My mandolin ate my pick!

[T.D.Nydn]

This morning while practicing,something unusual happened. When I practice, the pick once in a while falls out of my grip,but when playing this morning, the pick goes flying out of my hand,and When I pick up the mandolin to check my lap,I hear a ca-chink,inside my mandolin,and I can't believe it, the pick went flying into my f-hole. My blue chip pick is now rattling around inside my Gibson fern, which has small f-holes, and can hardly get a finger in there. I rarely panic in my life, but I am trying to hold it back as I'm trying to get my pick back..a cool head, and about 20 minutes with a pair of forceps and some luck,I finally retrieved the pick,,,first time in my life that has ever happened...

[Northwest Steve]

Same thing happened to me about a week ago. I keep the pick under the strings and when I picked up the mandolin the pick was down a was and not held tight. Slid right into the sound hole. No problem I thought....took about 10-15 minutes off shaking and sliding the pick around for it to finally come out. I could not believe how hard it was to get out.
Always keep a spare pick.

[Ray(T)]

Happens all the time - the last time it happened to me it was in my National RM-1. An F holed mandolin is simple in comparison. Turn it upside down and give it a good shake.

[dhergert]

Reminds me of an experience...

I also play Dobro, and my older metal body Dobro has F-holes instead of the familiar modern round screened holes.

One day at a festival in a jam, I got an emergency cellphone call from my wife in our trailer, saying that she needed help with something. So I set my Dobro down on the ground next to the other jammers (who I knew well and trusted), and then I put my fingerpicks on the Dobro body. Almost immediately, in fell one of my fingerpicks.

Sooo, I ran over to help with my wife's problem, all the time thinking about how horrible a metal fingerpick sounds vibrating inside a metal body Dobro, and how I would have to unstring and remove the Dobro's cone in order to get the fingerpick out.

When I returned to the jam and my Dobro, I first took the rest of my fingerpicks and put them safely away... And then just on a whim, knowing the situation was hopeless, I turned the Dobro over and barely shook it. There was a single click deep inside, and then out flew the fingerpick through one of the F-holes. I and all the people at the jam were amazed and laughed about such an impossible feat. A couple of folks asked me to try it again, but I said no.

I still get a laugh out of how improbable that was, and how much work I would normally have had to go through to get that fingerpick out.

[G7MOF]

Chewing gum on the end a stick should get it out.

[OldSausage]

My daughter finds this hilarious, and is always mailing my picks through the comical little f-holes. How amusing I look trying to retrieve them.

I wouldn't mind, but she is 43 years old.

No, not really, she's 7.

[Victor Daniel]

My daughter finds this hilarious, and is always mailing my picks through the comical little f-holes. How amusing I look trying to retrieve them.

I wouldn't mind, but she is 43 years old.

No, not really, she's 7.

My 2 year old daughter also gets endless entertainment from watching her dad retrieve picks from the belly of his string instruments. Never had that problem before parenthood.

[John Soper]

Shoot, I always used to keep one or two extra picks in my D28 when I played more guitar. You could always shake one out if needed... Haven't tried that with a mandolin yet, and I like my Blue Chips too much to make retrieval a hassle!

[Marty Jacobson]

You all are lucky. I find my instruments full of Nerf darts.

[Nevin]

Just think of the things that fit inside my upright bass.

[Fretfet2]

A piece of rolled scotch tape on the eraser of a pencil works well for guitar. Get it positioned where you can see it just put the taped pencil in there and get it. Of course f hole more trouble but can usually pick it up in the same way then get a clamp to grab it. Funny stories.

[sblock]

The don't call them "F-holes" for nothing!

[Kevin Stueve]

Chewing gum on the end a stick should get it out.

Okay but now I need some advice about how to get the stick and chewing gum out

[MrYikes]

A loop of thread through a straw works for me.

[UsuallyPickin]

I bought a used Englehardt Bass from a schools system that had been at a middle school. I found a baggie full of candy wrappers and several student to student notes. I retrieved them with a mechanics grab tool. R/

[soliver]

It used to be her habit that when my youngest daughter (now 2 and a half years old) heard me playing she would come into the room and ask to strum... I would hand her the pick and she would strum the strings twice then intentionally place the pick in the f hole... at the time I played a cheapo Rover with remarkably big f holes and became quite accustomed to fishing out my picks... now I don't let her have the pick, or I keep a hairy eyeball on her ... she has yet to touch my Bluechip and I probably won't let her.... food thing I bought a pack 12 pack of Tortex picks

[Eddie Sheehy]

I was at a session once and the tuner fell into the Upright Bass.... took about 20 mins to get it out using 4 'technicians'...

[Steve VandeWater]

I keep picturing the kid's board game "Operation"