Tortoise Picks

**Woody Sound** · 08-06-2021, 07:36 AM

As I mentioned in another thread, my wife just found my stash of real tortoise picks after around 40 yrs and two moves. I thought they were long gone. Unfortunately most are thin or med, with one heavy left. I'd love to find the few other heavies I had. Unlike manufactured picks, each one is very different. I pictured them in the general category of thin-med-heavy (R -L), but there is much variation within each. A couple of the mediums are almost usable as heavy. For those who haven't had the pleasure of using one, they give a WONDERFUL dark tone, even the med ones. It can't compare to anything else, synthetic or organic. As you can see, at some point as a teen I scored the heavy ones (just one left) for grip. The thinner ones actually work well for jazz banjo. They are all beautiful, but I am very glad we do not kill these animals anymore for this, gotta move forward. As good as they sound, I can live with close synthetics for guitar playing and not having to kill creatures for it.

Tortoise Picks-picks-jpg

**Zhahn** · 08-06-2021, 09:13 AM

I had one a long time ago.
It was a medium/thick small teardrop. A guy who worked at a bass shop in Boston near Symphony Hall gave it to me.

Anyway, that was the best pick I’ve ever had. I’ve never been as happy with any picks ever since.
Of course I lost the thing like an idiot. Looked for it for weeks.

It’s humbling and heavy to see that there’s just no substitute for the natural material that could only be obtained by killing innocent life.

**wintermoon** · 08-06-2021, 02:26 PM

I have one a friend gave me that looks like the amber one in the pic.
it stays home so I won't lose it.
and no my friend didn't kill a reptile to get it.....

**zcostilla** · 08-11-2021, 10:30 PM

I’ve read multiple reviews that have said the casein picks by D’Addario sound as close to authentic tortoise as you’ll ever get.

Casein Guitar Picks | Accessories | D'Addario

**Woody Sound** · 08-11-2021, 10:47 PM

FWIW, I used one tonight for the first time in around 40-ish yrs, with a big band. Felt and sounded great. Would never pursue them now, but I already own them. Haters go away.

**JaxJaxon** · 08-12-2021, 02:19 AM

When I first started playing there wernt many other types of picks besides Tortoise and really heavy plastic.

**Woody Sound** · 08-12-2021, 04:27 AM

Originally Posted by zcostilla

I’ve read multiple reviews that have said the casein picks by D’Addario sound as close to authentic tortoise as you’ll ever get.

Casein Guitar Picks | Accessories | D'Addario

The description says they have a “right handed bevel.” Does that mean they would be bad for reverse (Benson) picking?

**zcostilla** · 08-12-2021, 08:33 AM

Originally Posted by Woody Sound

The description says they have a “right handed bevel.” Does that mean they would be bad for reverse (Benson) picking?

Only on the pointy end with the factory bevel. It means the bevel is cut to ease the downstroke, because the angle of the hand on the upstroke is different. It basically allows the pick angle on the strings to be equal in both directions. If you’re left handed, I’d recommend re-profiling the pick with fine sandpaper.

This is the way the Dunlop Primetone slicks I use are beveled as well. If I wanted to use the other beveling, I’d simply have to use one of the sharper points, not the rounded one.

PRIMETONE(R) SEMI ROUND GRIP PICK 1.5MM - Dunlop

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

**nevershouldhavesoldit** · 08-12-2021, 10:11 AM

Originally Posted by zcostilla

Only on the pointy end with the factory bevel. It means the bevel is cut to ease the downstroke, because the angle of the hand on the upstroke is different. It basically allows the pick angle on the strings to be equal in both directions. If you’re left handed, I’d recommend re-profiling the pick with fine sandpaper.

This is the way the Dunlop Primetone slicks I use are beveled as well. If I wanted to use the other beveling, I’d simply have to use one of the sharper points, not the rounded one.

I may be misunderstanding the way these are beveled. If there’s more of a bevel on one side (eg the side away from the logo) than on the other side, why wouldn’t a lefty playing a left handed guitar strung with E1 at the bottom just have to flip the pick to put the bevel on the down side? Only if there’s also a compound taper (ie along the edge from one end of the bevel to the other, as well as one across the tip) would this not work. How complex is the shape of the edge?

**Doctor Jeff** · 08-12-2021, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by Zhahn

I had one a long time ago.
It was a medium/thick small teardrop. A guy who worked at a bass shop in Boston near Symphony Hall gave it to me.

Anyway, that was the best pick I’ve ever had. I’ve never been as happy with any picks ever since.
Of course I lost the thing like an idiot. Looked for it for weeks.

It’s humbling and heavy to see that there’s just no substitute for the natural material that could only be obtained by killing innocent life.

Tortoises and turtles don't just die because someone killed them. The carcasses of naturally deceased turtles are found or wash up on the shore at fishing villages in the Caribbean (among other places) and are used for jewelry and artifacts.

I wouldn't say there's no substitute, since 99.9% of all guitarists currently playing use something other than natural tortoise.

**Spook410** · 08-12-2021, 01:36 PM

Real tortoise does make a good pick. On the other hand, so do a lot of plastics including some formulations that make better picks than tortoise ever did. I'm not overly sentimental about turtles and I'm not doing a purge of the tortoise picks I already have. On the other hand, I prefer we leave the turtles alone by not creating a market for their shells. We shouldn't make these into something they're not just because they come from a different era.

**Woody Sound** · 08-13-2021, 08:45 AM

For years I've been using the EB/Dunlop Tortex plastics. The purple ones for a nice dark jazz tone, the blue ones fora little brighter sound for pop music.

**Gabor** · 08-13-2021, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit

I may be misunderstanding the way these are beveled. If there’s more of a bevel on one side (eg the side away from the logo) than on the other side, why wouldn’t a lefty playing a left handed guitar strung with E1 at the bottom just have to flip the pick to put the bevel on the down side? Only if there’s also a compound taper (ie along the edge from one end of the bevel to the other, as well as one across the tip) would this not work. How complex is the shape of the edge?

If you flip it you got the exact same right handed beveling. (It would be nonsense btw if the player had to pay attention which side is up when holds the pick, because only the label up position is correct.)

**Nick71** · 08-13-2021, 10:36 AM

Tortoise shell picks extra heavy!!

**Marinero** · 08-13-2021, 10:48 AM

I think it would be difficult for a listener to tell the difference between a quality plastic pick and a tortoise shell pick on a recording/performance. I have 2 left from the 50's/60's that I just realized were tortoise, recently. Turtle is still actively poached throughout the Caribbean and it is completely recycled. Local divers look for them sleeping/resting on the surface and jump on their backs to drown them. The last time I was in Bimini, a local diver came to the dock and was carrying a turtle head he was going to use for soup that he had just killed. They are a protected species in the U.S.
Play live . . . Marinero

**Gabor** · 08-14-2021, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by Marinero

I think it would be difficult for a listener to tell the difference between a quality plastic pick and a tortoise shell pick on a recording/performance. I have 2 left from the 50's/60's that I just realized were tortoise, recently. Turtle is still actively poached throughout the Caribbean and it is completely recycled. Local divers look for them sleeping/resting on the surface and jump on their backs to drown them. The last time I was in Bimini, a local diver came to the dock and was carrying a turtle head he was going to use for soup that he had just killed. They are a protected species in the U.S.
Play live . . . Marinero

It does not matter, if the listener can distinguish the tone. The listener also may not distinguish between $500 and $5000 instruments, or equipments However the playing musician do, indeed. So the musician can *express* himself better, so the he is inspired vs not inspired, so the musician *enjoys* vs frustrated, etc.

The point is the pick really infuences the resulted music, and the listener may notice that difference.

**Marinero** · 08-14-2021, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by Gabor

It does not matter, if the listener can distinguish the tone. The listener also may not distinguish between $500 and $5000 instruments, or equipments However the playing musician do, indeed. So the musician can *express* himself better, so the he is inspired vs not inspired, so the musician *enjoys* vs frustrated, etc.

The point is the pick really infuences the resulted music, and the listener may notice that difference.

Hi, G,
You'll never find creativity in a tortoise shell pick . . . nor an L5 . . . nor a Twin Reverb amp. Creativity is the byproduct of a creative mind. Period. Thanks for your honest reply.
Play live . . . Marinero

**Woody Sound** · 08-15-2021, 04:19 AM

Originally Posted by Marinero

Hi, G,
You'll never find creativity in a tortoise shell pick . . . nor an L5 . . . nor a Twin Reverb amp. Creativity is the byproduct of a creative mind. Period. Thanks for your honest reply.
Play live . . . Marinero

I think there is a slight difference between express, enjoy, & creativity. But it’s subtle.

**Marinero** · 08-15-2021, 09:47 AM

Hi, Woody,
You are one of my favorite posters and always manage to find interesting topics for discussion. And, the advantage and success of JGF is that it allows a free exchange of ideas in all areas which give us all a chance to challenge how we feel/think about things in music and life. Creativity is a subject that energizes many people, myself included, since it is, for me, at the root of Jazz/Bossa/R@B and quality Classical Music performance(my favorities). But, after a lifetime of playing many different instruments in many different styles, I've accepted that creativity is a sorry mistress and picks and chooses her lovers with wily abandon from some of the most diverse people I've known. I once remember taking my younger brother to see baritone saxist Pepper Adams at Joe Seagal's Jazz Showcase, in Chicago, when it was at the Blackstone on S. Michigan Avenue. My brother had recently finished his Doctorate in English Literature and returned to Chicago looking for a job. When Pepper came on the stage, he was dressed like a stereo-typical closed-door civil engineer including the obligatory plastic sleeve in his shirt pocket with assorted pencils and pens. I remember my brother turning towards me with a smirk on his face as if to say "This guy plays Jazz?" until Pepper began his first bar of Monk's "Straight No Chaser." Well, you judge for yourself!
Play live . . . Marinero

**Doctor Jeff** · 08-15-2021, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by Marinero

Hi, Woody,
You are one of my favorite posters and always manage to find interesting topics for discussion. And, the advantage and success of JGF is that it allows a free exchange of ideas in all areas which give us all a chance to challenge how we feel/think about things in music and life. Creativity is a subject that energizes many people, myself included, since it is, for me, at the root of Jazz/Bossa/R@B and quality Classical Music performance(my favorities). But, after a lifetime of playing many different instruments in many different styles, I've accepted that creativity is a sorry mistress and picks and chooses her lovers with wily abandon from some of the most diverse people I've known. I once remember taking my younger brother to see baritone saxist Pepper Adams at Joe Seagal's Jazz Showcase, in Chicago, when it was at the Blackstone on S. Michigan Avenue. My brother had recently finished his Doctorate in English Literature and returned to Chicago looking for a job. When Pepper came on the stage, he was dressed like a stereo-typical closed-door civil engineer including the obligatory plastic sleeve in his shirt pocket with assorted pencils and pens. I remember my brother turning towards me with a smirk on his face as if to say "This guy plays Jazz?" until Pepper began his first bar of Monk's "Straight No Chaser." Well, you judge for yourself!
Play live . . . Marinero

Everyone needs a bit more Pepper in their lives!

Speaking of which…there’s this…

**Gabor** · 08-15-2021, 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by Marinero

Hi, G,
You'll never find creativity in a tortoise shell pick . . . nor an L5 . . . nor a Twin Reverb amp. Creativity is the byproduct of a creative mind. Period. Thanks for your honest reply.
Play live . . . Marinero

I did not talk about creativity. I talked about inspiration which is not the same. Mind can be inspired, and artist constantly seek for inspiration. Different tools and different methods may give them different inspiration and help them express themself.more, other tools less.

**GNAPPI** · 08-16-2021, 12:35 AM

Have you considered buffalo horn picks? They're pretty good, are just a bit concave (or convex depending on how you hold them) and I shape them on my belt sander to my preference. The only slight down side is... whilst sanding they smell like your teeth do when being drilled at the dentist.

**Marinero** · 08-16-2021, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff

Everyone needs a bit more Pepper in their lives!

Speaking of which…there’s this…

Hi, DJ,
That was one of my favorite SNL skits. Five Stars!
Play live . . . Marinero

**Marinero** · 08-16-2021, 09:05 AM

Originally Posted by Gabor

I did not talk about creativity. I talked about inspiration which is not the same. Mind can be inspired, and artist constantly seek for inspiration. Different tools and different methods may give them different inspiration and help them express themself.more, other tools less.

Hi, G,
O.K. It must be a personal thing to be inspired by tools. For me, the only things that inspired me creatively were human experiences: love, loss, sadness, happiness, and beauty. And, they are fickle lovers who are never pleased . . . and never let you know when they're coming. Thanks for your honest response.
Play live . . . Marinero

**Gabor** · 08-16-2021, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by Marinero

Hi, G,
O.K. It must be a personal thing to be inspired by tools. For me, the only things that inspired me creatively were human experiences: love, loss, sadness, happiness, and beauty. And, they are fickle lovers who are never pleased . . . and never let you know when they're coming. Thanks for your honest response.
Play live . . . Marinero

Instruments (so guitars) are tools too. Inspiration can come from different sources, by loved sound, by touch they can call up result from the mind. Of course not from an empty mind. Inspiration can be *sensual* and also can be emotional, and also can be intellectual. So what you say and what I say can live together. You mention some emotional inspiration sources, but there are sensuals too and intellectuals too. They can work together.

(ps: here is the point, to be completely honest, I have to admit, sometimes I go to the basement, and secretely inspire myself with different tools and ways. Normal appropriate human feelings like love, happiness, sadness, etc are unfortunately does not work for me :-)