Reviews
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Review by Keith Baumann
Guitar players are always searching for ways to improve tone and increase their technical ability on the instrument. The folks at Blue Chip Picks may have a product that can help with both, offering a line of handmade picks that produce amazingly clear tone and glide across the strings with effortless ease. The search for the perfect pick has been an ongoing saga for many years among musicians. Picks made from tortoise shell were highly popular due to their warm and clean tone. These picks eventually became illegal due to the endangered status of the hawksbill tortoise, and the search for an acceptable substitute has had manufactures trying everything from custom plastic resins to stone, wood and even animal horn.
It’s interesting that one of the biggest breakthroughs in pick technology actually came from a machinist who was not even in the business. “I had been machining this composite material for 10 years that costs $4,800 for a 10”x10” square,” said Matthew Goins, Blue Chip president. “One day I noticed an employee shaping a tortoise pick in the shop and a discussion led to the idea of forming a pick from the composite.” Goins took his prototype to several music festivals and quickly found out that he had something truly special. Not only was the tone great, but the material has a self-lubricating quality that reduces friction allowing for faster and more precise playing. Goins worked for two years to refine his picks. “I wanted to raise the bar for pick design,” he said. “Everything is precisionmachined with CNC equipment to extremely tight tolerances and then hand-beveled and polished. Blue Chip offers picks in several shapes and thicknesses, the newest design being a jazz model shaped much like the Dunlop Jazz 3 pick.” Goins also offers a thumbpick.
I was quite impressed with the picks’ performance and found that they did indeed allow me to play faster lines with less effort. Although quite slick on the strings, the composite material is very easy to grip with no slippage at all. In addition, the Blue Chips produce no pick noise and are incredibly durable with no signs of wear, even after several months of intensive use. Bottom line is that this is a groundbreaking product and well worth the $35 for the discerning player. |
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t every guitar or mandolin workshop I've ever attended someone asks, "What kind of pick do you use?" Even beginning players realize that pick choice matters. I've got boxes full of picks that testify to my longstanding search for the "holy grail" of picks. But I finally may have found it.
For years, tortoiseshell picks have been the gold standard. But natural turtle picks have a number of shortcomings. First and foremost, it's illegal it buy or carry anything but fully documented "antique" tortoise across state lines. Hawksbill turtle (which is what tortoiseshell picks are made of) is a protected/endangered species. Most tortoiseshell picks are not documented antiques tortoise – I’ve never met a picker who could produce proper documentation at a jam. In the eyes of the law, if you use tortoiseshell picks you are a bad person who deserves to get kicked in the shins by a five year old wearing a “Save the Turtles!” T-shirt.
Beyond being illegal, tortoiseshell picks have other liabilities. Tortoiseshell is brittle and chips easily. Tortoise picks need constant attention to keep their edge bevels smooth so they easily go through the strings. A quarter-sized tortoise pick can end up being dime-sized in a matter of six months of steady polishing and use.
Because they are made of a natural material that grows in uneven and unpredictable ways, no two tortoiseshell picks are alike. Even if you try two with identical shapes and thicknesses, each will sound and feel slightly different. This is a major problem. Playing a musical instrument optimally revolves around training your muscles to react in a certain way. That’s called developing muscle memory. To play at a high level, your muscle memory will be honed to the point where any change in the feel of the instrument can cause your playing to suffer. If you depend on a tortoise pick, someday you will be faced with a crisis – you’ll break it, lose it, or it will just change enough through time from re-beveling to effect your playing in a negative way. To maintain a consistent level of playing you must have a pick that can be replaced with an exact copy.
Finally, tortoiseshell picks are, by nature, brittle. I have a habit of flexing a pick when I first grab it. At last years Arlington Guitar Show, someone loaned me a tortoise pick and the first thing I did was apply what I thought was only a bit of sideways pressure to it. Next thing I knew, I had two pieces of pick (and my wallet was $30 lighter).
Tonally, tortoiseshell picks have a lot going for them; they combine clarity with rich tonality in a way that no plastic, nylon, shell, hoof, or metal pick can.Over the years I’ve tried many picks, looking for something legal that matches a turtle picks sound. About a year ago I tried a Red Bear man-made tortoise pick. It was the first pick that equaled the look, feel, and sound of natural tortoise and I’ve since been using their Mick Compton Tater-bug model. As far as I’m concerned, the Red Bear picks are simply the best available substitute for natural tortoiseshell. They sound and feel identical to tortoise with the advantage of being less expensive and even more importantly, they are consistent from one sample to the next. I thought I’d never use another pick…
Mandolin Café Chatter – Blue Chip Picks
I’m a regular reader of mandolincafe.com, which is the most interesting and well organized mandolin site on the web. I especially enjoy the message board, which combines the best and worst attributes of the late night bull session into a neat electronic package. I once noticed a thread titled “Blue Chip Picks,” and while the first posting was the common breathless rave, a piece of information halfway through caught my attention. The poster, named Skittle, wrote, “Danny Roberts …with the Grascals, absolutely loves them.”I know Danny Roberts: he’s one of the best mandolin pickers around. If he switched to Blue Chip picks, they just might be special. So I did some digging.
Blue Chip Pick’s website isn’t the most informative, but it does supply basic info. According to the site, Blue Chip picks are “Made from a very high-grade self lubricating, special formulated composite material…all picks are CNC machined, laser etched and held to a very tight tolerance. Each one is beveled and polished by hand.” That wasn’t much, but it was a start. The site has pictures of picks and comments from users. I contacted Blue Chip owner Matthew Goins and he sent samples.
Blue Chip picks are available in six different versions; there’s a traditional teardrop shape, a pointed three-sided pick, and a rounded three-sided pick: each shape is available in 1mm (.040”) or 1.25mm (.050”) thicknesses. Goins sent two pointed three sided picks – a 1mm and a 1,25mm, as well as one 1.25mm rounded three-sided. The first thing I noticed about the picks was their smooth surface. Instead of satin or a textured surface, they’re polished until shiny. On most picks, this would be a bad thing and would have sent me running for my sandpaper, but the Blue Chips are slightly tacky to the touch. Real and artificial tortoiseshell becomes sticky if you wet your fingers, but Blue Chips are regardless of your fingers moisture level. This enables a player to lighten their grip which is essential for playing at maximum speed.
With a Blue Chip, you immediately notice how easily the pick moves through the strings. Much of the picks feel on the strings comes from the quality of its bevel. A smoother edge delivers a more even stroke, and Blue Chip picks have an extraordinarily well-finished edge. Although I haven’t used them long enough to determine how well they wear, after a couple of weeks of play, there were no differences between the edges of the pick I was using and the one that hadn’t been used.
The Blue Chip reminds me
of a Ferrari GT250
In comparison to every other pick I’ve used, Blue Chip picks are easier to control, especially at higher speeds. At 100 beats per minute (bpm) I didn’t notice much difference between the Blue Chip and the similarly shape Red Bear Compton Taterbug pick. But at 125bpm the Blue Chip was easier to manage and my playing was cleaner. Much of this is due to the bevel; the Taterbug requires the user to do the final finishing to get a smooth bevel. The Blue Chip reminds me of a Ferrari GT250 or a BMW M5. At 70mph, you can’t see why someone would pay a premium for either of these vehicles, but when you push them to 130 or 140, you realize why they’re worth the money. Your average weekend parking lot picker may not “get” Blue Chip Picks, but if you have the skills you’ll understand their value in thirty seconds.
How does the Blue Chip pick sound? Very much like the Red Bear with a trifle more top end air and definition. One of the traditional ways to tell how a pick will sound is to drop it on a hard surface. When I did this drop test, the Blue Chip had a higher pitch and more ringing tone. I do have a real tortoiseshell pick (it was, um… dropped into my hands by a passing bald eagle). It sounds more like the Blue Chip, with a similar ringing quality but at a higher pitch due to this particular tortoise pick being a bit thinner than the Blue Chip.
When each pick connected with my mandolin strings, the Red Bear had the darkest tonality of the three, with more thunk on chops, but less upper frequency clarity and attack on the upper-string double-stops. I also noticed the Red Bear had a slightly grainy texture to the leading edge of transients. This was due in large part to its bevel shape and finish. In comparison, the BlueChip had a more suave and even sounding attack, especially on upstrokes. Actually my tortoise pick was the worst sounding of the three, with less upper frequency air than Blue Chip and not as much low frequency kick as Red Bear. Overall, I preferred the Blue Chip, not because it sounded slightly better (which it did), but because it gave more control and felt more comfortable.
The Cost of Technology
When a Fender heavy costs $.35 some people can’t get their heads around a pick that sells for $35. Of course, anyone who fancies tortoiseshell picks is used to paying as much as $75 for one , and the Red Bear costs between $12 and $20.Why do Blue Chip picks cost what they do? Goins told me “The material we use is extremely expensive. It costs $3300 for a 1/2” thick 10” square piece. I spent many hours figuring out how to maximize our yield from each square so we could offer picks at $35. We use an $80,000 CNC machine to cut picks to a tolerance of +/- .002”.” Goins doesn’t yet sell to retail dealers because he says there would be no profit margin.
...they last longer, wear better, and most importantly to me, feel better in my hands and on the strings.
Best Pick in the World?
The words “best (fill in the blank) in the world” trigger my hyperbole detector. “Best” is such an absolute term for a personal and subjective appraisal, and I can’t totally concur that the Blue Chip pick is the best for everyone. But I can agree that it’s an important breakthrough in pick technology. Are Blue Chip picks head and shoulders better than Red Bear man-made tortoise picks? No, but they do offer several advantages over any tortoise material – they last longer, wear better, and most importantly to me, feel better in my hands and on the strings.
For some, Blue Chip’s cost will be prohibitive, but if you have a $3k-plus instrument, what’s $35 for a pick? Especially one that may be for you, “The best pick in the world.” |
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Blue Chip Picks - A review of a very Different pick!!
I found out about Blue Chip Picks listening to a CD that I was reviewing this year by a Bluegrass group named "GoldHeart" , that consists of 3 young ladies. The self-titled Cd was excellent. I saw the endorsement for Blue Chip picks on the Cd liner. I checked out the website and what impressed me other than the $35 price per pick was the list of artists who swore by them, mostly Blue grass players, and mostly mandolin players.
Here is a list of some you might recognize, Chris Thile, Adam Steffey, Rhonda Vincent, Danny Roberts(Grascals), Charlie Cushman, and Doyle Lawson. Of course I considered they used instruments that ran in the thousands, but I was still curious, so I e-mailed the place in Knoxville, Tenn. where I grew up. Matt Goins got right back to me and offered to send me one to review if I sent him my address, so I did. Pretty soon, I got a Blue Chip TD 35, same shape as a Martin or Fender medium pick I would use, but a bit thicker, .89. That is not far off though seeing I use picks that are .75 . I was at my local guitar store today playing a D/ced Alvarez MD80 for 499, which is a bargain, but still out of my range, I have a 3 year old black RD20S which has also been D/ced, I am a big lover of Alvarez instruments, My plans are to keep my RD20S for awhile, it sounds good and is a very playable guitar with a Taylor like neck.
Hate to disappoint you, but this is going to be a short review, I did find some good build up though. What all can you say about a pick. Well, I will say that The Blue Chip Company is manned by 5 guys, who make all of the picks with CNC machines for tight tolerances, they are made for longevity and tone, they are a bargain for the crowd that still uses tortoise shell, and less maintenance too.
I decided to compare it to a Fender medium, because it was almost exactly the same size, I ran thru a song, playing some chords and a lead run and it sounded like always, good(well, to me). (BTW), have no idea what these picks are made of, they are a brown color, nothing fancy.
I played the same song with the Blue Chip and stopped, There was a very noticeable difference, One thing, The Blue Chips are very tacky, so they stick to your finger, it took me a while to get used to this, I discovered , that I must adjust the pick alot unconsciously, to get different lengths and so on, no big deal. The other thing is the tone was noticeably a good bit better, btw, I had a set of polyweb elixirs on my guitar, that I always use, probably a no no for hardcore bluegrass pickers.
Once I decided they were better, I kept playing with the BC, finding it very useful, especially in playing rhythm guitar, it gave me a much better rhythm tone. I honestly struggled a bit with the lead playing because of the tacky part, I probably could do without that, because I have been playing for over 30 years and to go from non sticky to sticky for the first time is different, but apparently, its part of the composition of the material they use.
This is a winner, If guys like Chris Thile love this and the others , plus it is noticeably better for me, I like it. I generally do not have trouble losing stuff, that is where problems for people come in, I do know this, for me, the right pick has always been a big deal, and amongst the different plastics, celluloid's , The right pick has meant alot. These are only available from Matt's website, btw, if you do not like your pick, within thirty days, you can return it for a full refund.
www.bluechippick.net
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