Not at much at all! I've worked hard on getting rid of pick noise over the years (my guitar prof in college was a real hard ass about nail/pick noise) and have gotten so used to using the 2mm gators grips that it's very difficult to play my best with anything else, so it's a bit of a crutch. I'm 100% useless with anything smaller than 1.5mm. Luckily it's a cheap crutch lol. I choke up quite a lot (on all my picks) so there's no travel/wiggle with the pick. If I had to guess, I'd say only 3mm or so of most triangle style picks stick out of my fingers the way I hold them, less with the dawgs. I reckon if you prefer to hold your picks further back you'd get a bit more click/scratch from the gators. I've noticed the nicer/more expensive picks have less unwanted noise naturally (no clue how but seems to be that way) but I lose picks too often to be spending $20+ every other week on them.
I love the dawg picks for jazz stuff mostly. Especially gypsy jazz. Helps me dig in without getting hung up. I have one I sanded more a bevel on for the rare occasion that I do something other than rhythm in a jazz ensemble.
I like Dawgs when I have to practice but keep things quiet, but I prefer a point in my pick. I have been using ProPlecs but a recent lesson has slightly changed the angle I attack the strings and for the first time I am using Wegens and liking how they sound.
I have tried them all (not but not turtle shell they are friends not pick producers!) and rotate preferences regularly. If doing professional recording I'd probably use Red Bears but they just do not like my body chemistry
Jason Anderson
"...while a great mandolin is a wonderful treat, I would venture to say that there is always more each of us can do with the tools we have available at hand. The biggest limiting factors belong to us not the instruments." Paul Glasse
Stumbling Towards Competence
Sigh. I have about 300 dollars worth of blue chip picks. I thought I'd never stray from the brand. On a whim, I bought a pack of 10 dawgs for 10 dollars. I'm now filled with 300 dollars worth of regret. As the title says, dawg picks work.
Seems like the BC picks sell pretty quickly in the classifieds. One question, if the BC picks last so long, why buy $300 worth?
Charley
A bunch of stuff with four strings
Well umm.... all picks work for someone. Well must about all.
I was going to ask that very question. The way i see it is that over the life of a mandolinner, even three hundred dollars, one time, becomes kind of small. It pales in significance to years of stopping at a favorite diner on the way home from that out of town jam every week.
I have not had much success getting the Dawg and equivalent picks to work for me. But they sure do work for a lot of people.
$300 is about 8 picks. I probably have at least 8 BCs. I bought some used and a few new and, at the moment, have settled on one for mandolin and one for guitar. But, as others noted, you can sell the ones that don’t work for you.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
I have so many picks because I got tired of digging them out every time I used a different instrument. I've got a mandola, octave mandolin, oval hole, f hole. I also use two different types of picks depending upon the kind of music I'm playing, so I've got rounded blue chips and pointed blue chips. As I said, it was about convenience, but now I just use a dawg for everything. Good to know they hold their value.
I have owned and tried most all of the above picks mentioned ! I still go back to various BC picks as best to my ears and playing ! I do go back and forth between rounded and pointy picks and thicknesses however ! Right now I am leaning to a lighter 40-45 mm pick and rounded. Time to order a new BC pick !
I have a Dawg pick that was given to me by Richard Somers (co-writer of Ricochet) so I cherish it for that connection. Dawg didn't have any on hand the last time I got to see him in person.
I have used it from time to time but it's just a hair too rounded for me usually. The Proplec 346 is very similar but a bit more pointy. I feel like it gets my single notes a bit cleaner while still keeping most of that tremolo tone.
Drew
2020 Northfield 4th Gen F5
2022 Northfield NFS-F5E
2019 Northfield Flat Top Octave
2021 Gold Tone Mando Cello
https://www.instagram.com/pilotdrew85
I work night shift at my job and usually I am up very early on my weekends due to different, changing sleep schedules. I've found that the Dawg pick works best when I'm trying to play very quietly while the fam is sleeping. I only get shushed every now and then.
Also, the Dawg pick can be used at louder volumes.
Not a bad pick for the money.
Seems the undertone of a number of comments in this thread say, "I'm right and you're toast," or even less charitable. Would have expected more of a celebration of the options available, given that there is no one timbre that everyone prefers over all others, as well as the myriad of techniques that players prefer. If right and wrong infested music, 'twould be a dull world indeed. Sláinte!
The Mandolin Store is offering for sale, picks that are similar to Dawg picks, 5 for $4.99.
2021 The Loar LM700 VS
“Seems the undertone of a number of comments in this thread say, "I'm right and you're toast," or even less charitable”
Hmmm—I didn’t get that feeling at all, just folks sharing what does or does not work for them.
Well, I hope you didn’t get that from either of my posts. I appreciate it when folks post what picks/gear work and doesn’t work for them. Gives me some ideas when I want a little retail therapy that doesn’t require an explanation to my very understanding wife. I’ve recently discovered some acrylic picks that I like based on a thread here (Gravity Sunrise 1.5 and 2.0) that I probably wouldn’t have tried otherwise. They won’t replace my BC or Wegens, but probably will replace Primetone as my “high risk of loss” picks.
I’ve tried rounded points on a number of occasions and just can’t get the tone or volume I can with some degree of a point. I’m sure it’s operator error, as there are those that can use the rounded edge of a Fender medium teardrop and make them sound awesome...more power to them!
Play what you like, like what you play!
I used Dawg picks for a while, then went to BC. then to M100 Wegen and now a custom Wegen the triangle style made thinner for me, I got tired of thinning them myself.
THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!
Rounded for me! The pointed tips hang me up. I always use Dawgs or the butt of an Dunlop Ultex Rhino.
Life is short - Pray hard - Pick fast !
(moved to a new post - Max)
Last edited by maxr; May-23-2021 at 5:46am.
I have a few big triangles that have pointy, regular and Dawgy rounded tips so I don't have to chooose: Gravity gold, peek, Wegen and i forget the other ones.
Kentucky km900
Yamaha piano, clarinet, violin; generic cello;
a pedal steel (highly recommended); banjo, dobro don't get played much cause i'm considerate ;}
Shopping/monitoring prices: vibraphone/marimbas, rhodes, synths, Yamaha brass and double reeds
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