Winspear Instrumental Company

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bostjan

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Hi Tom!

Congratulations on your newest family member! I bet you're staying busy!

I have to admit, that I've been on your site a number of times, but I feel daunted by the selection of materials. I've seen some charts kind of detailing the relative tone, amount of texture, and weight of the materials you use, which helps me a bit, but I still feel a bit confused.

I know comparison with leading brands is a slippery slope, but, I think if you could take your charts and reference them back to some sort of common pick materials, it'd be quite useful to people like me.

For example, how do your materials compare with textured polyoxymethylene, celluloid, or nylon?
 

JimF

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Can't really help with the above, but I'm just checking back in to say I love the picks I ordered, I blasted through my recording, and will be ordering more!
 

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Winspear

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Congrats Tom, she is lovely!!

I just placed my first order ever for the Amber Shiv with the taper. I have spent a great deal on picks when I had my Gypsy guitar, but not a lot of thought other than the Jazz III types from Dunlop for electric guitar. I just picked up a pack of the JP primetones, but picks are a fun way to experiment.

Thank you - enjoy them :shred:

Are these worth buying in America or does the shipping make the price go too high? Also, as someone with zero experience with all of the different materials, which one is the best for someone with sweaty hands? I.e., most absorbant? The dragonsheart material has been good for this, as an example.

You're looking at almost doubling the cost of the cheapest single picks, but shipping isn't outlandish ($4?).
I'd recommend Amber. It's smooth but sticky when warm. Maybe Icegrip for some texture if a warmer tone is your thing :)

Congrats and HNBD

Thanks ! :wavey:

Hi Tom!

Congratulations on your newest family member! I bet you're staying busy!

I have to admit, that I've been on your site a number of times, but I feel daunted by the selection of materials. I've seen some charts kind of detailing the relative tone, amount of texture, and weight of the materials you use, which helps me a bit, but I still feel a bit confused.

I know comparison with leading brands is a slippery slope, but, I think if you could take your charts and reference them back to some sort of common pick materials, it'd be quite useful to people like me.

For example, how do your materials compare with textured polyoxymethylene, celluloid, or nylon?

Thanks! I sure am. She is doing well :) Delrin or nylon don't feel too dissimilar to Amber series. That said it makes most sense to compare then with Ultex - same material! Celluloid might not feel too different to Purity series if they were thinner. It's kind of hard to compare with such a different thickness and feel. Honestly I would approach them as something new. Amber has become hugely popular and is quite ideal, bright tone, nice grip, very durable, not too expensive. Icegrip is the one to go for for a darker smooth sound. When I have them in stock, the thinner Amber picks make a great start, along with the Starter Pack I'll be selling again which also contains a thicker Amber and Icegrip pick.

Can't really help with the above, but I'm just checking back in to say I love the picks I ordered, I blasted through my recording, and will be ordering more!

Thanks very much dude! Should be back to regular speed here soon enough :hbang:
 

JSanta

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I got my pick in the mail yesterday and spent a few minutes using it. I got the amber shiv and size wise, it's as large as the JP shield logo dunlop. I am finding the tone to be warmer (still bright) than my usual ultem/ultex picks, which is perfect. Being around 4mm thick, it's going to take a bit of getting used too, but the quality is outstanding.

Once the limited series are in stock again, I'll probably place another order as that might be the best of both worlds for me.

Anyone that is on the fence about spending a bit more on a pick should really give these a try. I think I paid right around $11 including shipping to the East Coast of the US. Exceptionally well made picks.
 

LeviathanKiller

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Tom, how would you order the materials in terms of durability? That's one factor missing from the guide chart.

The UHMWPE (Icegrip and Bloodline) seem to be my favorite material followed by the Ertalyte (Purity). They UHMWPE is just way faster than the other materials except for maybe the Stealth but it sheds so much dust and I feel like I'm chewing it to bits.
 

Winspear

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I got my pick in the mail yesterday and spent a few minutes using it. I got the amber shiv and size wise, it's as large as the JP shield logo dunlop. I am finding the tone to be warmer (still bright) than my usual ultem/ultex picks, which is perfect. Being around 4mm thick, it's going to take a bit of getting used too, but the quality is outstanding.

Once the limited series are in stock again, I'll probably place another order as that might be the best of both worlds for me.

Anyone that is on the fence about spending a bit more on a pick should really give these a try. I think I paid right around $11 including shipping to the East Coast of the US. Exceptionally well made picks.

Thanks man! :hbang:

Tom, how would you order the materials in terms of durability? That's one factor missing from the guide chart.

The UHMWPE (Icegrip and Bloodline) seem to be my favorite material followed by the Ertalyte (Purity). They UHMWPE is just way faster than the other materials except for maybe the Stealth but it sheds so much dust and I feel like I'm chewing it to bits.

The Stealth is certainly the fastest wearing due to the graphite. I prefer to use it as a sort of 'studio' pick. UHMWPE definitely lasts the longest, it's a really unique material - but due to their warmer tone I kind of group them separately. That leaves Amber Sandstorm and Purity and honestly I wouldn't say any of them are drastically different. Purity is probably the best bang for buck as far as lifespan goes but not by far :)
 

Winspear

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New packaging now on all orders shipped today onwards :) Getting close to removing the order queue now, feels nice to be getting organised again.

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LeviathanKiller

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For anyone who has issues with the grippage on the UHMWPE picks, I recently discovered some modifications that work quite well, for me at least. I had all of my picks in a magnetic parts tray so it ripped the metal logo out of the pick, the hole actually makes for some decent traction. Better than the logo being in there imo (sorry Tom). And something I just recently discovered (probably not the first one to do so) but dots of super glue all over each side of the pick gives really good grippage on all of my picks. I can use cheap Tortex picks again! I can post a pic if anyone is interested but it works awesome for me. (Don't use the gel-type super glues. Grips I made with the gel kind don't feel as grippy and the gel type seems to come off pretty easy. The normal super glue doesn't have any issues.)

@Tom: I love the custom "XL" Shurikens. For really really fast rhythms the points get hung up sometimes (I play with a few mandolin picks bc of this) so I'll probably be ordering another batch soon but with some slightly rounded tips I think.

You should definitely take pictures of the custom stuff you make and start putting them in a gallery (alongside a generic Tortex pick or something for size comparison). You've got the best materials on the market imo and I can't wait to see more interesting shapes that you and other customers come up with. Even better if they get added to the standard line-up!
 

Samacle

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Ordered a tapered broadsword and shuriken amber standard back in January and have been using them exclusively since.

New packaging looks awesome, time to buy some more picks i guess...

Thinking of ordering some amber shurikens, not sure about which thickness but I'm sure the best answer will be both :agreed:.
 

Winspear

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For anyone who has issues with the grippage on the UHMWPE picks, ...

@Tom: ... I'll probably be ordering another batch soon but with some slightly rounded tips I think.

You should definitely take pictures of the custom stuff you make and start putting them in a gallery (alongside a generic Tortex pick or something for size comparison). You've got the best materials on the market imo and I can't wait to see more interesting shapes that you and other customers come up with. Even better if they get added to the standard line-up!

Hey, the picks are yours to mod and improve however you please! Glad you are finding a way to enjoy the UHMWPE more :)
Rounded tips are no problem!
Good call on the custom gallery, I'm gathering quite a collection of custom orders haha. I try not to promote them too hard though, as it tends to lead to an insane amount of orders to handle as they are much less efficient. But anything goes, really!

Ordered a tapered broadsword and shuriken amber standard back in January and have been using them exclusively since.

New packaging looks awesome, time to buy some more picks i guess...

Thinking of ordering some amber shurikens, not sure about which thickness but I'm sure the best answer will be both :agreed:.

Thanks very much :) I actually have some thinner Amber Shuriken Mini in stock right now too, as I'm about to announce....


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Back in stock on these limited engraved picks! I'd be surprised if the bone ones last until anyone sees this post here though haha, but unlimited stock on the Ambers for the next 48 hours :hbang::hbang:

The order queue is completely clear for now too !

Enjoy! Thanks for the support
Tom
http://www.winspearpicks.com
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LeviathanKiller

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Hey Tom, am I correct in thinking that the Shiv is essentially a Jazz III and thus the Broadsword is a Dunlop TIII/T3? I REALLY need a T3 shaped version in my Winspear arsenal.
I included a picture of a white T3 below along with some other pics of my current Winspear collection. :)

The ones in the circle and the one on the left are the "XLs" I had Tom make me (if you start making those stock Tom, you should totally name them "Leviathans" after me. :lol: haha)
All the ones in the circle are 3mm, the one on the left is 6mm. One up top is a standard size Shuriken in 6mm. The one on the right is a standard 6mm Battleaxe with the ergonomic taper.

I like big picks and I cannot lie

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