Vintage National Picks

[Brian Gattis]

Are vintage national picks all they’re cracked up to be?
Thanks

Brian G

[Bill McCloskey]

I have the National Patent No 1787136, with the oval 8's and the round 3

http://www.deanhoffmeyer.com/nationalpicks/frameset.htm

I would never play with any other picks. They are the best I've ever used.

[Brian Gattis]

I have the National Patent No 1787136, with the oval 8's and the round 3

http://www.deanhoffmeyer.com/nationalpicks/frameset.htm

I would never play with any other picks. They are the best I've ever used.

Bill, do you sell them?
Thanks

[Bill McCloskey]

No, they are really hard to find. I got my from lap steels I have bought from the 50’s that included old picks

[Bill McCloskey]

Here are my picks. I got them in an old eharp sold by the original owner

[Brian Gattis]

Cool thanks for sharing Bill. There are some on ebay. I just wasn’t sure if they are legit

Thanks
Brian G

[Donny Hinson]

Are vintage national picks all they’re cracked up to be?

That depends on how you define "vintage". Are you talking picks actually made in the 1930's and 1940's, or the identical reproductions of the vintage picks made nowadays? The originals can go for $50-$75 each, but the (supposedly identical) repros can be had for $2 each.

Many other versions are illustrated here (click the thumbnails at the bottom for the actual differences):

http://www.deanhoffmeyer.com/nationalpicks/frameset.htm

My old ears probably can't tell any difference between the old ones and the new ones. How you shape the blade, how you strike the strings, and where you strike the strings can also change the sound. There's a lot of variables, so I think the interpretation of the sound can vary from one player to another.

[Brian Gattis]

Donny, yeah I was talking about the 40s ones. Really 60s or before. I probably couldn’t hear the difference either. The new remakes feel kinda thin and uncomfortable. I use the Jeff Newman ones. I was just curious about the old nationals

[Ronnie Boettcher]

That is all I use for my finger picks. Steel, and banjo. I bought a bunch back in the late 50's, and then in the 60's. Have the patent number on some, and some with no patent number. They will last me forever.

[Jim Pitman]

I had some for years - wore out more than one set I recall.
Now I have Dunlops with the flared edges - a bit more comfortable in my opinion. I feel you can always shape the string contact part (and should) for best attack and tone.

[Larry Allen]

Amazon has these...

[Brian Gattis]

Hey Larry,
I couldn’t find those picks on amazon. I had no idea you were a steel player until recently! I am a tattooer in Atlanta. Not many of us play steel. DaveGibson told me Anyway have a great day

Brian Gattis

[Larry Allen]

Hi Brian, I went on Amazon and put in National guitar finger picks...pages came up with several different ones...Say hello to Dave for me..I played music for a living for almost 50 years , tattooing was my day job, my kids have taken over and are musicians also.. Larry

[Donny Hinson]

The cheapest I could find:

www.stringsbymail.com

4-pack for $8.15, and shipping is $3.95.

[Mark McCornack]

Hi Brian,
I switched over to the Dunlop picks a couple decades ago. For me, mostly as a matter of comfort. The Nats are uncomfortable for me after playing a while. As for tone or other mojo factor, personally, I couldn’t see advantages to the Nationals but found the discomfort a negative. All this is a matter of personal prefference though, and there are obviously many National devotees out there.

If you would like a few of these, I found some oldies in my junk drawer. You are welcome to them (gratis) if you would like to PM me. They are a bit bent up, but a little patience and a pair of needle-nose ought to get you in business. Let me know if you’d like them.

Cheers,
Mark

[Erv Niehaus]

Mark,
I agree with you as to comfort. I really prefer the Dunlops. I like the lighter gauges also.
Erv

[Drew Pierce]

I have not used these particular picks, but Warren Yates is known for doing an amazing job of reproducing old, out-of-production banjos and parts. No reason to expect these would be any different. https://www.yatesbanjos.com/picks.htm

[Mark McCornack]

Wow! $47 for two picks? REALLY?

I am a big fan of Yates work, and he is quite a clever fellow with things concerning banjos and fabrication. I can also appriciate that even soft tooling costs could make these prohibitively expensive to produce in small runs.
Nevertheless, this seems like it might be a potential source of disappointment to the buyer. I may be TOTALLY WRONG (it has been known to happen in the past), but I for one wouldn’t pony up half a C-note to find out if these are magic beans or the real-deal. BTW, “Nickle Silver” in itself is not intrinsicaly all that costly. No silver. It’s an alloy of copper, zinc, and nickle (i.e. a silver colored brass)

Anybody out there tried these? If so, your opinion would be worth a great deal more than my speculation. Paying $47 for a pair of picks just doesn’t make sense to me though.

Mark

[Brian Gattis]

Thanks for all the responses. I appreciate it
I like the jeff newman picks just fine. I will try some dunlops just to see how I like them

Mark some of the pre war nationals sell for over 100$ a pair on EBAY
I would love to know if anyone has tried the Yates picks???


Brian Gattis

[Drew Pierce]

Mark McCornack, I can't disagree. $47 for two picks is crazy. But apparently people are paying more than that for just one of the originals. OTOH, $47 would be close to the cheapest part of my entire rig. I've spent way more over the years on stuff that didn't work well at all.

Personally, I have been using National NP2s for banjo and Dunlop chrome (cobalt?) plated on steel for many years. Works for me.

[Bill McCloskey]

The trick is to check through all the pockets and drawers in old vintage purchases, especially when it is the original owner. Amazing what I've found in some of those vintage steel cases.

[Mark McCornack]

Hi Drew,
Well if you DO get a pair of picks from Warren, please post what you think of them in this thread. Also, perhaps off topic for steel guitar, I’d like to hear what you think about them for the banjo. That’s my main instrument and has been most all of my life.
Mark

[Larry Beem]

I actually have a couple sets of Yates picks. They are a little thinner sounding to me on banjo, but I love them on steel. The best of the best are of course the old Nationals. They are getting so expensive and hard to find that I looked high and low for a replacement. For less than half the price of originals, these are really close!!

[Cartwright Thompson]

Are used original Nationals for many years, but now I like the Hoffmeyers more. They’re not cheap at about $30 a pair but they are worth every penny.

[George Seymour]

Are used original Nationals for many years, but now I like the Hoffmeyers more. They’re not cheap at about $30 a pair but they are worth every penny.

I gave a pair to Gary Carter several years back after he gave me his newly released album (I also play banjo and have used the Hoffmeyer since the came out when they were first introduced to the banjo world). He was using the NP2's I believe at the time which are junk in my opinion. Several weeks later he emailed me asking where did I ever get those picks. Told him about Dean Hoffmeyer. He was astounded by them and I suspect that's exclusively what he uses now..to make an analogy picks are to steel guitarist like putters are to pro golfers, they'll play most any type of iron in their contract but the one thing the mfg don't have control of is the putter (money club) and finger picks are like that to a steel guitarist. Ok got the week off and now back to lurking.. oh and I know I posted this quite a while ago and got flamed on how much they cost.. well go ahead and putt with a two by four..