How long do your guitar picks last?

[Klatu]

How long do your picks usually last?

Back when I used Jazztone 207s, I got approximately 2 months out of each pick. They were relatively thick picks, so they wore slowly and evenly.

I've since shifted to playing a boutique pick that doesn't seem to wear much at all. Last July, I ordered a sample pack of Dragon's Heart guitar picks. It didn't take me long to pick a favorite of the bunch, and I've been playing with that one pick ever since. Incredibly, looking at the pick today, one would be hard pressed to find any wear at all. In fact, it looks brand new.

[mr. beaumont]

I've never worn out a pick before I've lost it.

[ptchristopher3]

The only pick I have ever managed to wear out was a [water]buffalo horn pick. The rest last till they fall but never hit the floor before passing to a parallel universe of guitar pics somewhere.

[GNAPPI]

I've never worn out a pick before I've lost it.

Same here, that's why I buy them by the truck load.

[Max405]

I have never worn out a pick. I've had the same dozen Fender light picks in my yellow tray (that my son made for me) for 10 years.
And I pick a lot!

[hotpepper01]

In majority they last practically forever. I bought lots of different brands, type, thickness and materials picks that are just laying around and that I dont use anymore. Buying different types of picks is WAY cheaper than buying other guitars. And another type of pick makes such a hiuge diffence. And the other picks - the type that I do use - I loose.

[goldenwave77]

Somewhere there is a mysterious room in which you will find lost picks, single socks, and those little stones that always seem to find a way to jump up into your shoes as you are walking.

We are not alone.

[wintermoon]

been using Dunlop 2.0's forever [the dark purple ones]
they sound way too bright in the beginning, but like strings, once you use them for a bit they're just right.
problem is after I use them for awhile they get too much wear on the edges.
worse, I can't bring myself to toss them and they get mixed in w/the newer ones, so I have to 'pick' through a pile to find one that's ok.

[GNAPPI]

been using Dunlop 2.0's forever [the dark purple ones]
they sound way too bright in the beginning, but like strings, once you use them for a bit they're just right.
problem is after I use them for awhile they get too much wear on the edges.
worse, I can't bring myself to toss them and they get mixed in w/the newer ones, so I have to 'pick' through a pile to find one that's ok.

I found that brightness is caused by the edges of the pick being rough. I "guess" they're made in a sheet and stamped? Dunno, but a few seconds on my grinder buffing wheel with white jewelers rouge "breaks them in" real fast.

[rob taft]

Now that I play mostly fingerstyle they last forever. When I played with a pick, I would place the pick in my mouth if I was fingerpicking and in the process start chewing on the pick("3mm deep purple small Stubby"). So most of my picks were either lost or ground up in my jaws. I bought them in bulk and I find picks everywhere in the house. I can't tell you how many I have fished out of the washing machine.

I applaud folks who can buy one expensive pick and hold onto it for years. I'm just not built that way. Another reason why I buy cheap sunglasses as well.

[wintermoon]

I found that brightness is caused by the edges of the pick being rough. I "guess" they're made in a sheet and stamped? Dunno, but a few seconds on my grinder buffing wheel with white jewelers rouge "breaks them in" real fast.

yeah you're right, I could do that, but after a set on a gig they're fine.
I don't notice the brightness as much as @ home.

[life_with_a_song]

I have a Dunlop 206 that I bought back in 1996, and this particular one is my favorite, although I've got a handful of 'em on reserve (I've lost four or five over the years). Coming from the classical guitar world, though, I have all grades of sandpaper and buffers for nails, and I've found that using these on picks over a period of years also means that I can keep using my same favorite three picks for a long time.

[citizenk74]

I've kept (and used) individual picks for years. I started carrying spares for the players who show up at gigs or jams with no picks (or spare strings or back-up cables or batteries or....). Not because I'm a Nice Guy but because The Show Must Go On.

[PeteE]

I'm using a v-pick traditional at the moment. I have been using it daily for at least a year and it looks and feels as good as new.

[sgcim]

As soon as the point goes on my JazzIIIs, which is less than a week, I use them as nose pickers. You can get a lot more boogers with Jazz IIIs.

[DonEsteban]

I've always been loosing so many picks over my career, must be zillions....

So some years ago one day I decided that I'll be that "one pick guy".

I have one pick that I play at a given time. One single pick. And all other (new and used) sit in a little box somewhere in a cupboard that I do not touch until I have to replace "the" pick because of wear.

Since I do that, I have never lost a pick again. Not a single one.

I've replaced 3 or 4 in that time because they've been worn out. Not too much given that I play/perform/record/practice hours every single day. But - I repeat - I lost not a single one any more... :-)


BTW I play Dunlop 207 :-)

[sgosnell]

To smooth the pick edge, I just drag it briskly across carpet a few times, That buffs it enough. I don't know that I've ever worn a pick out. Lost some, but never wore one out. I have a box of them, all styles, shapes, thicknesses materials, but for the last year or so I've been using Blue Chip picks. I have a 40 and a 50, and I haven't lost one, nor needed another one. I keep backup picks in the strings of my guitars, just in case, but I only use them for something quick when I don't want to take the time to pull out one of the Blue Chips from the pouch in my pocket. The Blue Chips show no wear, just some tiny scratches on the side, not deep enough to feel, just to see if you look really close in good light, from being in my pocker or from the pouch snap, whatever. I don't think I'll wear one of them out before I die, not even close, not even if I live to be 110.

[campusfive]

I've digging Blue Chips for a couple years now, and I've noticed a slight amount of break in, but nothing that I'd consider "wear", at least before I lose one (and that HURTS!). For a while I was using Wegen 1.2mm's and those definitely wore perceptibly. But even though I have my preferred pick, sometimes I get into an acoustic environment that just needs something different, so keep a couple things in a little baggie on me all the time - a blue chip or two, a 1.2mm wegen or two, a wegen 2.5mm, and a couple Dunlop Primetone 1.0mm - the opaque ones that are clearly trying look like Blue Chips. But in my gear bag, I have a plastic box with a ton of different picks, just in case. The other day I showed up to a recording session without my trusty baggie, and the box had my back. For the session (which was not multi tracked, and was recorded with just a MS-stereo pair) I needed as much projection as I could muster acoustically, and so a bigger wegen was a bit more appropriate, especially since I was just chunking rhythm. Electrically, the space made my amp sound a bit more shrill than normal, so I changed to something else (I can't remember what, of course) that had more bass.

[ronjazz]

I have two stone picks I bought when I was studying with Pat Martino, probably late 70s, still use them for practicing daily. Great on nylon strings.

[viccortes285]

I usually lose mine first lol


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[Runepune]

I hate any kind of wear on the tip of the pick. Both the feeling and the sound of it. This Blue Chip has been with me for a year or so, but I have to buff it every other month with 3M polishing paper. At that buffing rate I'm guessing I'll have to exchange it in a year or so

[Cunamara]

I've got picks that are 25 years old or more. I prefer my picks to be worn, don't generally like new picks, so I try to hang on to 'em.