I work at a company that makes precision custom CNC thermoplastics and fluoropolymers for energy, cryogenic and petrochemical industries. Materials we use are PEEK, UHMV, Acetal, Delrin, PVC, Torlon, Rulon, Ryton, Tefzel, Phenolic, Nylon, Nylatron. Also virgin, bronze, glass, moly, carbon and graphite TFE. I've made guitar picks from most all of these. And I gotta say, Delrin by far makes a fantastic pick; super long lasting, and good sounding. Tonally it's no different than most plastic picks; not too bright or dull. I grind the profile to an extended taper for a slightly flexible tip that won't break but still feels pretty stiff.
@@A.J.K87 I believe so. About a year ago I made this same comment on the Guitologist channel and someone commented about a company that makes picks from Delrin. Even when I made my 1st pick almost 20 yrs. ago, it was such a good material I figured *somebody* had to have already discovered the same thing. I imagined the 1st Delrin ever created some scientist said, "Hey, I could make a pick outta that." lol
Hi, I'm Steve, the inventor of the pick you like so much and owner of Essetipicks ... Congratulations man, you made a nice version of the Easy model .. 👍😃 I still do many in a handmade version .. The material you used looks a lot like what I use, and which I know is rare enough to find .. I use Galalith
Wow! I couldn't have picked a better video to watch with a fresh cup! I've tried many different types of picks, but always come back to a Dunlop Nylon .60mm. Have a great weekend everyone!
i make plectrums myself as a hobby. so far i used acrylic and makrolon. putting masking tape on the material to draw the shape on helps a lot. then i saw out the rough shape with a bandsaw and shape the plectrum with a disc sander to taste. after shaping i use 400 grit sandpaper to soften the edges. most of the time i skip polishing, because i like the matte look. my favourite plecs have between 6 and 8 mm. first i mimicked the gravity picks, but invented shapes for myself. :)
That's cool, I might have to try it. Pick gauges an on and off thing with me, I go through phases where I'll only use really chunky picks, but then a few months later I'll lose it and start playing with a .88 or 1mm and they feel so much better for a while until inevitably I get bored and want a good manly pick again!
Everytime I get a new notification and see what new video you have made, I am amazed at not only the ideas, but your dexterity (except for dropping the pick (lol)). The cuts and shaping you do free hand is incredible! Keep up all the great videos and content.All the best to you and your team Ben.
I used to live in the middle of a forest/woods in southern England with many Roe and Fallow deer but in twenty years of daily walks I was disappointed never to find shed antlers. The deer came right up to the house and decimated our apple trees and beech hedge. I had a plan to make a 'one way fence' so they would be trapped in our two thirds of an acre - I like venison! I wonder if antler would make a good nut or acoustic saddle?
I never thought about antler. I have boxes full of them, literally, from years of collecting. I use antler for many things. Now I will be making an antler pick...Perhaps many of them! Thanks
I can just see it : Ben playing a John Mayer PRS on the PRS stand and saying "Man, I looooooove this..........plectrum". Would have loved to see the PRS guy's face at that moment hahaha!
Try delrin..stuff wears forever and works pretty easily. Not as pretty though.. 😁 I do the central "divot" by drilling a pilot hole and following that with a depth-stopped countersink bit. The thru-hole makes polishing on a full size wheel a lot easier..you can pass a bit of shoelace thru to make a holder/lanyard to keep from launching the pick into low earth orbit
You do enough hand work with the dremel I think you'd benefit from a flex shaft grinder. You get more speed and power than a dremel and in a lighter hand piece. I have heard mixed things about foredom flex shaft grinders but haven't used one. I have one of the cheap chinese ones (bought from harbor freight in the Us) and it works great. I have multiple hand pieces that I swap out for changing bits quickly between cutting, sanding/wire brushing, and polishing. The only down side to the cheap one is needing a chuck key to change bits but that can be fixed easily. It was just cheaper for me at the time to buy replacement hand pieces for $8 each.
Jazz guitarists are quite fond of the thick pick. They believe, and I think it is true, that it produces a fuller "jazzier" tone. I think the material it is made from also is part of the produced/perceived tone. Cheers!
I carved out a mold in rubber, in the lab where I worked, and used left over epoxy resin from processing biopsies to make my own plectrums. They sound and feel great, but are pretty brittle so you have to make them pretty thick, which I prefer anyway.
Hi Ben, i made make plectrum too, how i laugh when i see you dropping the thing.... it happend to me a thounsan times. My current record is a 20 m launch ! when polishing the pick..... :D. Very very good channel by the way.
I have sheets of that exact same material!!! No way haha. Made myself a few chonky 7mm ones a year ago but after watching this I'm gna have have a go at some different designs 😁 Made mine with a dremel to get the base shape and a pack of the multi sided nail files from b&m to bevel it down then sanded and polished it smooth using wet sanding 😁 super fun way to kill some time on a weekend.
Get yourself a 3d printer, and you can make picks with the Crimson logo in the middle. Recessed textured groves and all. Best part, once you get the design down, you can program the printer to make about 25 at a time, and in various gauges
I make my own picks with hardwood fall down from my shop. I lay the wood down in a way that leaves the hardwood as the top of the pick, then pour epoxy over the entire mold. Using a caliper and my bench grinder I take them to different thickness, and they are amazing tools. I also have acquired a tile saw and I’ve found piles of dinosaur bone, so that is my next project. I’d trade you a couple of your picks for a couple of mine. Your guitars are insane, btw! You do some incredible work!
Me: Nothing from Crimson today. I'll get on with making some picks. Computer: Ping!!! Spooky or what? I picked up some off-cuts of Keruing yesterday from a reclamation site and one piece just cried out to be made into picks. My method is slightly different. I sand the wood first then cut out the shapes. I have a home-made hand vice to hold the picks while I bevel and smooth the edges with various sanding sticks. I've given myself too many accidental manicures holding the picks in my fingers and I am much less likely to drop them! I'm going to finish some of them with Crimson Finishing Oil and some with Melamine lacquer. Another coincidence is that I've just bought some skip-tooth blades for my jeweller's saw (from The Vintage Toolshop) and I'm loving them.
For me the equivalent to the superglue-masking tape trick for irregular shapes is hot glue and using alcohol for removal (not as easy as with masking tape, but you can peel it off in one piece after soaking it in alcohol)
Looks very similar in material to the 60 year anniversary plektrums from Fender released back in 2006, still got some of those and they're beatiful but bought too heavy ones for my usual playstyle
You've inspired me to create a plectrum which enables me to play a whole song without dropping it.. My only question is, should the superglue go on the thumb, the forefinger, or both? 😂
I love making plectrums. i'm always making them out of various things i find. My favourite one so far I made out of a piece of Whitby Jet I found on the beach. I later found out that it's a fairly expensive material xD. Very nice though.
oOo. I want one, please, Ben. I only use Gravity picks and some of them have the rough beveled edges, which is nice for a crisp sound. Nice demo, btw. Would also like a lock-in one weekend so that I could play all those guitars on the office wall.
Ben! Can light pass through Kirinite? Crazy idea about lit inlays. Yes, I have no idea why I'm so hooked on... lights. I'm looking for someone to tell me if I can hook a small Aduino board to pick ups, then use the signals to light different LED inlets in the body, maybe also the neck of a guitar! Brain cells on overload!
You can somewhat see through most colors if the material is sufficiently thin, but for these types of thicknesses, a regular LED wouldn't penetrate very well
Nice pick or plectrum as you call em in the uk. Seems like a great deal of work for something you can buy very inexpensively but i suppose it is still a worthy endeavor to experience the satisfaction of crafting one yourself.
Now Ben.... Only thing left to do with that plectrum, is to drill a tiny hole in it, and attach a wrist band to it... Since you've become to old to bend down all the time when you drop it. :D
I used to make plecs out off old freeware CD-Roms. They were rather crappy, to be honest. Took more time to make than to wear out. What with the size of that pick, what was your plan? Play guitar or propel a boat with it? ^^)
As to the size, I'm a bassist and that looks like something I would use. Some lead shredder guys like ones like that too, for the precision and control. I made a pick out of some 1/4 inch acrylic. I don't use picks much anymore, but yeah, when you're trying to get a good sharp attack out of a bass string, you're fighting the ≈40lbs of tension plus the tendency of the pick to slip off the fat round shape of the string before you get a good pluck. It helps to have something totally inflexible and big enough to hold onto without it moving, even as you drive it through the strings with the weight of your arm.
@@Eo_Tunun Teflon is tough but also fairly flexible I think. I'd be curious about HDPE, the stuff in cutting boards and longboarders' slide glove pucks.
I use Wegen picks. Hand made but no idea what from. They sound good, last forever and force you into using better technique. Having watched you make this one i understand why the Wegen picks are so expensive.
Are stiff picks better than floppy ones? Someone recommended that I use a floppy/bendable pick as a beginner. Why is that? And why would one want such a thick pick(plectrum)?
Hey Ben can i ask you how to repair fret slot that are cut too Wide from the factory ? I've bought 2 SX brand strat. With maple neck and rosewood fingerboard and in both there is almost 75% of the fret pulling out from the slot After 2 month seating on a "Proel" stand and normal playing
This pick looks beautiful I never thought that you can do these yourself :--) My picks always make such a curve. If they are new i always have to play the outline on them, then they are great for a while and then they get worse again. Then i cut them with a scissor and everything starts again until almost nothing is left. If the pleck is very thick, it will take a very long time to get the right shape. I would need softer ot thinner material.If i were a pleck producer, people could send me their favorite used pick. Then you could scan the contour at the edge with laser and than you can make with this data new plecks. So every customer would get an optimal new pleck Sorry for my ornitology
Yup I’m guessing the shop reorganization means They are drawing on some back up videos. I hope Ben gets on with it because I wanted to see him make a case.
I have a feeling he was hoping you would fall in love with the guitar he was selling 😂 I’ll have to check out some new pick shapes, not sure if jazz 3s are actually the best for me or I’m just used to them
There are multiple types of Jazz III. The black ones are grippier and flex less. The Ultex ones are very hard. My favorites are the Tortex Pitch Black ones. They are not as hard as the red ones, but they feel better for me. There's also the Planet Waves Black Ice, which is similar to the Pitch Black, but slightly larger.
Nice pick, but I also use white sharkfins, I have never liked thicker picks, i don't know why. As I am not fully convinced, can you make me one and i will give you my honest, unbiased, opinion. Cheers
I've never been able to play with a plectrum, it always just feels wrong. Instead, I use my index finger nail, or for playing bass, a thumbpick. However, I do feel the urge to make plectra now.
always wondered if Nylatron would make a good pic material. Nylon with moly in it. It's grey with dark swirls in it. Pretty wear resistant, machines fine. Use to make a lot of parts from it not too expensive or SP-21 vespel which is a pretty black. tough has graphite in it. and it is expensive but can be machined also. I'd love to see how SP-21 holds up as a pick or nylatron. One thing about the vespel pics is you wouldn't be tossing them into the audience 1 inch dia by 6 inches long rod is about 997 dollars.
@@EricMLopez Sp 21 is black instead of tan (brown) vespel it is low friction has graphite in it. PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS: Low wear at high bearing PV's Low coefficient of friction Long-term thermal stability High stiffness Low elongation Outstanding performance with or without lubrication Good strength and impact resistance from its data sheet. It is as expensive also.
@@EricMLopez yea I use to work as a machinist and some of the items we made where made out of vespel. The sp21 were used for parts that needed not to bind on other pieces. The part would go down into the ground and vespel keeps its shape better than most other polymers and plastics in places subjected to higher temperatures. We used other stuff also but non of it good for guitar pics =)
cool, but i'll only use one plectrum. dunlop adama. why? it's graphite, very fast and wears SMOOTH, which means it gets even faster with wear. some people like a lot of friction between the pick and string, i'm not one of those people. EDIT, in case anyone is wondering they only come in one thickness, 2mm.
