Considering a Blue Chip Pick?

[yankees1]

After playing with a Herco heavy for years, I had a chance to try out a Blue Chip pick a few weeks ago along with a Dunlop Primetone. Not much difference to my feeling and hearing, and at $35 versus 3 for $5, respectively, the choice was easy.

If YOUR ears can't hear the difference than I agree that you shouldn't spend the money. That's the reason I buy Charles Shaw wine at Trader Joe's ! I can't taste the difference from the CS $2.99 wine from the twenty dollar or more wine ! But, I do spend the extra for BC picks as I can hear the difference !

[Stevo75]

at 35 bucks a clip for a small piece made of "... a very high grade, self lubricating composite material specially formulated for great playing qualities", that's a purty expensive hobby.

You obviously don't have a boat :-)

[Stevo75]

For me, BC picks are just as much about the feel as they are about the tone. I don't think there tone is that much better than any other pick out there. There are some picks that I think have just as good of tone. And maybe other picks that I think give better tone than BC picks (my subjective experience), but no other pick give that level of tone AND feels as good in my hand and against the strings. So it's the combination of those things that make them the best pick for me.

[foldedpath]

You obviously don't have a boat :-)

Oh yes, ex-sailboat owner here.

This drama over the cost of flatpicks is amusing from that perspective. Or if you're into flying private planes, or any other hobby where you can pay a small fortune for tiny pieces of exotic and essential gear. Or talk to any fiddler about their bows!

The thing about BC picks, or any other expensive picks, is that if you decide they're worth the cost then you just develop a different attitude than you did when picks were disposable, throw-away items. You develop a routine, so you know where they are.

I lost one BC pick when I first started using them years ago. Then I wised up, and the two I have now are 3 or 4 years old and still going strong. If you can manage to keep track of your car keys, you can keep track of a flatpick.

[Bad Monkey]

add one more to the BC don't make much difference club.
I've found that thickness and shape mean more than material just as long as it's not made of metal or something with a relatively low durometer. .60"/1.5mm, and a fairly round point like the original Dawg picks. Whole thing a little bigger than a quarter with a nice smooth slightly beveled edge. I do get fussy about how smooth the edge is though; I bring along some 1600 grit wet/dry paper to keep everything nice and smooth.

[yankees1]

I don't have the taste buds to distinguish between cheap ( two buck chuck) wine and expensive wine but I do have the ears to distinguish between BC picks and Wegan or any other pick I have played with !

[FrDNicholas]

The first time I strummed my mandolin using the Blue Chip pick, both my wife (who doesn't play) and my daughter (who plays guitar) came into the room and said, "What is that?!!!" They heard the difference immediately even from the Dunlop Primetone and other picks I have used in the past. Somehow the sound that I get from that pick is different than any other pick I've tried.

[bradeasley]

I've had 1 BC for ~10 years. It's the small triangle shape (TP) but from before they put that on the pick, so it just says "Blue Chip 50". I've played it plenty over the years on both mandolin and guitar. Since I mostly used the tip under the "50", I can see and compare the less played tips. My main tip shows signs of wear and is somewhat rounded over compared to a new tip. The process happened so slowly, I have no recollection of how long it took to get that "broken-in" feel. Anyone find that a new BC has a break-in period? Asking now because I just got a new one in a different shape and thickness, and while I like it, the tip definitely needs to be played a lot to get to where it feels "right" for me. This 1 pick has lasted me 10 years and still plays and sounds great. I've started to play on the less played tips more lately to get them broken in. I can totally see this pick lasting another 10 years at this rate. So, contrary to popular opinion, I find them to be quite cheap given the mileage you get out of them compared to other picks.

[Eric Platt]

This past week, had a number of shows where I was switching between guitar and mandolin. Decided to go back to the BC pick. While I'm still not a fan of them when sitting at home and playing, the pick worked fine in a band setting. Especially playing into a microphone with the mandolin.

FWIW, was using an old TAD-1R 40 and I've used it enough over the years that the main point has rough spots now. Still works, but you can feel it when you run a finger across the edge. Used the rounded shoulder quite a bit on guitar.

[Phil Goodson]

You can use a very fine nail file or micromesh to smooth or modify the tips without waiting 10 years if you are careful and know what you're doing. I said "if".

[Russ Donahue]

I've gotten to the point where I have a Blue Chip for each of my mandolins and guitars. I use the same style and thickness of pick with all of them. The consistency of "feel" from instrument to instrument is helpful to me.

And, the fact that my Blue Chip pick isn't colored blue appeals to the nonsensical side of my sense of humor:

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

[Jai]

For a while I alternated between a wegen and a prime tone - using the the prime tone for volume when playing in a ceilidh band, and the wegen for more delicate tone when playing in a duo (much preferring the wegen - tonally) - but the problem with both picks, and more so with the wegen, is how they moved around in my hand. Last year I was given a CT55 for my birthday - having hankered after one for a while (but they are more expensive over here in the UK) and I found it able to give me the volume of the prime tone- with added dynamic control, and the more delicate tone of the wegen - additionally it stays in the right position in my hands.

It's helped with accuracy, speed and expression.

The week after I got it - I went to see Fairport Convention in Liverpool - after the gig I was chatting to Chris Leslie and admiring his Gibson F (a 1960s model I reckon - so not sure if they were F5s then or not - I know that 60s Gibsons are not necessarily rated that much - but this one was beautifully set up and sounded gorgeous), which he let me have a go on and then I saw he also was using a CT 55. That made me think I'd got the right pick!

Having said that - I love the shape and feel of a Dawg pick - and wish I could get a good sound with one, having never managed to. I think my ultimate pick would be a Dawg shaped blue chip...

[sblock]

... Having said that - I love the shape and feel of a Dawg pick - and wish I could get a good sound with one, having never managed to. I think my ultimate pick would be a Dawg shaped blue chip...

Have you looked at the Blue Chip XR style of pick? It's very similar to the Dawg shape! You should also check out the TPR style, which is not quite a rounded as the Dawg pick, but somewhere between a CT55 (or TAD) and a Dawg.

[MandoCando]

If you’re not in much of a hurry to get one, you should sign up for the “Traveling Pick Sampler”, there are two Bluechip picks(CT55 and I think a TRD50 possibly, not sure) in Sampler #1, not sure about #2. It would only cost you $7 or so to ship it to the next guy, and you could try a couple Bluechips up against a lot of others, before you sink $35 into one pick.

Where would I find this to sign up for it?

[pheffernan]

Where would I find this to sign up for it?

Post to this thread: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...one-Interested

[RustyMadd]

Yeah I too find the Wegens moving in my fingers, spinning and sliding. It doesn't encourage consistency. The Primetones are ok but don't quite stick between my fingers, but the BlueChip sticks within a minute or so.

But I am so darned talented at dropping things I can and have dropped my BlueChip while playing. Twice. I cannot count the times I've dropped other picks however. So I personally like BC picks. The real trick is to get the thickness and shape right. Then you will become a BC user if not a fan.

YMMV, Blessings and Happy New Year

[Br1ck]

Take the edge of a razor blade or tip of an Xacto knife and crosshatch both sides of a Wegen pick. Leave the grooves as ragged as possible. Works wonders.

[Kevin K]

There is something special with the CT55.

[Phil Goodson]

There is something special with the CT55.

Well, what does THAT mean???

[Kevin K]

Just as it's stated.....

I've had several BlueChips as well as other picks and once I tried the CT55, there was tone and volume there that wasn't there before. I do believe the bevel is different on those, that, the thickness and shape just seems to be perfect for many players.

[mandobassman]

i'm amazed there are so many folks that appear to put so much constant effort (and big money!) into the mando picks they choose ... it's almost a religious thing.

The choices in picks and pick material is greater than it ever has been and that’s a good thing. I love to experiment with different materials and shapes. Concerning the money part of it, before Blue Chip, Red Bear and any of the high dollar picks we’re available, I knew several people who used to drop $75 - $100 on tortoise shell all the time. It’s actually quite good that we can spend less money, not endanger turtles, and have quality picks that will last a very long time.

[kurth83]

I did the pick thing a while back, bought zillions of picks, ended up on ultexes and primetones for a while until I took the BC plunge.

BC was love at first strum, darker richer fuller sound, and glides across the strings with less effort.

Like others I use the same BC for all my instruments, consistency in feel and control, and I love the tone.

I like a little darker sound than a CT55 so I have a TP60 (no bevel).

[Phil Goodson]

I still mess around with pick choices, and I certainly have my favorites. But I've been surprised over the past decade or so, that as my experience grew, my need for a specific type pick has decreased. I guess that's a good thing. I don't find any of them to be magical any more.

Still my preferences seem to morph from time to time. I still find Blue Chip to be my favorite, but I've moved from the TAD sized picks of various thicknesses (usually 60-80) back to the smaller TP picks and to thinner (48 or 50) picks.

I cannot account for my change in preferences, but such is life.
(And it's still fun to experiment with new stuff.)

[mandobassman]

I did the pick thing a while back, bought zillions of picks, ended up on ultexes and primetones for a while until I took the BC plunge.

BC was love at first strum, darker richer fuller sound, and glides across the strings with less effort.

Like others I use the same BC for all my instruments, consistency in feel and control, and I love the tone.

I like a little darker sound than a CT55 so I have a TP60 (no bevel).

The bevel makes such a huge difference. I don’t like the brightness and hard edge it gives the tone. I only use picks with a rounded edge.