Red Bear Picks

[Tom Karol]

... My Blue Chips, on the other hand, definitely do end up bending just as you describe (as well as other cheaper picks).

Really? I can't imagine my 1.5mm Blue Chips bending. At least I sure hope they don't!

[Kuz]

I've been using Red Bear picks for my flattops since 2003. I love the tone, especially with a speed bevel. Dave Skowron is great to work with and will practically custome make a pick for you.

Picks for the archtop are another story. I cannot abide the thin tone I get on the archtop with any Red Bear Pick, no matter the thickness. I prefer a 3.5mm Wegen for archtop playing.

Yea, tone is very subjective. For me, the heavy large jazzier and the medium standard shape offer an "openness" and 3D quality that I can't get with other picks for my archtop.

I will offer this, I don't use a "speed bevel" for the archtop picks. The "speed bevel" option really brightens the tone of the picks dramatically.

[stevedenver]

i play mando and of course an archtop, as well as a dreadnought and some solid bodies

one pick that is stiff and bright-really good cut-is the pickboy high modulus.88mm PEI ultem-these are the color of cream soda with an embossed cannibis leaf and "PEI" in red-the have a very sharp point-they sound noticably brighter in attack-they feel great and are easy to dig in with-the can be a bit shrill

another i love are pick boy Jazz 1.50 mm-black or white -triangle slightly smaller-good control and tone imho-comfortable

another which has been mentioned before are Pro PLecs-which are now my favorites for mando and jazz- i use the standard triangles for guitar and the oversized equilaterals for mando-the latter having a broader pick point -looks like the Dawg style above mostly- which gives a rounder sound and glides nicely with tremelo-these pro plecs seem to have a beveled or rounded edge that feels good and sounds round

i would recommend all-they are inexpensive and worth trying

i have no issues with 20+
but for me, lsing the damned thing is one less thing for me to manage
i find inexpensive things seem to last and not get lost, evn though one doesnt care, expensive ones inevitably go away no matter the care-

there was a time when i simply wanted a brightly contrasting color-like yellow or clown barf- so i could see the thing when i dropped it in dim lighting

long ago i did have real tortoise-never really appreciated a big difference-but i was pretty green then too-wore down pretty fast as i recall