I have a favorite model of a guitar pick with a space invader on it that I always use as a test chip on my 3D printer. That way the test chips are still something useful!
The amount of times I've done this is hilarious. I've spent some serious time perfecting this and 2 parts of cura will give a huge difference and nobody has thought of..... 1) ironing...this will make all the difference. Strength and smoothness. This is a must to a great printed pick. 2) the fuzzy skin in experimental section of cura. This will give you a ton of grip so you're not dropping picks all the time. The perfect mix is making 1/2 ironed and the other 1/2 fuzzy. This gives you great smooth flow over the string with a smooth tip but give you great grip. These 2 overlooked settings will always leave you with a badass pick. Experiment with these to your own liking🤘
@@TheLastChapter2023 but you can get a 3d printer for around 250...can print probably a thousand on one roll, and not to mention the thousands of other cool things you can print... Just saying.
Been doing this for a while too, but for my bass. The sound can be way "raspier" than the one of a regular pick, cause the layer patterns &/or texture sheet create a friction higher than a regular pick which is very smooth. I even tried printing with a quite soft material (I think it was a rubber blend) and got a pick that sounds almost similar to when I play with my fingers and is virtually unbreakable ! It's quite an awesome trick to find & test new sounds for us bass players... :) The ones I prefer for the feel & sound were with prusament orange petg and obviously I've got to admit I've broken quite a few of them... I'll try more of these infill tips tho cause they look very cool and might make it better indeed ! :D
What an amazing find. I wouldn't have thought 3d printed picks would work either but wow. There's nothing better than the pick that's there when you need it and these are easy to print and fun to customize also I can't think of a better way to use up those last little bits of filament on the roll. Now......if only I still played guitar haha.
I've had a bass pick for many years that I found to be really nice to play the guitar. It's about 3mm thick and rounded at the edges. I'm not too great at shredding with a guitar pick, but with that pick I'm freaking James Hetfield! It's also concave on the sides, so the grip is just perfect. The only problem is... I never know where the hell that thing is...
Maybe I'll have to give this another shot. I tried printing some picks for my bass and found that I couldn't get the surfaces to be as smooth as a commercial pick, which gave me this uncomfortable feeling of sanding the pick as I played with it.
You can potentially try a material that is prone to vapor smoothing. Not sure how it would effect the strength though. ASA or ABS might work nicely with an acetone vapor bath if you've got a setup for venting the fumes, but not sure how they would hold up as picks.
I once made a pick out of wood, and another made out of a plastic card (like a credit card) and they both didn't last a week. The strings worn them out at the tip pretty quick. So naturally that was the first question that popped in my mind: How long do these picks last before they wear out too much? (A normal (thicker) pick can last several years.)
I tried this a while ago, but playing more intense stytles like black metal what used to be a pointy pick turned to dust in a matter of minutes. That was in PLA though, maybe a more durable material would hold up longer, or even some tough resin...
Have used 3d printed pic for 6 to 7 Yares and no problems use PLA and it works fine even a friend of mine that play the guitar for a living is happy and have not bought any pics since he got custom pics form me.
Having worked in device repair, guitar picks have a different meaning for me (helping to open a device that's glued together). A 3D printed pick probably wouldn't help there unless it's a casting mold master for resin picks that are then sharpened. But for playing guitar, heck, you could design and print a pretty sweet thumb pick. Maybe reinforce it with CF if durability is a concern.
Hello, thank you very much for the video. I miss in Prusa Slicer the aligning of the modified in horizontal and vertical plane and the center of the print object. And that I can center an stl file with a rectangle in height of 0.2mm and then merge it to have even better hold on the print bed. Currently I align this manually.
I have friends who play and for years, have used picks they made from the lids of coffee cans. I would think that if you know what you want you can tune the pick then remember them.
I found even PLA to be about on par with cellulose picks. But I guess it depends on the strings and electric/acustic guitar. It definitely does rub off the edge, rounds it quickly, but I didn't see much wear after that. And yeah, PETG, PC, ASA, the options are there :)
Yep, I left a comment about this but YT deletes my comments these days to the creator. No, just no. As a guitar player, 3d printer enthusiast for 9 years this is wrong. Every guitarist will tell you that picks need to be baby ass smooth, and what they are made from DOES matter. There are just some things that should not be FDM printed. Now SLA/Powder/Sinter etc... those can be baby ass smooth in material that would be perfect for this. I still say injection moulding is the best but in a pinch but not FDM for this.
I don’t have a Prusa:( but I do have some Enders I haven’t upgraded to PEI build plates do to me being lazy and attempted to print some pick on the glass beds, they WOULD NOT come off and I ended up having to heat the beds to 80°C and print a thin layer over them to finally get them off. Moral of the story is don’t print picks on glass beds unless you hate yourself
The first rule of guitar playing: Don't take your eyes off your picks. I use 3d printed picks of 1mm thickness or more. I've also made a pick card for those emergency guitar playing situations.
No, just no. As a guitar player, 3d printer enthusiast for 9 years this is wrong. Every guitarist will tell you that picks need to be baby ass smooth, and what they are made from DOES matter. There are just some things that should not be FDM printed. Now SLA/Powder/Sinter etc... those can be baby ass smooth in material that would be perfect for this. I still say injection moulding is the best but in a pinch but not FDM for this.
Don't play into what big guitar pick wants you to believe. Brian May from Queen plays with a coin which is definitely not baby smooth. Lots of things can work as a pick. I for one think this is a cool idea and if you already have a 3d printer the hurdle to try this out for yourself is extremely low.
@@mattmeola I have done this before (this is not a new concept) and the ridges over the strings sucked. Ridges to grip with the finger and thumb rocked. Just because you can doesn't mean you should, and this is a case of just that. I can use a penny in a pinch, but I wouldn't want to gig with one night after night.
I concur. As a tone chaser the raking on strings from the lines is real evident on wound strings. That might be what some people are looking for but when clean is your reach, no. Its novelty to me. If you are playing on a Squier strat under 200 bucks, sure, but at the other end of the spectrum if you are trying to scrimp on a $5 pick youre disrespecting your investment and anyone who has a good ear. Theres alot of accessories you could easily and effectively make for your studio but picks, nah.
@@EarlMiller I 100% agree. I mostly play 500-1k axes and even on a 200 USD Squire I would hear the difference, but even beyond that I would feel it which is probably why I am hearing a difference because I am playing differently due to those ridges.