"Space age flat pick" I-Tone

[sblock]

For those of you thinking about making your own picks out of polyimide plastic (say, Vespel or Meldin), these "space-age" materials can be purchased in small sheets from a number of suppliers, for example, here .

But please note that a (10" x 10") sheet of VESPEL SP-1, with a thickness of 0.062" (1.57 mm; perfect for making CT55's or suchlike) costs $1,100.00!! You could probably CNC machine about 100 picks from such a sheet, and that would bring your materials costs down to $11 per pick. Definitely not cheap! If we estimate the labor cost at around the same number, then its costs the maker at least $22 per pick out the door, before factoring in overhead, advertising, and all that. Small wonder, then, that a commercial pick made from polyimide goes for around $35. Maybe now we'll hear less whining about the price of a BlueChip? But probably not.

[Hendrik Ahrend]

Thanks a lot, sblock, for the first reasonable remark about BC pricing. Meanwhile, I'm glad such things are available at all and remembering the old Gibson slogan, "You pay for what you need, whether you buy it or not."

[LadysSolo]

Heck, that makes the Blue Chip price sound like a bargain! Especially when you consider they will take them back if you don't like them....

[pops1]

Heck, that makes the Blue Chip price sound like a bargain! Especially when you consider they will take them back if you don't like them....

Plus they seem to last for ever.

[sblock]

Plus they seem to last for ever.

Yes, but this incredible durability makes for a rough business model! If no one ever needs to replace their BlueChip pick, then the only return sales the company gets are when folks lose them, or decide to switch to some other model. That makes for very few return customers, who are satisfied for life. Once all the pickers that love them have their own BlueChips, the market saturates and bottoms out.

And it's hard to see how they could innovate further, to create an additional market -- but maybe that's possible?

Imagine if your car never wore out, or your shoes...

[keithb]

Imagine if your car never wore out, or your shoes...

Ah, but I don't lose my truck in the couch cushions!

[DavidKOS]

Yes, but this incredible durability makes for a rough business model! If no one ever needs to replace their BlueChip pick, then the only return sales the company gets are when folks lose them, or decide to switch to some other model. That makes for very few return customers, who are satisfied for life. Once all the pickers that love them have their own BlueChips, the market saturates and bottoms out.

And it's hard to see how they could innovate further, to create an additional market -- but maybe that's possible?

Imagine if your car never wore out, or your shoes...

So picks need some planned obsolescence?

love it!

[pops1]

I have 3 left, and had a couple more. If you like it and have more than one mandolin then I like a pick and tuner in each case. Big problem for me is I am liking the Wegen now, where will it end?

[sblock]

Ah, but I don't lose my truck in the couch cushions!

When I was younger, I managed to lose my truck in the couch cushions. But then again, it was a Matchbox toy.

[Bertram Henze]

...this incredible durability makes for a rough business model!

Businesses are not supposed to last forever either. They are all part of the big fermentation cycle. There's many a product that outlasted the business that made it.

[keithb]

Got the I-Tone 41 in the mail this morning. It came in a hand-addressed standard letter envelope with Shawn Lane's return address, containing the pick in the usual style plastic bag and cardboard hanger.

I'm knee-deep in other things today, but here are my quick thoughts:

It's ever so slightly smaller than a Blue Chip TAD, with straighter edges and sharper points. The material is VERY stiff. Tone is good - there's the sharper attack I'd expect from a stiffer, thinner pick, but not too much pick noise and it moves through the strings well. I think I get more volume from my BC CT55, but I'm also used to the BC, and I'm sure I've adjusted my technique to get the sound I want from it.



I'll post a comparison video with the BC, Wegen, etc when I get some time - probably tomorrow.

[pheffernan]

I'll post a comparison video with the BC, Wegen, etc when I get some time - probably tomorrow.

I wish you had a Red Bear in the field as well!

[keithb]

I wish you had a Red Bear in the field as well!

Me too! I should really pick one up at some point - anyone know which size is closest to the Fender 346/Blue Chip TAD?

For a mediocre mandolin player, I seem to have ended up with a lot of picks...

[stevedenver]

Garfields bb blossom eh? Way cool tune.

[bratsche]

I don't play much mandolin, but with mandola, I've evolved toward thick picks to the extent that even a 2mm pick feels thin to me. It's not at all about just being stiff and unbending, as those things are now rendered moot. It's more to do with shock absorption. I draw the best tone when my hand is relaxed. My hand is relaxed when it isn't becoming sore. It isn't becoming sore when it can't feel the strings' vibrations through the pick. The thicker the pick, the less vibration I feel. Naturally, the bevel must be thinner than the center mass. Right now, I'm liking the acrylic picks for that combination of center.thickness with smooth, delicate bevel. I can play for hours on end with a 4mm pointed triangle pick and not get a sore right hand. Accuracy, speed and dynamic range have very much improved as well.

I've "broken the $35 barrier", but for that money, I obtained 4 plectrums that will probably last the rest of my lifetime, if I don't lose them. Resold the BC 60 long ago, because it felt like a potato chip, was too noisy, and made my hand sore from the vibration.

bratsche

[Mandoplumb]

Bratsche you better watch how you talk about BC picks on this forem. The pic masters are watching and they don't know the emporer has no clothes.

[Johnny60]

@ Bertram (or anybody who recognises it) - what's the car in the photo that you posted? One seriously nice piece of kit!

[Rodney Riley]

@ Bertram (or anybody who recognises it) - what's the car in the photo that you posted? One seriously nice piece of kit!

Auburn. Not sure of the year. (Was thinkin Cord or Auburn till I saw the writing over front door of the building.
And I could be wrong. Since was built maybe 15+ or so years before I was born.

[Johnny60]

Thanks, Rodney.

Just googled it - it's a 1935 Auburn 851 Speedster.

Now I have CAS!!

[Stevo75]

The thicker the pick, the less vibration I feel. Naturally, the bevel must be thinner than the center mass. Right now, I'm liking the acrylic picks for that combination of center.thickness with smooth, delicate bevel. I can play for hours on end with a 4mm pointed triangle pick and not get a sore right hand. Accuracy, speed and dynamic range have very much improved as well.

bratsche

What kind of acrylic picks are you using?

[pheffernan]

Me too! I should really pick one up at some point - anyone know which size is closest to the Fender 346/Blue Chip TAD?

Big Picker Heavy

[LadysSolo]

I'm with pops1 - I like a pick in every case, and since I like TD 35 and TD 40, I have one of each in every case. So once I picked out what I liked, the sold a few more to me (when they were having a special on shipping last fall around Christmas, if I remember correctly.)

[FrontRangeMando]

I also received an I-Pick in the mail today. I agree with keithb's comments above. The pick is thin, but it's considerably stiffer that my Blue Chip TAD 50, despite the difference in thickness.

I only had a couple of minutes to try a side by side on the mandola, and the IT seemed brighter to me, in a good way. I thought the IT was just as loud as BC, or as close as makes no difference. Not knocking BC; the IT sound wasn't better, just different. I thought it might just be me, but my wife also noticed the difference in brightness from the next room, at which point I had to explain to her that I'd dropped another $35 on a pick. She liked the sound enough that she didn't get mad at me, if that's any kind of endorsement ...

Did not get a chance yet to try it on a mandolin, so I'm not sure how it will sound there.

I almost missed it in the mail, the pick in its plastic package came wrapped in a precisely folded pice of 8.5 x 11 3 hole punch notebook paper in a small hand addressed envelope complete with Shawn's home return address sticker. If I-Tone is all about about the "hype" and "slick marketing," as some have suggested here, you wouldn't know it from the way the pick arrived. After trying one, I'd suggest giving the I-Tone folks the benefit of the doubt and entertain the idea that maybe they've done something good here and aren't just out to make a quick buck at our expense.

[bratsche]

What kind of acrylic picks are you using?

Gravity Picks. I believe the triangle is called a Stealth. I liked the V-picks too, but they're a little smaller in diameter than the extra large Gravity.

bratsche

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi sblock - yes,i did know that - the thought occured to me that it might not simply be yet 'another plastic pick',but one of a more esoteric nature such as ceramic. One more 'plastic' (generic term) pick doesn't seem to make the grade these days.

From FrontRangeMando - "...and the IT seemed brighter to me,.." That seems to bare out my own thoughts on 'thin,stiff' picks in general. Also,it's stiffness to thickness ratio might point to it being a ceramic material rather than a 'plastic' material.

Anyway,at the risk of seeming a bit 'off-hand' (i'm not really, but i don't know how to put an accent above the 'e' in blase !) - we've got another 3 pages of 'supposition' regarding yet another pick made from an unknown material. Interesting,it might be,but will we like them ?,
Ivan