Boutique Picks?

[rockeroo]

Would you ever let your friend/bandmate "borrow" such a pick?

I know I am rather stingy with my $ 0.20 picks. I cannot imagine lending a $30 pick to someone I know will lose or forget to return such a thing.

I do, however, know several people using red bear picks (because of a sponsorship with the company), and they really enjoy the feel of the pick. They claim it feels "right" compared to a completely flat pick. Not sure the tone is improved. It does serve as a nice placebo, helping improve their mood and perception.

WHO KNOWS?

[musicsoma]

This is a very interesting thread. I have been given some "boutique picks" as gifts for birthdays and Christmas by various friends who know I play. I have bone picks, wood picks, tortoise shell picks, etc. While I have never gone out and purchased these myself, they do change the tone when you are playing.

Ok, that said, I am very particular when it comes to my pick. The picks I do play with are imported from Germany. They are made by a company called Herdim. I got really into them while doing a ton of U2 tone research. Edge from U2 plays these exclusively, and they do account for his unique tone. If you listen carefully, he gets a sort of "chirp" to his pick attack (listen to "Where the Streets Have No Name"). It turns out he first started playing Herdims when he was learning guitar and actually used the pick backwards. One side of the Herdim pick has subtle dimples that grab the string and really pluck with a crisp brightness. I have tried a lot of other picks hoping to replicate this, but nothing does it quite like the Herdims. They are really amazing picks, and I refuse to use any other. I order in bulk every few years, but they are worth every penny in my opinion. I go with the Herdim Blue Picks (I think they are mediums).

[Bobby D]

picks are just as important tonally as speakers or effects!

different picks can make a big difference in tone.

i play with everything from .50 pickboy "vintage classic" picks, to V-Picks, to a $75 pick made out of solid turquoise. it depends on what i am after sound and playing wise.

and sometimes i just use my fingers

[cajone5]

I've found that picks make more of a difference in feel than in tone and that's where they justify their expense. They also change the tone but very minimally. Also most of the boutique picks (redbear and bluechip for example) are made to last years... assuming you don't lose them of course

I've heard many folks say they make a difference and many say they don't. In the end you just need to find what works for you. I have several v-picks that cost between $5-$10 and never liked any as much as a $0.25 Dunlop Gator pick (1.5mm) but I also have a bluechip that is my go to pick on both electric and acoustic for certain applications. With all the money spent on gear to make your sound better it's not surprising that picks have become so expensive.

[Joeleo]

Yeah, I really think picks make a HUGE difference. I'm not saying you should run out and drop $35 on a pick, though. I've played a few of the different brands that a friend owns, and I bought two Wegen picks that were around $12 each. The thing that I noticed is that they all can sound so different, but not always better, just different. My favorite picks (after trying some of the boutiques) are the ones you get when you order pickups from Jason Lollar. I emailed him and got 40 of them for around $10.

Here is a good illustration that is pertinent to the topic: the church I play at has a Saturday evening service and then three Sunday morning services. So we'll show up Saturday afternoons for rehearsal, and that's when the sound guys (who are absolutely phenomenal) work on the FOH mix. Well one Saturday I forgot my pics and had to borrow one for a song I was playing acoustic on. It was a Fender medium, and I remember thinking that I had really spoiled myself with the Lollar pics because the Fender felt clunky and indistinct. The next morning I remembered my Lollar pics, and in the middle of our pre-service runthrough, the sound guy came up to see what was different about my signal path. He said, "you must be using an enhancer or a compressor or eq or something, right?" And I said "No, same signal path as last night". Then he said "So you must have changed your strings last night then, right?" Wrong again. He looked really confused and said, "Well what is different about your acoustic today? It sounds completely different". I thought about it and the only thing that had changed at all was switching picks. We were both amazed that the difference was that noticeable. In the end, he said he ended up completely removing the eq he had put on my acoustic the night before, and significantly dialing down the compression level, because "it didn't sound like it needed it anymore".

[thesjkexperience]

Ok, that said, I am very particular when it comes to my pick. The picks I do play with are imported from Germany. They are made by a company called Herdim. I got really into them while doing a ton of U2 tone research. Edge from U2 plays these exclusively, and they do account for his unique tone. If you listen carefully, he gets a sort of "chirp" to his pick attack (listen to "Where the Streets Have No Name"). It turns out he first started playing Herdims when he was learning guitar and actually used the pick backwards. One side of the Herdim pick has subtle dimples that grab the string and really pluck with a crisp brightness. I have tried a lot of other picks hoping to replicate this, but nothing does it quite like the Herdims. They are really amazing picks, and I refuse to use any other. I order in bulk every few years, but they are worth every penny in my opinion. I go with the Herdim Blue Picks (I think they are mediums).

We had a Tone Fest here a few years ago and one of the guys was influenced by The Edge. He had these picks and the difference was amazing. He could totally get the U2 sound with it and once you heard it that way a regular pick didn't cut it.

I have a couple of Blue Chip picks (TAD 45, TD35, CT55) that I use for acoustic or for a change on electric. They are super fast off of the strings, have great tone with no chirp and are very easy to hold on to. I have muscle & joint issues and I barely need any force to hold onto a Blue Chip, so my hands get a break. Once you get used to the Blue Chip everything else feels and sounds a bit off.

For electric I prefer the ULTEX 1.0 in standard shape. The new Ultex is much easier to hold than the original and once it gets warm it is much easier to hold than Tortex or other popular materials.

[hawaii121]

Just when I thought I had to finally start learning how to play this guitar thing I own... boutique picks! I hate you guys!

[thesjkexperience]

The good thing about the Blue Chip picks is you have 30 days to return or exchange them, so it is almost risk free. The bad thing is you will like them! If you are not one to lose your picks it will last several years.

[SteveA]

Guess i have something else to try! Actually one of my favorite picks is the Mad Professor pick that I got once with my pedal That crystal blue pick is my favorite so far but i'll go dig for these !

[cajone5]

OK, so I bit the bullet and dropped a little cash with Blue Chip Picks (they seemed like my best bet, based on the research I did). I'll report back with my personal experiences/impressions after I receive and play them.

That's what I ended up going with -- good luck