28 Shades of Jazz !!! - Preferred Plectrum Size / Material / Brand
One of my readers and indeed good friend - chanced upon my ’Choosing the Right Guitar Pick’ article from around 6 years ago - when I was just starting down the path of pick exploration. He enquired why I hadn’t done more articles on picks - when I actually did a series of 3 back then :
- Choosing the Right Guitar Pick - October 2016
- Zeroing in on the Pick of Destiny - December 2016
- The Hawk ToneBird 7 is my Pick of Destiny! - May 2017
And of course a Jim Dunlop RIP / recap from 2019
In any case I go through various phases of exploration and experimentation and thought it timely to do a further article on Picks - largely based around different Materials of Picks and specific types thereof - as I have already long since decided that the Jazz III format is the right Goldilocks size for me.
I’m always looking for innovation and different options - but I still have my long-term favourites too. I don’t believe you can have any conversation about picks without mentioning Jim Dunlop - as that is the leading and most prolific pick brand in the world. And for me one of my 3 most important ones - alongside UK’s Timber Tones and Hawk Picks.
So I tried to be as broad-based in my overview as I could - while I also wanted to showcase several of my favourites - so there is a degree of overlap in places in particular in terms of generics and specifics within a type / variety. It says 28 types - but with overlaps etc. 28 varieties is probably a better call - and I was unable to include Felt and Juma materials and a few others!
I also tried to include as many brands as possible - but all had to really make Jazz III varieties to my liking - while there are a few exception here below as not every single material is currently available in the smaller Jazz III size - which I note within context. In any case - here follows a list of the brands featured - in terms of how many times they appear in the list.
Special mention needs to be made of Timber Tones - which have a squillion sub-’Tones’ brands - Mini Tones / Metal Tones / Jazz Tones / Leather Tones etc. I’ve actually marked those up in the visual with overlay logos to identify them - while most of those pictured with the ’Timber Tones’ roundel above have no long or labels on them at all!
In my own Pick collection I’ve been through in excess of 300 different picks- including most of the Dunlop ones - of which I probably own most of that brand, while more specifically for Jazz III plectrums it’s mostly Timber Tones - but my reigning champion is still the Hawk Picks ToneBird 7 Ivory Casein type pick!
Here are the Brands featured on this occasion - immediately below, followed by the listing of materials - generic and specific! ::
BRANDS FEATURED
Timber Tones [UK]
Pick Master : Rob Kerr
11 picks featured - Bone, Carbon Fibre, Glass, Horn, Mother of Pearl, Leather, Metal, Resin, Rubber, Shell, Wood.
Jim Dunlop [USA]
www.jimdunlop.com/products/guitar-picks/
Pick King : Jin Dunlop RIP
4 picks featured - Acetal (Tortex), Nylon, Polycarbonate (Primetone), Polyetheremide (Ultex / Ultem)
Hawk Picks [UK]
Pick Master : Rob Edney
2 picks featured - Abalone, and Casein (ToneBird 7 Ivory - my reigning favourite)
StoneWorks Picks [USA]
Zen Guitar Picks [UK]
ChickenPicks [Netherlands]
Ernie Ball Picks [USA]
www.ernieball.com/guitar-accessories/guitar-picks
Pick Master : N/A
1 pick featured - Polyoxymethylene.
GraphTech Tusq Picks [USA]
Gravity Picks [USA]
Pickboy (Osiamo) [USA]
www.osiamo.com/products/PickboyPicks
Pick Master : N/A
1 pick featured - Ceramic (Ceramic / Nylon hybrid)
28 MATERIALS
Abalone
Specific Crustacean Shell - I have Hawk and Timber Tones varieties.
Hawk Blue Abalone pictured.
Acetal - AKA 'Tortex' proprietary Dunlop brand
I have several Dunlop varieties of this.
Dunlop Tortex 1.5mm Jazz III in white pictured.
Acrylic
Classic robust translucent / transparent plastic. I have several of these including V-Picks varieties.
V-Picks green Venom pictured.
Agate
Colourful striated igneous rock consisting largely of Quartz and Chalcedony.
I have yet to add this variety to the pick collection.
StoneWorks Jazz Agate pictured.
Bone
Various hard animal bone is used - typically from livestock / cattle - and in particular Buffalo Bone.
I have a few such Buffalo Bone types from Timber Tones.
Timber Tones Grip Tones Mini Buffalo Bone pictured.
Carbon Fibre
Durable compound material - super-strong and light - use in various high-spec scenarios.
I have Timber Tone Carbon Tone varieties of these in two gauges.
Timber Tones Carbon Tone pictured.
Casein / Erinoid / Galalith
Synthetic plastic discovered in 1893 by immersing Milk Protein Casein in Formaldehyde. This was the button revolution of the Victorian era - as up till then buttons were entirely ivory, metal, stone and wood - one of the very first plastics discovered.
My favourite pick to date is the Hawk Picks ToneBird 7 Casein Ivory variety.
Hawk Picks ToneBird 7 Ivory pictured.
Celluloid
Plastic derived from the cell walls of green plants - Cellulose - other derivatives include Nitrocellulose pain, and Rayon 'synthetic silk'. This is the most common Guitar Pick material alongside Nylon - I have several different varieties of this - but not many in Mini / Jazz III format.
Zen Picks white Celluloid pick pictured.
Ceramic
We have all kinds of cool space-age ceramics nowadays - used for heat-protection tiles on the space shuttle and space-going rockets, and also on luxury watches like Rado. There are numerous examples of relatively lo-fi Ceramic picks on Etsy, but very few made by mainstream brands - in fact the only ones I could find were the ones from Pickboy which are actually a Ceramic + Nylon hybrid and not yet available at the Jazz III size.
Pickboy Ceramic Grip Pick 1.00mm pictured.
Glass
Similar to Ceramic picks - there are a lot of these - artisan style - to be found on Etsy. Timber Tones make some cool ones too - but those are as not yet made available in Jazz III format.
Timber Tones Glass Tones Stairway to Heaven Pick pictured.
Graphite
These are typically actually Graphite impregnated Resin - which has also been used to make artificial bone-like Guitar nuts - per GraphTech and PRS. GraphTech have evolved their Tusq Guitar Nut formula to extend to 3 different guitar picks - where I have all those varieties in Mini Teardrop format. Dunlop also have their well-known Adamas picks made from graphite.
GraphTech Tusq Warm Tone 1.4 pick pictured.
Horn
Specifically Buffalo Horn in this context - this comes in a variety of styles from clear to fairly obsidian black. Timber Tones make a variety of these which I already have in the pick collection.
Timber Tones Grip Tones Mini Horn pick pictured.
Kirinite
Kirinite is a type of Acrylic Resin with thin strands of poly paper swirled though the mix - for a beautifully colourful melange. I only came across these recently courtesy of Lancashire, UK custom pick maker - Duncan Sykora AKA Zen Guitar Picks - who make the most exquisite plectrums - carved, textured, inlayed - all beautifully crafted by hand and sold individually with a wax seal! Duncan doesn't seem to make many Jazz III size ones - will have to hit him up and encourage him to make some for me!
Zen Kukri Kirinite pick pictured - note that Mini / Jazz III variety is named Kris. While Kukri is more like a Jazz III XL.
Mother of Pearl
Like Abalone - this is a specific Crustacean shell variety and interestingly enough while we typically associate Mother of Pearl just with Oysters - you get Abalone Mother of Pearl too - just to make things a little more interesting. Timber Tones make a couple of varieties of these - in whole or Inlay fashion.
Timber Tones Inlay Tones Mini Black Mother of Pearl pick pictured.
Leather
Of course Picks come in leather too in various thicknesses / and stiffnesses. I got some of these recently from Timber Tones but they're all either too flimsy or too thick really to feel properly comfortable - they're also somewhat one-sided rather than made more like leather straps and belts that I'm so familiar with. Timber Tones of course make some of these - which I acquired in a 4-pack - and used the one with the most legible logo for the picture.
Timber Tones Leather Tone Mini Tan pick pictured.
Metal
This is another quite broad category - which Timber Tones of course excels in. You can also by precious Silver and Gold varieties too which I'm not convinced is a particularly good use - and those are particularly pricey! So picks can be - Aluminium / Brass / Bronze / Copper / Gold / Silver / Steel / Titanium typically - where I have Metal Tones in Brass, Bronze, Copper and Titanium. Timber Tones do a Treasure Tone Solid Silver Pick for $150 - with a hole up top for applying to necklaces / chains mostly. And I've seen solid 24K Gold Guitar picks going for more than $1.250 - which is nonsense really as 24 karat is too soft - you would shave that pick down to useless in a matter of days!
Timber Tones Metal Tones Copper pick pictured.
Nylon
The mainstay of the Pick world is the Nylon material / format - pretty much every mainstream pick maker makes some version of this. And all those picks that get handed out all over the place are invariable Nylon - cheap and cheerful for sure - and fairly robust too! The Nylon I'm most familiar with is the original Red Jazz III and I mistakenly thought that the Black Petrucci Jazz III was Nylon - but I believe now all of John's signature picks - I think 5 or 6 different varieties - are made of Ultex. So I swapped out said pick of the signature Jim Root edition which is definitely Nylon!
Dunlop Signature Jim Root Black Nylon Jazz III pick pictured.
Polycarbonate
This is another much used material in mainstream pick manufacture - a reinforced plastic as such where the Dunlop Primetone variety is a great example of the type which I have in my pick Colleciton in a variety of thicknesses.
Dunlop Primetone Jazz III Grip Pick 1.4mm pictured.
Polycarbonate Gel
A slightly different more flexible variation of Polycorbonate used to great effect on the innovative Dava Jazz Grip Tips picks - which come in Red Delrin, Green Nylon, and Orange Gel varieties - where my favourite is the Orange Gel.
Dava Jazz Grip Tips Orange Gel pick pictured.
Polyetherimide
After the Hawk Casein ToneBird 7 picks - these are really my second favourite variety - which spans Ultex, Ultem and Flow (Shape) varieties of Dunlop picks. I have both the original Yellow Ultex Jazz III's and the John Petrucci Red varieties of the same. While I intend to get the Jazz III flow varieties of these too, and I'm currently chasing down the Jason Richardson Signature Ultem Jazz III variety!
Dunlop Ultex Jazz III pictured (1.4mm).
Polymethyl Methacrylate
This could of course have sat under the main 'Acrylic' category above - but I really wanted to include a favourite variety of Gravity Picks too - which were some of the earliest Jazz III types I tried out and of course have in the collection. I have both Classic Mini and Sunrise Mini varieties.
Gravity Picks Sunrise Orange Mini 3mm pick pictured.
Polyoxymethylene
Polyoxymethylene is variously known as Acetal (already featured above), Polyacetal, Polyformaldehyde and Melamine even. But for the purposes of this piece I wanted to mention Dunlop's Delrin and Delrex formats too which are a slightly different formulation of Tortex essentially. And also used by another favourite of mine - ChickenPicks - which make the most exquisite smooth Polyoxymethylene picks which I have in two varieties - Badazz and Shredder.
ChickenPicks Shredder 3.5mm pictured.
Resin
Resin is quite a broad category of Composite Plastics which includes Polyethylene, PVC, Polypropylene and Epoxy and Juma even. Also for pick-making a variety of Acrylic and Polycarbonate sub-types. Picks are often sold under proprietary names for more generic plastics - but can also be sold as just 'Resin' types as found frequently on Etsy, and as made by Timber Tone Resin Tones - but currently not in Mini / Jazz III format!
Timber Tones Resin Tones Green pick pictured.
Rubber
Of course picks come in rubber varieties too - which I felt could have been more tempered. The ones I have are Timber Tones Rubber Tones - which feel more like Silicon really and similar to the Leather Tones are quite floppy and overly thick. They're currently just in the collection as a novelty really as they're not really comfortable or efficient to deploy at all.
Timber Tones Rubber Tones Mini Blue Silicon pick - mostly intended for use with Ukeleles!
Shell
Obviously we have already featured two specific Shell varieties - Abalone and Mother of Pearl - just plain Shell is a less vibrant more plain looking variety typically without the more colourful textures of the specifically named varieties.
Timber Tones Shell Tones Mussel Shell pick pictured.
Stone
Agate listed above is a very specific crystalline variety of igneous rock / stone, while the very aptly names StoneWorks does a number of varieties in different types of Stone - funnily mostly different types of Agate / Dendritic Agate, but also Jasper / Ocean Jasper and Meteorite.
StoneWorks Ocean Jasper pick pictured.
Wood
Wood Picks have been used for centuries with stringed instruments - mostly hardwearing hardwoods which we find too on guitar fretboards - Ebony, Haldu, Padauk, Rosewood and Teak in particular. This is where Timber Tones started out and I have each of their Mini wood varieties.
Timber Tones Blues Tones Mini Indian Teak pick pictured.
Final Thoughts
I'm currently chasing down a couple of recent Dunlop picks - the Jazz III variety Flow Series, and the brand new Jason Richardson Signature Ultem variety - which has yet to cross the pond!
I buy quite a lot of picks off Amazon, Reverb.com, Ebay and Etsy - and there's also Pick Portal - Heavy Repping which I need to get better acquainted with.
I've quite liked the look of Rombo picks - but can't figure out which of their varieties are Jazz III sized if any?
I have a fishing tackle box with 30+ varieties of my preferred Jazz III style picks - and several more boxes of Jazz assortments for backup. I'm always looking for innovation like I mentioned in the intro and if there are any Jazz III style picks you can recommend - by all means drop me a line.
My first 3 pick articles - the first one in particular went into more detail on different brands, thicknesses and bevels and the like - so please refer to those for said details.
As always this my my preferred selection that I've personally gravitated towards via a series of serendipitous encounters. It doesn't mean I don' have capacity for your favourite brands too - I just may not have encountered them yet. Several of the elite guitar pick brands - like Red Bear - are hard to get hold off here in the UK and often have minimum order values of say £135 or more!
In any case your observations and recommendations are always welcome!
Note that these articles take a very long time to research, compile, picture-select-and-edit and write up - so they don't happen too often - typically more than a weekend's worth!
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