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Thread: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

  1. #1
    small instrument, big fun Dan in NH's Avatar
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    Default Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    So a while ago I packed away my mandolin to focus on my guitar playing. While doing so, on a lark I spent the money on a Blue Chip pick, a TAD 60. And I enjoyed playing my guitar with my Blue Chip pick.

    And then I misplaced my $50 pick.

    About this same time I got bit by the mandolin bug again. Without my Blue Chip pick I was left to resort to my Primetone 1.5 Large Triangles.

    Well today I was moving my practice amp and I found my Blue Chip pick. I just played my first practice session on my mandolin with it.

    Very much UNLIKE with my guitar, when the difference in tone between my Blue Chip and my other picks is nearly undetectable, playing my my mandolin with my Blue Chip pick is like night and day compared to my Primetone. I like the tone SO MUCH BETTER.

    Chris Thile is right, the $50 picks just sound better.
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  3. #2
    Registered User sblock's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Well, not ALL $50 picks sound better. But some of them do, and I would count Blue Chip picks among those. Likewise, not all $50 bottles of wine taste better, either...

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    Registered User Billy Packard's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Hear! Hear! I agree. After scoffing about the crazy amount of money to spend on a pick I finally decided to give it a try and have been using the blue chips ever since.

    Billy

    Ps, while I love red wine I’ve never spent 50 bucks on a bottle. I have no idea what I’m really missing.
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    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Billy Packard View Post
    Hear! Hear! I agree. After scoffing about the crazy amount of money to spend on a pick I finally decided to give it a try and have been using the blue chips ever since.

    Billy

    Ps, while I love red wine I’ve never spent 50 bucks on a bottle. I have no idea what I’m really missing.
    I know a guy who worked at the Capitol Grill in Boston, where business people would routinely order $400 bottles of wine and not finish them. So, of course, the staff would.

    I asked him if they tasted like $400 worth of wine. He said, "Ohhh, yeah."
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    🎶 Play Pretty 🎶 Greg Connor's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    I volunteer at an assisted living facility and have been playing music lately with a resident who was a professional mandolin player. I am absolutely amazed at the cheap, nondescript, picks he uses. He has some exquisite mandolins but the picks are the 5 for a buck kind.

    I’ve become a believer in cheap picks / quality instruments.

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  10. #6
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    I wasn’t aware that the price for BC picks increased to $50. I just checked on their site and TAD60 is still $35. Some of the much thicker ones like a TAD80 costs $50 but IIRC the prices have never gone up for most of the flatpicks since they first came into existence. I do see like dealers like The Music Emporium charge $40 and other dealers might charge more.

    They are my go-to picks and I own a few (some bought used) but finally settled on TAD40 for guitar and TP50 for mandolin.
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  11. #7
    small instrument, big fun Dan in NH's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    I was factoring custom engraving & shipping.

  12. #8

    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg Connor View Post
    I volunteer at an assisted living facility and have been playing music lately with a resident who was a professional mandolin player. I am absolutely amazed at the cheap, nondescript, picks he uses. He has some exquisite mandolins but the picks are the 5 for a buck kind.

    I’ve become a believer in cheap picks / quality instruments.
    Greg, thanks for volunteering; very much appreciated, I’m sure. Also, possible at some hospices, helping ease visitors too.

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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    I'll be honest the Blue Chips I have sampled did not do it for me.
    I am curious about Tone Slab, but am reluctant to spend the $45 on something I'm sure to eventually misplace, I do like the Dunlop Prime Tone 1.5,
    they can be clicky though,
    but there is a pile on the washing machine, at least they are clean!
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  14. #10

    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Love the bluechip for volume and the fact the pick sticks to my fingers well. I do think the tone out of the E and A strings is thinner than many other boutique picks, but still very good.

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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan in NH View Post
    So a while ago I packed away my mandolin to focus on my guitar playing. While doing so, on a lark I spent the money on a Blue Chip pick, a TAD 60. And I enjoyed playing my guitar with my Blue Chip pick.

    And then I misplaced my $50 pick.

    About this same time I got bit by the mandolin bug again. Without my Blue Chip pick I was left to resort to my Primetone 1.5 Large Triangles.

    Well today I was moving my practice amp and I found my Blue Chip pick. I just played my first practice session on my mandolin with it.

    Very much UNLIKE with my guitar, when the difference in tone between my Blue Chip and my other picks is nearly undetectable, playing my my mandolin with my Blue Chip pick is like night and day compared to my Primetone. I like the tone SO MUCH BETTER.

    Chris Thile is right, the $50 picks just sound better.
    IMHO, Blue Chip is the best in the business
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  16. #12
    man about town Markus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg Connor View Post
    I am absolutely amazed at the cheap, nondescript, picks he uses. He has some exquisite mandolins but the picks are the 5 for a buck kind.

    I’ve become a believer in cheap picks / quality instruments.
    At Monday's jam, a very good picker who has played for decades swapped guitars with a newbie kid who played well - a 50 year old Martin and and a new Fender. I doubt that Fender has ever sounded as good and while the Martin sounded OK it was clear that the incredible right hand of the experienced player made both instruments sound better - and the `cheap' one seemed to hang with the other nice guitars in the room.

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  18. #13

    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by NotACreativeName View Post
    Love the bluechip for volume and the fact the pick sticks to my fingers well. I do think the tone out of the E and A strings is thinner than many other boutique picks, but still very good.
    I have two CT55 blue chips - i.e. 6 corners in total. One corner in particular sounds better than all the rest (and heck, better than any other pick I own). It sounds as if maybe it was not perfectly polished, which results in a fuller tone. The other 5 corners sound a bit thinner, particularly on the A and E strings.

    I think that one corner is an anomaly. I've thought about taking some sand paper to another tip in an effort to try to replicate it, but I haven't attempted that... yet.

  19. #14
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    The reality is this: assuming the mandolin is well made and well set up the quality of the build and the accessories we choose matter more to the player than the audience. Most could care less if it it a Kentucky or a Gilchrist or a Fender pick or a Blue Chip. But we as players do hear and feel the differences and that is important
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  21. #15

    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    I have two CT55 blue chips - i.e. 6 corners in total. One corner in particular sounds better than all the rest (and heck, better than any other pick I own). It sounds as if maybe it was not perfectly polished, which results in a fuller tone. The other 5 corners sound a bit thinner, particularly on the A and E strings.

    I think that one corner is an anomaly. I've thought about taking some sand paper to another tip in an effort to try to replicate it, but I haven't attempted that... yet.


    Yeah, I'm going to order another at some point without the speed bevel and hope it helps that, because I love the grip of them.

  22. #16
    My Florida is scooped pheffernan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg Connor View Post
    I volunteer at an assisted living facility and have been playing music lately with a resident who was a professional mandolin player. I am absolutely amazed at the cheap, nondescript, picks he uses. He has some exquisite mandolins but the picks are the 5 for a buck kind.

    I’ve become a believer in cheap picks / quality instruments.
    I’ve become a believer in professional mandolin players.
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  23. #17
    🎶 Play Pretty 🎶 Greg Connor's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by pheffernan View Post
    I’ve become a believer in professional mandolin players.
    There are a couple of comments above regarding my experience with my new friend. I am definitely the beneficiary when it comes to my friend’s mandolin playing. Cheap picks and and a few other age related issues . . . He still blows me away. For some reason my guitar accompaniment even sounds better when he’s playing.

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  25. #18
    Registered User darylcrisp's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    i love my Bluechip picks. TAD-1R is the shape and size i've really found works for me.

    d

  26. #19

    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Yes, agree. I typically use a Blue Chip pick, but it is so much fun to get out some of the old cheapos. I tried a Wingo 0.71 mm and was actually quite amazed at the tone.

  27. #20
    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Will switch between a BC 40, Wegen and a tortex .88 on the Brentrup. Depending on who I'm playing with and how much treble I want to hear. Most of the time my bandmates don't hear a difference.

    Most of my personal mandolin heroes play with cheap picks. Often Dunlop nylon heavy or other medium or heavy picks. Most don't even care what the pick is.
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  29. #21

    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Well, IF you can hear the difference between one corner of a pick and another -- I'll just say that you are blessed with amazing hearing -- I certainly cannot hear such differences with my ears. My picks sound like picks.

    I will agree with the wine statement. I'm not a connoisseur by any means, but I did share a bottle of $300 wine once and YES, even to an amateur, it tasted a million times better than a $3.99 bottle.

    We can justify a $50 pick purchase easy enough -- dinner for two at Olive Garden is $50 bucks with the tax and tip, for example...

    Tank of gasoline is......well, you get the idea...

  30. #22

    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    As I've stated before on this forum, when picks get to be $100 each I'm going to retire from brain surgery and get into the pick business!

    (looks like we are almost there)

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  32. #23
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Mando View Post
    As I've stated before on this forum, when picks get to be $100 each I'm going to retire from brain surgery and get into the pick business!

    (looks like we are almost there)
    I seems from what I see from the reasoning/thought processes that people exhibit today, brain surgery might actually be the easier of the two trades.
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  33. #24
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    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan in NH View Post
    And then I misplaced my $50 pick.
    We were at a gig last year and when I opened the case, no BC pick! I was freaking out a little bit, when a buddy spoke some calming words to me, "nobody in the audience is going to give a **** that you don't have your BC pick, just go with what you have." I ended up using a Dawg pick, tremolo was a tad clunky but the gig went fine. I do prefer the BC to anything else I've tried, but stick to the practice of tucking it in the strings and in the case when I'm not playing!
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  34. #25

    Default Re: Just tried a Blue Chip pick on my mandolin

    Once I found D'Andrea Plec 1.5mm picks, my pick hunt ended. I tried a buddy's Blue Chip, and it didn't really do it for me. And usually, I like the expensive stuff.Click image for larger version. 

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