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Topic: Cool Beta thumb picks |
Kermit Clarin
From:
Minnesota, USA
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Posted 26 Jul 2016 9:17 pm |
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| I bought 3 Cool Beta thumb picks. They're large ones but I need to expand them some. I tried the boiling water trick but they won't respond to that. Any suggestions short of a propane torch. |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 27 Jul 2016 6:52 am
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I'm not familiar with the Cool picks, but the specs online state the material is beta carbonate. I have some polycarbonate picks, but they just seem like hard plastic. I guess they are a variation on the chemical composition, I don't know.
I have a similar issue with the Ultex pick. They are a very hard material and difficult to shape, even with the online suggestions of boiling water.
I had to do mine several times to get any relief and they're still snug.
I've seen people write about putting them in a microwave, but I've never done that and couldn't recommend it.
I really like the effect of the stiffer pick though. |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 29 Jul 2016 12:28 am
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| I just got in some of the large Ultex fellows, and they are tight. I don't see them changing in any way, given what I know about that plastic. This is a positive, as various celluloid picks can open up from body temperature, and these don't. However,they should have enough strength to spare a bit too. So, you can take a metal file or sandpaper wrapped around a dowel or something and knock a little width off of the band where the pad of your thumb goes through. It doesn't make the top of the band flex any more, but when you narrow the band 1/16", 3/32" or so, more of the squishy pad of your thumb can squish past so it feels looser. You COULD try loosening the "hinge" by taking off a bit of material from the bend, but that's exactly where I ALWAYS break polycarbonate thumbpicks, so... this works, and it's not weakening it in a place that matters. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 7 Aug 2016 6:51 am
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Microwaves do not affect plastic. (You can put a styrofoam cup in a microwave oven if you don't believe that.) You can heat some motor or lubricating oil in a small pot on the stove, and that will get up to almost 500 degrees before it boils - so that may do the trick. But again, you can't use a microwave.
Needless to say, be careful! Wear gloves and goggles, and use pliers to hold the pick.
But if it were me, I'd just throw away those stupid expensive picks, and use what most others use. |
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Kermit Clarin
From:
Minnesota, USA
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Posted 7 Aug 2016 9:22 am Cool Beta thumbpicks
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| At the time the music store was out of the particular picks I use. So I got the Beta picks for the same price. Boiling water wouldn't touch them, so I put them in the toaster oven at 400 degrees for a few seconds. That was enough to be able to bend them to fit. |
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