-bevelled picks for the price of one Bluechip!

[tree]

A skill worth acquiring, definitely. A fairly easy skill to acquire, also. It's not rocket science by any stretch of the imagination - if you understand the principal of sanding through a range of grits you're halfway there.

You basically sand the outline of the pick to the shape you want. Once you have the shape, you sand the bevel from both sides. There are probably online video clips that can show you how. Once you have the shape and bevel to your liking, proceed through finer grits to polish the bevel until it is nice and slick. badda bing. It's a pretty good return for not much investment.

[Tom Coletti]

I used a Dunlop Gator Grip for a couple of years or so, and it wore itself down into a great bevel that produces a tone that I like, so I filed/sanded about five or six other gator grips into the same shape to a desirable effect. It still takes a few months or so to get the duplicates smoothed out and sounding like the 2-year-old one, but it's better than spending another two years wearing down each one, and now I have plenty of spares in case I lose the original.

--Tom

[acousticphd]

I reshape the bevel and points of all my picks.

[Dobe]

Have you tried punching a hole in the center to help with grip? I have used some pics like that and it does help.

I like the thicker beveled picks, then go around the main zone on both sides and bore round divots w/a ball dremel bit. Not holes but pretty deep indents.

[Mike Snyder]

Shaping a pick bevel was the easy part for me. Getting that mirror-finish polish on the bevel was the hard. Many,many tiny scratch marks from the abrasives must be polished out before I get that bell-like tone from a pick. The polish phase is much more tedious than the shaping, for me. No implication of difficulties for others.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I've used a Dunlop 'Delrin' 500 1.14mm thick pick for a long time as an alternative to my usual Wegen 1 mm thick picks & they're a terrific pick. They're very smooth but don't slide around in your fingers.They don't have much of a bevel as they come,but 5 minutes work with a nail file & a nail buffer & they're ready to go.As smooth as silk over the strings & as silent as you'd ever wish,
Ivan

[Stephen Perry]

I used to bevel on a sanding wheel quickly, touch up with a series of nail sticks, then buff on a cloth wheel. Very fast. Can check the bevels after and quickly adjust any odd spots. Soon get the rhythm and churn them out. Nail sticks go from rough to fine incrementally and do nicely for such things, and the wheel will get the shine.