A lot of good recommendations. Thank you for sharing your feedback and experiences. I have a Blue Chip, Apollo Peek and a Miller on order. Will be fun to experiment and compare the three picks.
A lot of good recommendations. Thank you for sharing your feedback and experiences. I have a Blue Chip, Apollo Peek and a Miller on order. Will be fun to experiment and compare the three picks.
I can understand about the flat fretboard. The Snakehead A-Jr I just got is from 1924. I believe the frets to be original. Plays great and sounds great. Eventually when I get it refretted, probably will go with bigger fret wire. I was lucky to get this mandolin. $800 for an all original Gibson Snakehead A Junior minus the pickguard. I think the mandolin Gods are smiling down on me.
I've gone through a lot of BC picks (my wallet can testify). The CT-55 is the best for me. Funny thing was I tried it last, all my other BC's sit on the shelf now. I already loved triangles, so it was just thickness and tip shape that were at stake for me.
Davey Stuart tenor guitar (based on his 18" mandola design).
Eastman MD-604SB with Grover 309 tuners.
Eastwood 4 string electric mandostang, 2x Airline e-mandola (4-string) one strung as an e-OM.
DSP's: Helix HX Stomp, various Zooms.
Amps: THR-10, Sony XB-20.
I have accumulated a fair few styles of blue chip pick. I really like the feel of the pointy large jazz 60, I also have a regular size jazz 100. The tone is similar I like the attack of the pointy tip. I also use the tpr40 and an extra round, all have their places, the attack is the most noticeable change to me the tone differences are only slightly there. So feel is the biggest difference. What sort of feel are you looking for. I use these on my Old Wave oval A. As for tone, I find the thinner tpr 40 is slightly brighter to my ears while the thicker ones are rounder sounding but only slightly so and that changes with tip shape the pointy Jazz being a good attack and brightness compared to the round one.
My avatar is of my OldWave Oval A
Creativity is just doing something wierd and finding out others like it.
2018 Girouard Concert oval A
2015 JP "Whitechapel" tenor banjo
2018 Frank Tate tenor guitar
1969 Martin 00-18
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The Wegen BG100 is great with my old Gibson.
1933 Gibson A-00 (was Scotty Stoneman's)
2003 Gibson J-45RW (ebony)
2017 Gibson J-15
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I'm a fan of both oval hole mandolins and BC picks. However, I have had trouble finding a BC pick I really love on either of the 2 oval hole mandolins I've owned. I go between TD 50 and TD 60 picks on f hole mandolins but find myself liking both styles of PrimeTone 0.88 and 1.0 picks on my current oval hole. I have BC 35 and 40 picks but I just don't bond with them on my oval hole mandolin.
Scott
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Also like the PrimeTone in .96 or 1.0. Need to try them in triangle shape. Just have the regular guitar pick shape. But that model ends up being my secret weapon when my band needs a bit more volume from me. Don't know why that is, but I just go with it when needed.
Brentrup Model 23, Boeh A5 #37, Gibson A Jr., Flatiron 1N, Coombe Classical flattop, Strad-O-Lin
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Ahhh, somebody beat me to it. I think I’m going to start a new thread just talking about different various pics that I have experimented with lately. But I wanted to post here about the V-pick tremolo.
I’ll be honest, I own about 10 V-picks, and done really like any of them, EXCEPT the Tremolo. I can see how being clear can bum some people out, but as far as sound and playability, to me, it’s fantastic! I do wish I could get it in another color....
I'm fine with a pick like a Fender 346 heavy on my 1922 A4.. its an oval hole, too, of course..
They're about 1mm thick .. So maybe a blue chip of similar shape and thickness will satisfy you?
IDK in advance, for some one else, of course..
...
writing about music
is like dancing,
about architecture
The V Pick Saga is one of my favorite mandolin picks. It is a blue, round triangle and 1.5 mm thick. Brings out a warm but snappy tone. Not my go to all the time, but once in a while I use it exclusively for a few weeks.
2014 BRW F5 #114
2022 Kentucky KM 950 Master Model
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well bound to be some likers out there...I've always use the shoulder of a pick no matter what instrument I'm playing, it just gives a fatter tone to me, I never use the pick tip, just my pick preference
I mostly use a Blue Chip TAD 3R 60 - nice warm tone but if I want a bit more 'cut through' I use a Hawk XH which gives much more 'brittle' sound. Just my two penn'orth.
I'm relatively new to the mandolin and have an oval hole Eastman...I've tried just about every pick I have with it...
I have several Blue Chips, some Dawgs and Golden Gates, and a few casein from Pearse and Apollo...plus a plethora of different shapes and materials I've accumulated along the way in my guitar journey...
But the one that works best for me, as far as comfort, clarity and projection is the Blue Chip TD 35, and I use the rounded shoulder instead of the point.
I am a blue chip pick boy, but I am not an expert on anything really. When I use the blue chip I like the TAD60. In Primetones I like the 1.4mm. Same in Wegen.
The idea is very interesting. I change picks often, depending on the venue (large crowded loud small intimate etc.) , the activity (jam or performance or contra dance band), and the type of music (traditional, old time, bluegrass, classical, etc.) I hadn't thought of what would work better with an oval hole vs ff holes.
I mostly prefer oval holes for their pretty sound, at the expense of the focused projection of the ff holes. But I do have some great ff hole mandolins that get played regularly.
Thinking about this, I guess I don't see the need to change picks depending on the shape of the holes alone. The differences between my mandolins are more pronounced than can be exclusively attributed to the hole shapes. So I change picks based on all the other factors, regardless of which mandolin is in front of me.
Something like that.
Regarding using the shoulder. I get the triangular picks so no shoulders! The 346 shape I believe it is called.
I have used the DAWG picks, which are supposedly the three round corners of the standard 351 shape. The story I heard is that Grisman used the pick shoulders too, and wanted a pick that was "all shoulders". I cannot get a good tone with them. Not sure why, but it is always too breathy for me.
Picks are an adventure, and a relatively inexpensive way to change things up.
I am only, even after all this time a beginner player in ability, but oner thing I have noticed is my grip and attack has as much affect on my tone as changing a pick, material shape, etc. I'm not saying you can make one pick sound like another but some of the differences can be affected by grip and attack. Just my observation. I hadn't noticed this before but as I acquired a few more BC picks I started to notice the difference between them wasn't as big as I thought it would be then noticed that the way I used each changed with each pick. I was subconsciouly changing how I held them and attacked the strings with them. Maybe that's just me.
My avatar is of my OldWave Oval A
Creativity is just doing something wierd and finding out others like it.
I think that is true. Classic question - one pick several grips and attacks, or one consistent grip and attack, and several picks. Or some combination of the two.
I kind of look at it as a range possible tones. Buy slight changes in grip strength and attack I can certainly change the tone over a range. (I don't change the grip, but only the tension of strength I apply.)
But for me the different picks have different ranges, and while they might overlap to a degree, I like using the pick that lets me relax my hand the most and still get the tone and effects I want.
I cool subtlety I hadn't thought much about.
Yes and that is exactly why I have multiple types. Nice to find a relaxed grip over an ever changing grip. Depending on the instrument and tone I want I can grab the most comfortable pick to give me what I want. It was an interesting observation for me when I noticed what I was doin of when trying them all in the same instrument. I had expected more noticeable tonal differences. I never expected Ted my body to try and compensate for me.
My avatar is of my OldWave Oval A
Creativity is just doing something wierd and finding out others like it.
My oval Gibson sounds good with most any pick really. If BC a 35, but sound wise it is better with lighter picks. I usually use a 72mm D'Andrea pro-grip. Being a regular shaped pick I can use the point or the rounded corner. The thinner pick really makes a nice sounding G string and the E string is not bright so I don't need a heavier pick to tame it down. My A2 is warm and wonderful sounding, alas I don't play it much as I like the longer neck of the A5 style mandolins.
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I prefer the jazz large and XR to all the others. The thinnest triangle pick seems to give me an attack similar to the jazz large. The jazz large has been teaching me the faults of my picking. My hand was like a sewing machine and the tip would catch in the strings sometimes because of it so I have been very aware of not digging to deep. The drive is just easy and more forgiving of poor picking techniques. I like the tone of the jazz picks over the others and like I said the thinnest triangle in the picture has a similar tone and attack to the jazz large. The XR is a bit rounder on the attack tone but still very nice. The thickest normal sized jazz pick is odd to use after using the other picks it is quite small in comparison and likes to hide in my grip with just a tiny bit of tip sticking out. I find the shoulder and back on the jazz picks to be similar to the XR. If I could have only one it would be the jazz large or the XR with the jazz large edging the XR out on most days but the more I use the XR the more I like it. On mandolin I like them all but on guitar I always use the jazz picks preceding the large to the normal sized jazz pick. Did that help?
My avatar is of my OldWave Oval A
Creativity is just doing something wierd and finding out others like it.
John, I didn’t ask the question, but sure do appreciate the detailed response
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