Whats the best type of pick to use?

[mandroid]

If there were a few brightly colored 'clown barf' thick rounded Wankel triangle picks, to be found .

I 'd go for a dozen or 2 .. a lot easier to find when you drop them, than Mock Tortoise.

[Rob Gerety]

... commonly misspelled as "pick mattock".

At the risk of showing my age - and revealing a bit about my time spent digging ditches as a strapping teenager - the correct name of the tool depicted is indeed "Pick Mattock". I expect you knew that. Been around for a couple of hundred years. Great tool by the way. I have one out in the barn. Oh, and there ain't much "matic" about it either. You'll be reachin' for the liniment at the end of the day.

[journeybear]

Well, yes, of course ... but the truth just drains all the humor out of the joke ... My dad had one of these when I was a kid, and it sure was just the thing for breaking ground. I used to wonder why it was called a pickmatic until I read a book in which a worker used a mattock - and a light bulb lit in my brain. In case you young whippersnappers don't know what we old fogeys are yammering about, a pick-mattock combines the two tools, with a pick on one side and a mattock blade on the other.

[SincereCorgi]

Weird, everybody in my family calls it 'a mattocks', as in 'bring over a shovel and a mattocks'. Is that a dialect thing?

[Rob Gerety]

Well, yes, of course ... but the truth just drains all the humor out of the joke ...

You're right. Sorry! Shouldn't have pushed the send button on that one. I couldn't help myself. I recall the day I used a pick mattock for the first time. I remember being really impressed with the tool and how much more I could get done in the same amount of time.

[journeybear]

That's OK. I'm sure we're edumacatin' some people with (or in spite of) all our tomfoolery.

Speaking of which - People! Please don't use one of these on your mandolin! This is a heavy earthworking tool. For a delicate instrument, use a lighter tool, like a mountaineer's pick:

[yankees1]

Yea, but I lose everything, even a real ' Mickey Mantle" bat from 61" that was the worse..

This is much worse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JackHorner]

How long does one get out of a blue? No thought of loss, just wear.

[Jim]

A pick that is easy to find in a store or on the floor. I have used Fender 351 picks medium & heavy and similarly shaped Dunlops since the mid 70s. That shape is what I am used to and though I've tried many other shapes it's what I come back to. Bright colors are what I like, Looking for a brown pic on a brown floor in low light is frustrating to say the least. Clown puke, yellow and orange are the way to go.

[Mike Stewart]

For a delicate instrument, use a lighter tool, like a mountaineer's pick:

Figgers that the guy from Key West wouldn't know how to properly spell "ice ax".

(And, yes, I realize my pedantic reply has now taken the wind out of the pun.)

[JeffD]

How long does one get out of a blue? No thought of loss, just wear.

Mine are several more than several years old, and indistinguishable from brand new.

[DavidKOS]

A pick that is easy to find in a store or on the floor. ....., Looking for a brown pic on a brown floor in low light is frustrating to say the least. .

On electric guitar I use Ultex/Ultem picks...light yellow-brown translucent picks.



They are really hard to find, and almost impossible to locate on a wooden floor.

There's something to be said for the old bright yellow and green Tortex.

[DHopkins]

Changed my mind.