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Originally Posted by lukmanohnz
New to me. Ordered some for a try. If you like a mellower sound, VPick pearly gates are interesting. A bit softer than full on acrylic in a well made pick with thicker sizes and different shapes available.
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05-27-2020 11:14 AM
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I hope you like the Radex. FWIW I am using the 1.25 mm triangles. Thanks for the tip on the pearly gates. I am also a big fan of the jazz mando V-pick. This was the pick that sent me down the pick rabbit hole. I’ve heard that admitting you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery... Originally Posted by Spook410
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I just bought a set of Mojo Grip, Pickworld picks. They are terrific and do not slip! I found them on Amazon.
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Glad it was helpful! I use a Golden Gate Mandolin pick (I think it has a nice soft sound), which is pretty large. I tried different things and ended up with one reinforcement in the center on each side of the pick. Also, makes the picks easier to find on the floor. Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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When I have tried looseleaf reinforcements under hot stage lights they came off on my sweaty fingers during the first set.
Danny W.
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My V-picks arrived and I really like the feel. Vinni is right: they stick to your thumb without being sticky.
I like this one best of the 3 I sampled.
It comes in other colors. It's the closest in size to a Jazz III but it's a little bigger. A big plus is that all three sides have picking edges. In that sense, it's like 3 picks for the price of one. Great feel for me. Very happy.
Too soon to know how I'll feel about it long term, but as the song says, "this could be the start of something big."
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I hate trying to solve a similar pick issue with more gear, but I broke down and bought the MOJO GRIP from Pickworld. It was like night and day. Basically holding the pick became instantly a non-issue. I replaced the pick that came with it for a JAZZIII XL in my preferred thickness. The only limitation I can see is that the rubber sleeve is meant for a Fender 351 and a small traditional JAZZ might get lost in there.
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Tried the D'Andrea Radex. Interesting what a bit of material science does for music. However, way too bright for me. Brighter than Ultex to my ear.
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I have found that smaller picks are easier to hold onto; the largest pick size I like is the jazz III. I think it's because I can feel the top edge of the pick between my fingers without having to stick a lot of the point out beyond my thumb. When I grip the pick I only expose about an eighth of an inch of the tip. With the 351 size pick, there is no edge for me to feel and then the pic starts to turn around in my fingers. So my favorite pick is the D'Andrea ProPlec 358 because I can clearly feel the orientation of the pick without ever having to look at it as well as liking the tone that the material creates. My next favorite pick is a ProPlec 347 cut down to the size of a jazz III. Those two account for about 90% of my playing.
I also have some Dunlop Delrin 500s that I've cut down to jazz III size. I like those too. The material has very little pop or pick noise when it strikes the string.
As a result of this thread, I ordered several V Picks: the Farley, the Fusion and the Chicken Picker. They are listed as "small" pics on the website. They are, to me, enormous. Vinny compares some of them to the jazz III but they're a lot bigger than that. Thus far I am not digging them. There's a lot more ping and high end overtones, which is maybe nice if you're playing with distortion but playing for clean tone just tends to become annoying. Oddly enough, the Farley is the one I like the best out of those three; I don't usually like excessively thick pics and this one is 3 mm thick. I am going to give them some more time and practice, however, because they seem to need to be held a bit differently in terms of angle against the string than my other picks. I may be able to get something out of them that I like.
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I have several V-Picks models. I typically use small picks, too, and oddly enough, one of my favorites is their "medium pearly white" [and I have a pink one my daughter selected, too!].
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V-picks and Gravity picks.
Don't miss out on Gravity picks though, they are really great picks and don't have any slight weird curvature that so many picks have that makes it hard to hold.
They have more heft although they are the same mm as others and have a beautiful sound and great grip.
I've been using the 4mm std ones (classic) and they are excellent!
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Update: a generous soul sent me an assortment of picks to try and they arrived today. I'm stoked!
As Cunamara posted above, I prefer the smaller V-picks. My first purchase----a shot in the dark, really---was: the Hotter Tamale, the Hole in One, and the Small Lite. I like the Small Lite best of those three. Vinni (The V of V-Picks) likens them to the Jazz III. They're bigger than a Jazz III though. That worried me. But it felt comfortable quickly. Definitely a keeper. And like they say, it sticks to your thumb without being sticky. Also, because it is triangular, you have 3 playing edges. So I think that's a first-rate pick.
Not so wild about the Hotter Tamale or the Hole in One. Maybe their day will come.
As for today, I received a Blue Chip 40 (which is the same size as a Jazz III---maybe a hair smaller, in fact) and man, that thing is a dream to hold. And such a great release. Comping had a great tone and feel too. Dynamite pick. I do indeed see what all the fuss is about Blue Chip picks. As the song says, "'Deed I Do."
Another one was a Pearly Gates V-Pick. I thought, "no way, too thick, too big" but it feels great and I played it a lot. Really like that one. More than I expected too. It's got to be 3mm thick, maybe more. But it's a dream to hold. It's like you don't have to grip like at all, more like it's just there. Remarkable to have played guitar for decades and only just now discovering picks that felt this way.
There were others in the package but I was stuck on those two.
My lucky day!
Thank you again, Mysterious Stranger. ;o)
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Fascinating, because I find the Ultex substantially brighter that the Radex. I am a fan of both. I wonder how much of this is related to grip, attack, string gauge, guitar/pickup, etc. Which thickness/shape did you try? Originally Posted by Spook410
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1.25mm, large triangle. .013 round wound strings on a 17" solid carved (spruce/maple) through an Armstrong hand wound. Usually use thicker acrylic or Blue Chip for this guitar. Haven't tried the picks on other guitars yet. Wish they offered thicker models though 1.25mm is already thicker than most folks are looking for. Overall my favorite pick is still a Blue Chip 2.5mm large triangle but I like thick acrylic pretty well too. Originally Posted by lukmanohnz
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Right! That's exactly my experience! It looks and feels huge, but plays wonderfully! Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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I also would like it if they did a Radex at 1.5mm or even thicker. I’m playing TI GB flatwounds, 0.012 on an Eastman AR503CE. Originally Posted by Spook410
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I was disappointed with this pick purchase. Although the seller recommended 50 hours of practice to adapt to the pick, I found from the get-go that I didn't like the sound of the pick interface with the string. I have used a Fender medium for a long time, so that is the benchmark for me. The plastic that this pick is made out of is softer and more vinyl like to me - like a spatula plastic. The attack is softened and sounds muted. Maybe it is 3D printed and they don't have a hard plastic to make them like I like 'em. The arch over the thumb section was small for me. I tried putting it in boiling hot water to take some of the bend out of it, but it has a pretty good memory and would not maintain the new contour. The Sharktooth works so much better plus you can incorporate your favorite pick into a Sharktooth thumb wrap. It is Sharktooth FTW! Originally Posted by Easy2grasp
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I have had the same problem in the past and I also drop picks occasionally. After trying everything under the sun I found that violin rosin works perfectly. I just scratch a little off with a coin, wet my thumb and forefinger a little and rub some on. You can regulate the amount of stickiness by how much you use. Works great for me. You can even make it stick to picks. Beats spending a lot of money for an expensive blue chip pick or something and then losing it. Also, sweat from your hands doesnt affect things much.
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I'm a bartender so my hands are always dried out and messed up, O'Keefes Working Hands lotion is excellent and inexpensive
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Have you considered ergonomic picks? I have heard good things about the Dugain carved picks: DUGAIN PLECTRUMS ERGONOMIC GUITAR PICKS
They are not exactly cheap and I have never used them myself, but they may be worth a try.
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So I have spent a few days, maybe a week actually, just using the V Picks. I have found that I don't get along with the "chicken picker." It just has too much pingy pick noise.
However, the Fusion has turned out to be a pick I like quite a bit. It took a little shift in my picking technique to reduce the pick noise but it provides a nice, warm, deep sound that I am liking in particular on my archtop. If it was closer to the Jazz III size I would really like it a lot.
I also like the feel of the Farley. I am surprised by this as I don't generally like picks thicker than about 1.5 mm. With the 45° bevel, the pick feels very fast. There is a fair amount of ping and pick noise although this is more noticeable acoustically than amplified. It seems more like a gypsy jazz pick. The story on the website goes that somehow this pick was inspired by a pick given to someone Vinny knows by Johnny Smith. I can't verify that, but it does make for a very smooth alternate picking and arpeggios. The tone is a little brighter than I like, but Johnny had a very bright tone.
So all things considered, two of the three picks seem to be successful in my opinion. That's a pretty good batting average as I've been through dozens of other picks that lasted about four minutes before I gave up on them. Now, if Vinny would just stop making them so dang big.
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One of these is handy to have - apply to center of pick. For really thick picks, a drill does the job nicely. But, does not work well on Min'd picks:
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I've been hanging with the Blue Chip Jazz 40. Same size as a Jazz III---if not a hair smaller. 1 mm thickness, so not as thick as a Jazz III. (Blue Chip makes them that thick, I think.) What I love most about this pick is that it stays in place without me feeling I have to grip it at all. I've always had trouble with picks moving around while I played. This one does not. I'm not sure how it does that----I don't know what these picks are made of.
I have read online that they are made of "an incredibly expensive polyimide material, Vespel." Whatever that means.
Although the pick has a bit of give it doesn't warp against my thumb. (The way Fender Mediums do.) I can place it so that I'm actually holding very little of it but it stays in place without conscious effort. I don't know that 'give' is the right word, so let me put it this way: it doesn't feel stiff even though is solid, durable piece of goods. (Stiff picks can seem to push back against ones' grip; this pick does not.)
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