ilyti
Lazy Ryebread Viking
Like most of you guys, I've been through a load of picks over the years. I stopped using Jazz-IIIs in 2008, when I got this lil' buddy:
It's a 1.5mm brazillian agate stone jazz pick from picksandstones.com . I have played with it extensively over the years and it shows absolutely no wear. Edges are glassy smooth and it glides across the strings with very little effort. I am confident it will last forever as long as I don't lose it. So I guard it with my life. Unfortunately, they are going out of business at the end of this year, so if you wanna try 'em, you gotta act fast. This one cost me $25 and it has been my go-to pick for 90% of my playing. I find it doesn't do acoustic very well and it has a percussive "tick" to it when it hits the strings, which is fantastic for playing loud, though lacking warmth when playing softly. That said, the "tick" is a lot less noticeable than the "flap" of plastic picks.
So I heard about RedBear through obvious channels and bought a Lil' Jazzer for about $30. I had it for about 3 years, and over time it showed quite a bit of wear. The middle of the pick developed cracks and color faded from pink to brownish peach. Then one day I lost it. Several weeks later I moved a piece of furniture and found the pick surrounded by a dozen dead sow-bugs. Gross. Apparently, the animal protein RedBear picks are made of coupled with 3 years of thumb sweat makes it delicious to bugs! They had eaten a good chunk of it, and subsequently died. Here's a blurry pic of what was left of it:
That said, I liked it while I had it. I mainly used it for acoustic because for all my electric playing, the stone pick was better. It seems that RedBear are now even more exclusive then they used to be, so I decided not to buy another. But since then, I have been on the lookout to replace it.
Enter: Gravity picks. At 8 dollars for a handmade pick I thought "why not?" I ordered a 2mm Sunrise with "master finish", not knowing what that meant. It means rough edges that go FF-FF-FFFFF against the strings. Ugh. Hated that. But a minute with fine steel wool took care of that. Its a fast little picker, but it still made more pick noise than the stone, so I only use it for practice. Classy company though, the guy sent me a free one with the one I ordered. It is a little smaller than a Jazz-III.
I started to miss my RedBear so I looked into what other companies make picks than mimic tortoise shell. Wegen picks, based in Holland, looked promising so I bought one of his "Twins" for $12 from thepickshoppe.com in Ontario. A 3.5mm gypsy jazz pick that's between a standard pick and a jazz-III in size. It has beveled edges and a dimple in the middle that sits very comfortably on your thumb. It hits the strings very loudly with lots of warmth and very little pick noise. It blows the RedBear right outta the water if I may so boldly say so. It is amazing for cleans and acoustic, but can really hit hard for shred and metal too. I cannot comment on it's longevity yet, but the material seems very hard indeed. I needed it a little pointier than it came and it took very well to filing and re-polishing. (the picture down the page shows the stock condition)
I threw a $3 house brand pick from thepickshoppe into it, in case I didn't get along with the Wegen. It is the size of a standard pick, but 2.5mm thick with rounded edges. I didn't like size of it for guitar, but it is perfect for bass, so yay!
Here's a group shot of the picks mentioned, minus the RedBear (RIP). The BKP pick is there for size comparisons. Clockwise from top left: Jazz-III, ThePickShoppe, Wegen, Gravity, BKP, Picksandstones.
And here's a thickness comparison:
Now, I hope you found some meaning in reading of my quest. Forgive me if I came off a little... picky.
(sorry... I had to)
It's a 1.5mm brazillian agate stone jazz pick from picksandstones.com . I have played with it extensively over the years and it shows absolutely no wear. Edges are glassy smooth and it glides across the strings with very little effort. I am confident it will last forever as long as I don't lose it. So I guard it with my life. Unfortunately, they are going out of business at the end of this year, so if you wanna try 'em, you gotta act fast. This one cost me $25 and it has been my go-to pick for 90% of my playing. I find it doesn't do acoustic very well and it has a percussive "tick" to it when it hits the strings, which is fantastic for playing loud, though lacking warmth when playing softly. That said, the "tick" is a lot less noticeable than the "flap" of plastic picks.
So I heard about RedBear through obvious channels and bought a Lil' Jazzer for about $30. I had it for about 3 years, and over time it showed quite a bit of wear. The middle of the pick developed cracks and color faded from pink to brownish peach. Then one day I lost it. Several weeks later I moved a piece of furniture and found the pick surrounded by a dozen dead sow-bugs. Gross. Apparently, the animal protein RedBear picks are made of coupled with 3 years of thumb sweat makes it delicious to bugs! They had eaten a good chunk of it, and subsequently died. Here's a blurry pic of what was left of it:
That said, I liked it while I had it. I mainly used it for acoustic because for all my electric playing, the stone pick was better. It seems that RedBear are now even more exclusive then they used to be, so I decided not to buy another. But since then, I have been on the lookout to replace it.
Enter: Gravity picks. At 8 dollars for a handmade pick I thought "why not?" I ordered a 2mm Sunrise with "master finish", not knowing what that meant. It means rough edges that go FF-FF-FFFFF against the strings. Ugh. Hated that. But a minute with fine steel wool took care of that. Its a fast little picker, but it still made more pick noise than the stone, so I only use it for practice. Classy company though, the guy sent me a free one with the one I ordered. It is a little smaller than a Jazz-III.
I started to miss my RedBear so I looked into what other companies make picks than mimic tortoise shell. Wegen picks, based in Holland, looked promising so I bought one of his "Twins" for $12 from thepickshoppe.com in Ontario. A 3.5mm gypsy jazz pick that's between a standard pick and a jazz-III in size. It has beveled edges and a dimple in the middle that sits very comfortably on your thumb. It hits the strings very loudly with lots of warmth and very little pick noise. It blows the RedBear right outta the water if I may so boldly say so. It is amazing for cleans and acoustic, but can really hit hard for shred and metal too. I cannot comment on it's longevity yet, but the material seems very hard indeed. I needed it a little pointier than it came and it took very well to filing and re-polishing. (the picture down the page shows the stock condition)
I threw a $3 house brand pick from thepickshoppe into it, in case I didn't get along with the Wegen. It is the size of a standard pick, but 2.5mm thick with rounded edges. I didn't like size of it for guitar, but it is perfect for bass, so yay!
Here's a group shot of the picks mentioned, minus the RedBear (RIP). The BKP pick is there for size comparisons. Clockwise from top left: Jazz-III, ThePickShoppe, Wegen, Gravity, BKP, Picksandstones.
And here's a thickness comparison:
Now, I hope you found some meaning in reading of my quest. Forgive me if I came off a little... picky.
(sorry... I had to)
