Am I missing the "point" about the Dawg-type picks?

[Tobin]

Well, shucks, that would be great! It won't be the most up-to-date info, but it would be interesting, for the sake of posterity. And, of course, the story.

Top row, second from left, is the one he dropped in '88. It's smaller and rounder than his modern Dawg picks like the one to the right of it.

[journeybear]

Thanks. Very cool display.

Got to thinking about why guitar picks are A-OK with me. I see a pick as a point delivery system. The point is the business end of this, and the rest is there just to provide the user with the means to hold onto it, so as to be able to apply the point to its purpose. If a small old-school pick works for you, fine; I prefer having a pick with enough surface area to hold onto so I don't have to think about it at all. The standard guitar pick shape is certainly satisfactory in this regard, a large triangle is perhaps even better - with three points, it should last three times as long, in theory if not practice.

[Paul Merlo]

I use Dawg picks. I bought them at first when I moved on from Fender Medium guitar picks. I chose them mostly for the name and price. I bought a few and thought they were fine and they sound great in my living room. But, I did think they lacked volume, so I took one to a grinding wheel and sharpened it up. It sounds louder and clearer now, but After skimming through this discussion, I'm now inclined to try something else. This should be a fun experiment!

[bratsche]

It's really weird - when I first started playing, I gravitated toward rounder points on my picks. I found them much easier to play with relative speed and accuracy, at that time. Over the years, though, I have reversed, and done a complete 180 degree turnaround. Today if I try to play with a rounded point pick, it feels really clumsy, slows me down tremendously, makes me miss notes in fast passages - all the exact same things that used to happen to me in the beginning when I would try to play with a pointed pick! Go figure... some things are just inexplicable, I guess. But right now, give me pointed picks.

bratsche

[DavidKOS]

I certainly don't consider pointedly raising the question, or making the suggestion, to be trolling or anything of the kind.
(Although you are preaching the message now in at least two separate threads!)

I wonder if common pick choice for players of classical or neopolitan instruments has to do with them being .....more lightly strung, or other technical factors? Is it possibly a choice that goes back to the traditions of southern/eastern European mandolin-type instruments (bouzoukis, ouds, ?), that maybe were played with quills or other long, skinny plectra?

Maybe so. I also play oud and Greek bouzouki, the current favored Bouzouki pick is a small triangle, medium or a bit harder, but the oud is played with a long plastic mezrab or risha, which was a feather originally.

I may have made this "point' on several pick threads!

David, could you post pictures to the different picks?
I'm guessing some folks do not know the difference between "Roman" and "Pettine" picks.
.

Sure

Pettine:


Modern Heart, variation of an old style:


The well-used picture from http://www.marilynnmair.com/:


Note the variety including the Roman/Ranieri picks; I use the Neapolitan types.

[DavidKOS]

http://www.dandreausa.com/proplecs

D'Andrea has been making picks a long time.



from Pick Punch:


another chart on a couple of sites:

[DavidKOS]

And a really old picture of D'Andrea picks from http://pickcollecting.presspublisher...-s-army-browns



Quite a variety of Neapolitan picks, even a Roman style, #18.

1928-47 vintages.

another site with info:

http://www.oldpicks.com/photos.php

http://www.oldpicks.com/catalogs.php

1928 D'Andrea catalog - lots of shapes

http://www.oldpicks.com/attachments/File/DA_1928.pdf

[David Lewis]

I stopped using a pick on guitar 25 years ago. (I started playing 26 years ago). When I started mandolin 9 or so years ago, I had to learn how to use a pick. (the arguments I had with ignoramuses about using picks - 'what electric guitarists use their fingers? 'erm, Jeff Beck? Is he good enough for you?). I gravitated to jazzmando proplecs, then jazzmando V-Picks. I also use Dawg's, Primetones, Ultex's, Tortex's, and Fender heavies.

Why do I like the round ones? I don't know. I like the pointy ones too.

[Petrus]

Great selection of pick pics there, DavidKOS!

We could add metal picks, picks made from other things (coins, etc.), finger picks (which some have confessed to using on a mandolin), etc. I like the ones with cork on them for grip ... that's something anyone could do on their own too.

How about a nice platinum pick for £5,000? (Maybe this should be in the Traveling Pick Sampler thread)



http://www.timber-tones.com/treasure...trum-237-p.asp

[David Lewis]

That puts the BC into perspective. I wonder how many they sell? i wonder how many of the gold at 1500 or the silver at 100 they sell?

And, who uses fingerpicks? Any video?

[Timbofood]

Thank you David, that's quite a handful. I had seen references to "Pettine" style but no examples of "Roman" thanks.

[DavidKOS]

Thank you David, that's quite a handful. I had seen references to "Pettine" style but no examples of "Roman" thanks.

Search our forum -there are a few threads on the Roman picks.

If there is the opposite of a Dawg pick, the Roman one would be it - 2 sharp points!

[DavidKOS]

video of how to hold the Roman pick:



and another pick group:

[Timbofood]

The shop I worked in had every one of those picks in the last post!

[DataNick]

I just acquired a custom made pick that has ends that are "Dawg-like". Too round for me, so I'm going to have it machined more "pointy" like a BC rounded with the bevel or perhaps even a little more of a point to the ends. Like Bratsche, I'm evolving from round to pointy...I'll get there one of these days David...LOL!....But yes, I can't use the Dawg/Golden Gate...too round...

[zedmando]

The thing is, if I ever need to get the sound produced by a more rounded tip - I'm not sure exactly what that would be - I can just rotate my guitar pick and use one of the shoulders for that.

That's what I've done--on mandolin & guitar--rounded tips on picks mess me up most of the time though--but some people play some great stuff with them.

[UsuallyPickin]

Well .... I have tried as many new shapes and materials as I have found emerge over the years. Metal , stone, wood, various plastics, polymers, round , rounded, pointy triangle . standard "guitar" pick shape are some of the picks I've tried out. I finally settled on the large rounded triangle shape and moved on to BC picks for their material. I have not tried a new pick in several years now ....... but the Primetone looks interesting...... R/

[JeffD]

I have a couple of Roman style picks made by Red Bear, of the same material as their other picks. I tried a bunch of ways of holding it, all of them awkward. I settled on something pretty close to what is shown in that video. I bend or curl my index finger a bit more.

I cannot sit that way however. My leg will fall asleep.

[tkdboyd]

I have a couple of Roman style picks made by Red Bear, of the same material as their other picks. I tried a bunch of ways of holding it, all of them awkward.

I have to approach the angle, pressure, etc... or the Red Bear is so screechy it is almost unbearable. It seems to be a matter of me not practicing enough with it to comfortable right out of the gate.

I cannot sit that way however. My leg will fall asleep.

I use a footrest rather than the crossed leg method. I was also using a rubber mat for the back of the bowl, but I have become so accustomed to it I don't use anymore.

[Scott Tichenor]

Don't tell this guy.

I am so stealing that photo and posting it on Facebook and Twitter.

[BradKlein]

from the M-Cafe interview:

Question from AlanN: In an old publicity photo, you had a perfectly round pick stuck in the strings. Do you still use a round pick? And thanks for all the great tunes and playing!

Bobby Osborne: I just played with a pick until it wore off round and got another. That photo just so happened to be taken with a round pick I had used that day. Thank you for asking.

[DavidKOS]

from the M-Cafe interview:

"Bobby Osborne: I just played with a pick until it wore off round and got another. That photo just so happened to be taken with a round pick I had used that day."

That's wonderful - a lot of those old master players, they sort of used what they had. If that picture was taken a few months sooner or later the pick would have been something different.

[mvlh]

I don't mind them but for the most part I like a big thick triangle with sharp ends that won't slip or nudge away while I'm playing. Guitar picks are, generally, a tad too small, although they will work (if I remember to keep a good, solid tight grip on them.) I do use the Dawg, mostly while practicing. But it does seem more often as not the same grip problem will happen in a frenzy. So I like the big fat pointy triangles most.

[AlanN]

Here's what Jimmy Gaudreau said at one time:

Pick: Perfectly round, approximately the size of a quarter and made of medium-firm plastic. It promotes more solid rhythm chop, quick tremolo and single string playing.

Don't know what he uses today.

[Pick&Grin]

I don't use picks with a sharp point (currently use a Dunlop Primetone 1.4mm Triangle ), but can't figure out my Dawg 2 pick. Tried playing with it a number of times, at various angles, but just can't get much sound out of my mandolin when I use it (???).