Winspear Instrumental Company

[Winspear]

Hey all! Our son will be born soon so I'm taking some time off, but accepting preorders to start shipping late March
Very happy to publicly introduce a new model, the buffalo horn Shiv with Irongrip engraving. This special one has been hard to get hold of until now but is entering full production!
I'm running a little contest and one in ten customers ordering from now until the birth of our baby will receive a full refund, so good luck to anyone that makes a purchase!
If you want to head over to https://www.facebook.com/WinspearUK/ , I'm also running a share contest to giveaway all three items below
Thanks for the support!

 

[sezna]

Hey all! Our son will be born soon so I'm taking some time off, but accepting preorders to start shipping late March
Very happy to publicly introduce a new model, the buffalo horn Shiv with Irongrip engraving. This special one has been hard to get hold of until now but is entering full production!
I'm running a little contest and one in ten customers ordering from now until the birth of our baby will receive a full refund, so good luck to anyone that makes a purchase!
If you want to head over to https://www.facebook.com/WinspearUK/ , I'm also running a share contest to giveaway all three items below
Thanks for the support!

Congrats! That new pick looks awesome. Will orders made in February also ship in late March?

 

[Winspear]

Thanks! All orders placed more than a few hours ago are either ready to ship or will soon be ready to ship as soon as I can squeeze in a few hours this week

 

[Winspear]

Congrats! That new pick looks awesome. Will orders made in February also ship in late March?

Looks like yours shipped a week ago , maybe you missed the notification

 

[KnightBrolaire]

hey tom are you still taking custom pick orders?

 

[sezna]

Looks like yours shipped a week ago , maybe you missed the notification

I got a notification but when I clicked it, it says:

Your shipment is confirmed

Your order is confirmed and I will begin work on your items as soon as possible

So I wasn't sure if that meant shipped or in progress, haha. Thanks for confirming.

 

[sezna]

My picks came in yesterday and I've played around with them for about a day now. A few impressions:

First of all, the packaging is awesome. Secondly, I had no idea the material of the picks impacted the sound so much, especially with high gain. One of these picks is a straight up mid eq bump, and another one is a scoop. Never experienced that before. I've discovered a lot about my preferences in pick thickness, taper, and pointiness as well. I'll post a more detailed review of all the ones I got later (I got the Shiv bundle) but my favorite one so far is the black one. Pretty thick, not too pointy, and not too tapered. My least favorite is the translucent-ish white one, just because the taper is so strong that the end of the pick has a bit of flex to it.

Loving the material. I'm going to play with these for a bit longer before doing a write up to see what the durability is like and if my preferences change.

Thanks @Winspear! You make a great product and the pride you have in this product is evident in the quality and packaging.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

My picks came in yesterday and I've played around with them for about a day now. A few impressions:

First of all, the packaging is awesome. Secondly, I had no idea the material of the picks impacted the sound so much, especially with high gain. One of these picks is a straight up mid eq bump, and another one is a scoop. Never experienced that before. I've discovered a lot about my preferences in pick thickness, taper, and pointiness as well. I'll post a more detailed review of all the ones I got later (I got the Shiv bundle) but my favorite one so far is the black one. Pretty thick, not too pointy, and not too tapered. My least favorite is the translucent-ish white one, just because the taper is so strong that the end of the pick has a bit of flex to it.

Loving the material. I'm going to play with these for a bit longer before doing a write up to see what the durability is like and if my preferences change.

Thanks @Winspear! You make a great product and the pride you have in this product is evident in the quality and packaging.

the bloodline/icegrip (uhmpwe) picks are going to blow away all the other versions in terms of sheer durability. i had the black shiv (stealth) and it was a nice pick but i chewed through it in a few weeks while the uhmpwe picks last for months and months ime.

 

[sezna]

the bloodline/purity (uhmpwe) picks are going to blow away all the other versions in terms of sheer durability. i had the black shiv (stealth) and it was a nice pick but i chewed through it in a few weeks while the uhmpwe picks last for months and months ime.

Is the bloodline the red one?

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Is the bloodline the red one?

yup

 

[LeviathanKiller]

the bloodline/icegrip (uhmpwe) picks are going to blow away all the other versions in terms of sheer durability. i had the black shiv (stealth) and it was a nice pick but i chewed through it in a few weeks while the uhmpwe picks last for months and months ime.

The Sandstorm ones were my favorite for having a sharp attack. I miss them dearly.

@Winspear Is it possible that the PEEK material could make a comeback in the future? That was THE material I ordered everything from you in.

 

[Winspear]

Thanks guys!

My picks came in yesterday and I've played around with them for about a day now. A few impressions:

Thanks! Glad you are enjoying them The comments above regarding durability are accurate - Stealth wears fastest and the Icegrip/Bloodline have a magical durability unmatched by other plastics!

The Sandstorm ones were my favorite for having a sharp attack. I miss them dearly.

@Winspear Is it possible that the PEEK material could make a comeback in the future? That was THE material I ordered everything from you in.

I'm sorry I took them down. I think I will bring them back one day but the Gold substitute seems to have been very well received. It comes with its own downsides for me so it's possible that I'll move back to PEEK at some point, but I would have had to increase the price quite a lot. Either way I'll be doing a limited run of them sometime this year I think

 

[LeviathanKiller]

Thanks guys!


Thanks! Glad you are enjoying them The comments above regarding durability are accurate - Stealth wears fastest and the Icegrip/Bloodline have a magical durability unmatched by other plastics!



I'm sorry I took them down. I think I will bring them back one day but the Gold substitute seems to have been very well received. It comes with its own downsides for me so it's possible that I'll move back to PEEK at some point, but I would have had to increase the price quite a lot. Either way I'll be doing a limited run of them sometime this year I think

I know we were talking on Facebook too about them. Just how much of an increase would it have been? Like, just give a multiplier. The only places I know of that offer PEEK charge a pretty penny for theirs as well so I don't think I could complain unless sourcing it to where you are located increases the price above what other plectrum makers are getting it at and that drove the price you had to sell at to be something astronomically high. In my opinion, PEEK is superior to all of the other materials other than UHMWPE which has different pros and cons.

 

[Winspear]

I know we were talking on Facebook too about them. Just how much of an increase would it have been? Like, just give a multiplier. The only places I know of that offer PEEK charge a pretty penny for theirs as well so I don't think I could complain unless sourcing it to where you are located increases the price above what other plectrum makers are getting it at.

Gravity Gold right? It looks the right colour. And they are crazy expensive! Comparing those to their acrylic picks it's like Gravity price the picks at a multiplier of what the material costs, rather than adding a (roughly fixed) profit ontop.
They'd be around £3 more than the Gold picks for me I've just been trying to keep the price of the classic badge picks fairly close across the materials.

 

[Mathemagician]

What’s the closest winspear to a Jazz 3-XL without a super-fine tip that gets caught on strings?

Reason I ask is I have some other picks (not winspear) that are ALMOST there but the tips are just too sharp/pointed out of the box and I feel like I almost need to sand it down a tad. I usually use between a 1.2mm-1.5mm at most.

 

[LeviathanKiller]

What’s the closest winspear to a Jazz 3-XL without a super-fine tip that gets caught on strings?

Reason I ask is I have some other picks (not winspear) that are ALMOST there but the tips are just too sharp/pointed out of the box and I feel like I almost need to sand it down a tad. I usually use between a 1.2mm-1.5mm at most.

I feel ya. Going to have for something custom from him likely then. The Broadsword (25x32mm) is about the same size as a Jazz 3-XL (25.1x29.1mm) but is much pointier making certain things difficult like you mentioned.

 

[LeviathanKiller]

Gravity Gold right? It looks the right colour. And they are crazy expensive! Comparing those to their acrylic picks it's like Gravity price the picks at a multiplier of what the material costs, rather than adding a (roughly fixed) profit ontop.
They'd be around £3 more than the Gold picks for me I've just been trying to keep the price of the classic badge picks fairly close across the materials.

I'm not sure that Gravity Picks' Gold series is PEEK although you are right about the color being close. @KnightBrolaire had a Gravity Picks Gold series and it wore down quicker than I would expect PEEK to wear and my Sandstorm models from you have barely any wear so that seems to conflict.

Purple Plectrums have PEEK as a material for a few select options. Those are like $30+ (even other materials like UHMWPE cost a lot more from him). I'd be super happy to buy your models in Sandstorm for a bit more than the other materials' prices.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I'm not sure that Gravity Picks' Gold series is PEEK although you are right about the color being close. @KnightBrolaire had a Gravity Picks Gold series and it wore down quicker than I would expect PEEK to wear and my Sandstorm models from you have barely any wear so that seems to conflict.

Purple Plectrums have PEEK as a material for a few select options. Those are like $30+ (even other materials like UHMWPE cost a lot more from him). I'd be super happy to buy your models in Sandstorm for a bit more than the other materials' prices.

I don't have firsthand experience with PEEK but I know that whatever gravity picks was using for their gold series is some hard wearing thermoplastic meant to compete with blue chip. It's not even comparable to UHMPWE or whatever material blue chip uses in terms of sheer durability though..

 

[ixlramp]

It was a good surprise to see you selling strings, this is something i was hoping you would do due to your technical understanding and fresh approach to gauging and tensions. More than anyone else i know, i feel you have the potential to be 'Europe's Kalium' (i mean this as the highest compliment).

I am interested in your approach to tension in your sets, so, although of course approximate, i used D'Addario's String Tension Pro to analyse your 6 string sets. My rough deductions are:

You keep the plains at equal tensions, the wounds at equal tensions, but the wounds around 2.5-3 lbs tighter than the plains.
The step up in tension from plains to wounds is fairly similar to traditional guitar sets.
When there is the choice of a wound 3rd, or the 3rd is wound, you often have the choice of that wound 3rd being either at the tension of the plains or at the tension of the wounds.

I approve of your approach =)

Concerning D'Addario, they have the odd traditional sets with tension zig-zagging up and down for no good reason across the strings. Then they have the new 'equal tension' sets, but where i think they have made a mistake there is not having a step up in tension from plain to wound, which i feel helps in several ways.
I feel that guitar sets do not benefit from having equal tensions for all strings, tension really needs to decrease in some way, to some degree, from low to high strings, and not only due to there being a transition from wounds to plains, for other reasons too.

 

[ixlramp]

Two exceptions: '15-68 Standard' and '15-76 Drop' seem to have all strings at equal tension.