Picks

Jeffrey McFadden · From: Missouri, USA

Below are a couple photos of my finger picks. With fingers. They're Dunlop.

I would like to find some longer picks that would follow the curve I have established there but leave less gap where I can snag the string between the pick and the fingernail.
Is this a realistic wish, and if so, can anyone suggest a brand and source for the picks?

_________________
Well up into mediocrity
I don't play what I'm supposed to.
Home made guitars

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Sammy Shelor picks. They can be used like "normal" picks (which is how I use them )or just how you plan to. They're also about 900 times more comfortable than Dunlops - they have a larger, smoother "barrel" instead of Dunlops "discomfort curve".

Laughing

I use them with a couple different Blue Chip thumbpicks. They are not cheap but worth every cent!
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional

Jeffrey McFadden · From: Missouri, USA

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

I order them here:

http://www.thepickshoppe.com/store/fingerpicks/sammy-shelor/sammy-shelor-stainless-steel-fingerpicks
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional

Tucker Jackson · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Dunlops are famous for snagging the next higher string on those wide (but very comfortable) bands. They're comfortable because they're wide. The snagging is why famed steel teacher Jeff Newman made his students switch to something else.

Of course, if you're not holding your hand in the shape that Newman taught or something close to that, it doesn't matter as much... but sounds like you're curling your fingers, so yeah, you're going to run into trouble.

Those Shelor picks should fix you up. I play Nationals and the various knock-offs. The bands aren't super comfortable, but the trade-off is that it does solve the snagging problem.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

I've never snagged a string with a Dunlop!
The only thing I can see wrong is you're using one to many picks. Laughing

Tucker Jackson · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Yep, they can work fine... depending on your hand shape.

For those that have problems, though, it might be the choice of pick.

Jeffrey McFadden · From: Missouri, USA

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

You're welcome! Very Happy

Erv

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

OTOH I'm one of those that can't wear Dunlops at all without completely flattening-out the "discomfort curve". Very painful inside of 2 minutes.

I used Nationals (and hoarded them like mad until they were reissued!) until my old banjo player from my bluegrass days told me about Shelor picks. I use fairly expensive flatpicks so the cost didn't bother me at all - but it wouldn't matter, because they are SO different even from Nationals I won't use anything else now.

I know a few players that use them in Jeffrey's "weird" way Laughing

....but most use them because 1) the fit is almost glove-like, and 2) they cause virtually no "scrape" noise.

FWIW I also suggest Blue Chip's thumbpicks. VERY comfortable and low-noise. They make them in various sizes and stiffness - one thickness for banjo and a thicker one for resonator - but I use the J.D. Crowe "banjo" thumbpick on everything - pedal and lap steels, resonator and banjo.
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional

Jeffrey McFadden · From: Missouri, USA

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Jeffrey, FWIW many of us are using the JF picks. They come with the blade pre-bent to the optimum curve. It may not appear so at first, but sizing and bending the ring properly makes them very comfortable.

In Jeff's class 1980 or so, he gave everyone that didn't have them, Nationals and bent them for all dozen or so students. He said you should be able to wear them all day comfortably. I used those up until the time he started crafting and selling his own JF brand, and have used nothing else since.

I understand Melissa at Jeffran Music is working on re-issuing these. Until they are available, the old National style per your BE photo will work just fine but you will have to craft the curve yourself.

Mike Wheeler · From: Delaware, Ohio, USA

Notice BE's finger picks. The blades extend well beyond the tips of his fingers. That's the key to not snagging on the strings. Having the blades curving closely around your finger tip will make it difficult to strike the strings cleanly.

In my experience, when the Dunlop picks are adjusted correctly they are more comfortable than other "flat band" picks...like BE's in the pictures. They take a good bit of tweaking with a needle nose pliers to get them adjusted just right.

By all means, use any picks you like. But if you're snagging the strings, it's not the picks fault...you need to change how you have them shaped.

IMHO
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Best regards,
Mike

Brian Brgant · From: Vermont, USA

I have these and surprised they don't get more mention here. Great pick. Finest quality. Great price.

http://www.hoffmeyerpicks.com/About_Hoffmeyer_Picks.html

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Those look good Brian. I guess there just hasn't been too much chatter about them. They are a little more pricey than your run of the mill, but the design and finish look great. The cost seems well worth it for a
quality product.

I think I have a lifetime supply of the Diamond Rings, but I may try a pair of those anyway.

Thanks for the reminder about these and the link.

Jeffrey McFadden · From: Missouri, USA

In a way it's almost amusing to see people refer to picks as "expensive" at twenty-five or thirty-five bucks.

I spend 25 to 35 bucks for a tank full of gas that will last me maybe three days. I play a guitar that, used, cost me $2500.00 and was a good value.

For picks that will likely last me the rest of my life if I don't lose them, that fit and are comfortable and facilitate playing what I want to, twenty-five to thirty-five bucks?

I can handle it. Smile

_________________
Well up into mediocrity
I don't play what I'm supposed to.
Home made guitars

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Didn't say they were expensive. Only pricey comparatively to other off the shelf varieties such as Dunlop, National etc.

Good points concerning value. One can spend that much on lunch for two that will only be a memory in a few hours.

Jerry Horch · From: Alva, Florida, USA

I have always used .015 guage dunlops.they stay on ,aren't so stiff and dug into your fingers..seems I wear them further out on the tip than you are.I palm and pick block.Hand with pinkie and the one next to it extended.

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Franklin D10 /Walker Sterio Steel JBL's /DigiTech Quad4/ Korg Toneworks/ Dobro DM 1000 / Santa Cruz Guitar VA

Jerry Horch · From: Alva, Florida, USA

My fingers look pretty weird.

_________________
Franklin D10 /Walker Sterio Steel JBL's /DigiTech Quad4/ Korg Toneworks/ Dobro DM 1000 / Santa Cruz Guitar VA

Jeffrey McFadden · From: Missouri, USA

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

One of the reasons I like Dunlops is because they are available in different gauges. I could never get a .025 pick to fit my finger. I wear .015 and .018 gauge picks and they feel fine. Very Happy

Erv

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