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Thread: Blue Chips

  1. #1

    Default Blue Chips

    So since the 2019 Winfield festival I've bought $105 worth of blue chip picks. 3 of them. Now 2 of them are lost, either in someone else's pocket who was at Midwinter or somewhere in the grass in Winfield.
    I admire those who have special pick pouch where they safely keep their cherished picks or those who return them to the strings of their instrument. When I went to Bluechips I swore that was what I would do but I just couldn't break the life long habit of carrying them in my jeans pocket, where they were in danger every time I reached for keys or change or more recently the phone.
    So it looks to me like I'll be returning to 35 cent picks instead of $35 ones.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Blue Chips

    I have found that the only way not to lose picks is to keep them threaded in the strings of my mandolin. Pouches no, little tins no, pockets no, scattered on the floor no. In a very special place that I will never forget where it is: no.

    Also, it is vitally important to only have one pick that you actually use. If you have any more than one you are in imminent danger of losing them all. So you are doing well there at least, Jim.

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  4. #3
    Registered User Mark Seale's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    I got one of these a couple of years ago as a gift, and I love it! https://stockyardexchange.com/produc...ar-pick-holder

  5. #4
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    I find the little pouch pocket inside the right front pocket (in jeans) to be an ideal pick place.

  6. #5

    Default Re: Blue Chips

    Quote Originally Posted by AlanN View Post
    I find the little pouch pocket inside the right front pocket (in jeans) to be an ideal pick place.
    When I put picks there, if I ever see them again they are in the bottom of the washing machine.

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  8. #6
    Registered Muser dang's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    Quote Originally Posted by OldSausage View Post
    I have found that the only way not to lose picks is to keep them threaded in the strings of my mandolin. ...
    This is the same thing I do, so of course I had to buy one blue chip for each mandolin and still spent a ton on them.
    But it helps me get closer to the sound I want so it’s worth it
    I should be pickin' rather than postin'

  9. #7
    Registered User Al Trujillo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    First, I wish Blue Chip would offer one in flamin' blazin' Cheeto Orange! Brown blends into everything, especially the floor!.

    Second, the leather pouches sold by PC are really good and I've gotten into the habit of putting them back inside every time I'm done playing.

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  11. #8
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    I've managed to hold onto my Bluechip picks. I had to forgo V picks because when you drop one of those clear picks they are gone.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  12. #9
    formerly Philphool Phil Goodson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    You either make rules for yourself and follow them, or you don't.
    Phil

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  14. #10
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    Blue Chips for Gigs and Home use. Maybe small jams. Primetone's for festivals, anywhere that's dark, or has a slatted deck.

    https://youtu.be/LB23c_7nlS8

    "What would you do for your blue chip pick?"
    Becky Buller Band.

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  16. #11
    Registered User CWRoyds's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    If they stay with your mandolin, they will always be there.
    Stick the pick under the strings when you put the mando in the case.

    If you need to have a pick with you, then buy some cheaper picks for that.
    Keep the nice ones with the instrument.
    Mandolins: Northfield 5-Bar Artist Model "Old Dog", J Bovier F5 Special, Gibson A-00 (1940)
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  18. #12
    Registered User Drew Egerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    The only one I think I have ever lost permanently was also the only one I ever had engraved
    Drew
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  19. #13

    Default Re: Blue Chips

    I misplaced the first BC I bought in the first 30 minutes...after I found it in the case I resolved to put it in the strings every time...its been 5 years and several more BC later and I still have it. You just need to establish a routine and stick to it, ive had to do the same thing with my wallet and glasses as ive gotten older...put those somewhere else and whoo boy do I feel old.
    Northfield F5M #268, AT02 #7

  20. #14
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    Also, there's a lot of picks to be had between 0.35 per pick and $50 per pick!

    I really like the sound of Primetone picks - they also only cost a buck something each so I don't cry when I lose one!

    Kirk

  21. #15

    Default Re: Blue Chips

    I use Wegens on my guitars. BC on two mandolins and a Primetone on my A-1. I'd use BC on everything if I felt like buying about six more. But I like the Wegen Dipper, after I drill it full of holes. Like others, BCs reside in the strings of the mandolin it belongs to. After temporarily misplacing one, the only other place they go is my desktop pick box. That only happens if I've put a mandolin in a case and forgotten to put the pick on it.
    Silverangel A
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  22. #16
    Registered User Roger Adams's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Seale View Post
    I got one of these a couple of years ago as a gift, and I love it! https://stockyardexchange.com/produc...ar-pick-holder
    I believe BC sells a very similar key fob pick pouch. I have one that I carry "just in case" picks in. As for my BlueChips, I leave them in the strings. One does need to be vigilant when allow another musician to play your mandolin, as they may have the habit of putting a pick in their pocket, rather than back in the stings of your mandolin! LOL
    If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a vet.

  23. #17

    Default Re: Blue Chips

    Keys wallet phone
    keys wallet phone
    keys wallet phone
    keys wallet phone

    Mandolin pick beer
    mandolin pick beer
    mandolin pick beer
    mandolin pick beer
    Gunga......Gunga.....Gu-Lunga

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  25. #18
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    Yum... the thread title reminded me of this... have to find some salsa

    Click image for larger version. 

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    I either keep mine in the strings of my mandolin or in my accessory case in a Altoids mini tin. Works for me. I have enough BC picks now to probably afford a decent import A model. Finally settled on the TP50 for mandolin and the TAD40 for guitar.
    Jim

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  27. #19
    Registered User Bill Baldridge's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    29 October 2009. TAD 50. Still use it. Stash it between the strings above the nut. I do go to a 55 or 60 with a bevel if I want to hear myself in a bluegrass jam.

  28. #20
    working musician Jim Bevan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    Had to buy a spare in case I drop one during a show.
    Had to buy another in case I lost one ('cuz, always have to have a spare).
    Had to keep 'em with the mandolin, so, three for each currently-in-use mandolin.
    Then, went with a different shape/thickness (x 3 x ___...)

    Pointed out to a friend on tour that, ya, duh, I have nine versions of the pick-of-the-year because I need a backup for the backup, but all that's wasted money if I never actually lose one. One day, I lost one. "Great!" he said, "Gettin' your money's worth." Found it by the end of the day. "Ah, too bad."

    First actual casualty, last week: one fell between the keys on my onstage digital keyboard – qualifies as "temporarily lost", or "stored", or some new grey-zone category.

    Asked Blue Chip recently if they had the number of picks I've ordered handy. Embarrassing, but not surprising. I'll keep it to myself unless a contest develops in this thread.
    mando scales
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  30. #21

    Default Re: Blue Chips

    Here's a little BC trauma from this evening. I was threading my BC into the strings when it used string tension to propel itself with force. I believed I heard it bounce off of my mandolin with a clatter. Out comes the flashlight and i look all through the jumble of the three power strips, under the sub woofer, and I emptied the bin with misc. wires and transformers. The drawer was a bit open, so that too was emptied. Yes, I shook my mandolin on the off chance it went through an f hole. Turned it upside down in case I got lucky. Then there was the desktop with the macMinis, a turntable, my pick box. Yes looked in there too. So I'd exhausted the possibilities and was resigned to my fate. I looked longingly at my hanging mandolin to see my pick in it's usual place. What? a hint of color peeking out from under the arm rest? Yep, wedged in under the thing. In my joy, I recreated the shaking I did when I was hoping to find it inside. Man that was wedged in tight. Well, you might have guessed, it didn't survive a second shake and went flying. Ten minutes on my hands and knees on the floor with the flashlight, and I once again had my BC safe in it's spot.

    Final tally.....two Primetones, two Wegens, and half a dz. cheapos, plus my Blue Chip. The unintended pick hunt was quite a success.
    Silverangel A
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  32. #22
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    Quote Originally Posted by Philphool View Post
    You either make rules for yourself and follow them, or you don't.
    It really is no simpler than this.

    Other suggestions:

    Fasten your pick somehow to your car key. Then figure out a way not to lose it.

    Tape a $100 dollar bill to your pick. Then figure out a way not to lose it.

    Put all your vitally important information on a thumb drive. Delete all any backup copies of the information from every other storage medium. Tape the thumb drive to your pick. Then figure out a way not to lose it.

    Figure a way to attach your pick to your wedding ring. Then figure out a way not to lose it.


    Seriously it is the culture of throw cheap picks that makes this at all difficult. It really is a decision.

    I have used higher end picks now for many years. I have never lost one, unless you count the one I loaned to a guy I met at a jam.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  33. #23

    Default Re: Blue Chips

    Before I ever bought one I remember a guy at Winfield retrace his steps to our camp and was on all fours with a flashlight going through the grass.

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  35. #24
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips

    Maybe BC needs to offer a tracing chip embedded into each one and a Find Your BC app. They could call it the e-Blue Chip pick.
    Jim

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  37. #25
    Registered User seankeegan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blue Chips


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