What kind of thumbpick?

Carson Leighton · Post by **Carson Leighton** » 15 Jan 2003 7:35 am

With so many different types of thumbpicks around, what seems to be the most popular? Has anyone ever tried Zookies? I know they come in 10, 20 and 30 degrees on the stem for a straighter attack......Carson[This message was edited by Carson Leighton on 15 January 2003 at 12:41 PM.]

Michael Haselman · Post by **Michael Haselman** » 15 Jan 2003 7:52 am

Blue Hercos were the industry standard back when I bought a box of 100, about 15 years ago. Needlesss to say, a lifetime supply. Don't know if they're still popular, but I like 'em.

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Marrs D-10, Webb 6-14E

Jim West · Post by **Jim West** » 15 Jan 2003 7:56 am

I use Zookie L-30's and have never looked back.

Spriggie Hensley · Post by **Spriggie Hensley** » 15 Jan 2003 8:44 am

Ernie Ball work for me, they are light weight and just put em in boiling water and shape em to fit. Tip (lick the tips of your fingers and thumb) when putting them on, the saliva acts like glue.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 15 Jan 2003 9:00 am

I bought a thumb pick from Frenchy's in Belen, NM a while back that I really like. It is a white pick with some tortoise shell stuck to the picking surface. It wasn't cheap, but I haven't played with anything finer.
Erv

John Bresler · Post by **John Bresler** » 15 Jan 2003 9:05 am

I bought a couple of national's a few years back and have been happy with them. I'm still using the first one and have an extra one for spare.

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 15 Jan 2003 9:10 am

I used the blue Herco's for many years and then started using the National medium ones. That lasted about a year and I got tired of them breaking at the bend. I went back to the Herco pick which now comes in red and love them things. I use an emory board and file the tip to a sharp point as it gives more brightness on the bass strings. These things just seem to go on forever and never wear out. If you like to shove your pick up to the thumb knuckle like Doug Jernigan does, this is the only one which'll really do it for you.

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 15 Jan 2003 9:26 am

what's an on-line source for the Zookies?

Robert Parent · Post by **Robert Parent** » 15 Jan 2003 9:40 am

I those big white National thumb picks in size medium.

I have tried the Zookies, they fit fine but never cared for the change in angle. Guess it depends on how you hold your hand if the angle change would work for you. For me, it doesn't as then I would be playing with the edge of the pick which gives a thin tone.

Ron Randall · Post by **Ron Randall** » 15 Jan 2003 10:43 am

Zookies. I like the 10 degree. They also make a 20 and a 30, large and medium. They will not hook a string, know whatamean?

Elderly instruments has em.

Tom Hodgin · Post by **Tom Hodgin** » 15 Jan 2003 11:18 am

Spriggie, there has got to be a better way...that boiling water is tearing my fingers up....and my tongue is ruined...tom

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 15 Jan 2003 11:23 am

I just bought two dozen of the cream-coloured 'Golden Gate' picks from Billy and Wanda's.

I bought one from Wanda to try out when I was playing in Norfolk, VA, a couple of years ago - I still have it, I love the feel and the 'fit', and I bought the box of 24 so I'll never run out of them!

I'm approaching my 60th Birthday, so I don't expect to ever buy another thumbpick.

Steel guitars are, of course, another matter.....

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Roger Rettig

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 15 Jan 2003 11:26 am

Golden Gate picks work best for me too.

Dave Birkett · Post by **Dave Birkett** » 15 Jan 2003 11:28 am

I've yet to find one that either doesn't rotate or cut off the circulation.

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 15 Jan 2003 12:46 pm

Big ol' Golden Gates for dobro, and them little blue ones for steel. I tried a tortoiseshell thumbpick, but it WORE OUT! 35.00, plus the turtle, down the drain.

Post by **Joey Ace** » 15 Jan 2003 1:23 pm

Zookies L-20 for me.
I get them from Herbie Wallace.

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 15 Jan 2003 4:38 pm

I've been using Fred Kelly's Slick Picks for several years now and I like them better than anything else I've tried.

Slick Picks[This message was edited by David Mullis on 15 January 2003 at 04:44 PM.]

Matt Brydges · Post by **Matt Brydges** » 15 Jan 2003 6:47 pm

Well, I'm a new steeler, but I've always used the white National LARGE picks for Dobro and guitar etc. and now steel. I tried the Herco blue pick also, and kind of liked it. I'm more comfortable with the Nationals though, and I find (in my experience at least) that they give a little different tone too - which I expected because they're wider and thicker than the Hercos. From the look of them, I thought the Herco picks would sound really skinny, but they surprised me. I haven't tried too many others though, I like the Nationals.

Matt[This message was edited by Matt Brydges on 15 January 2003 at 07:00 PM.]

Michael T. Hermsmeyer · Post by **Michael T. Hermsmeyer** » 15 Jan 2003 8:14 pm

This is a very subjective topic, it seems that almost everyone will have a different opinion or taste or preference. I agree that there is no "one size fits all" for something as personal as a pick, after all we all have basically different sizes of fingers. It's good that there are options out there so that we can all be comfortable playing and find what best works for us. I have probably several hundreds of guitar picks, fingerpicks and thumbpicks in my house. I have my favorites to use, my favorites that may be sentimental, and a whole lot of ones that will never be used, LOL.

I have talked with several players about the preferences of something as small as a pick and of course the mention of tone and feel has come up. Much like strings, string scale, pickups, tonewoods, metals, electronics, amps and speakers are all part of the tone chain, the pick is one of the most important factors. Just as a player selects all these other variables to find his/her perfect tone, he/she must also search for the right pick. Try picking an acoustic guitar string with each of the following picks, thin, medium, heavy, and extra heavy Then try the different materials picks come in, celluloid, delrin, copper, stone, etc... If you are looking for a different tone, try a different pick. Of course we, as steel players, are more limited in these choices, but at least we do have choices.

Thumbpicks and fingerpicks must first of all be comfortable to wear. Adaptation is the first thing our fingers must go through when encountering a metal or plastic band squeezing the life out of them, LOL. The picks must be tight just to stay on.
I could go on and on about this, oh wait, I already have, LOL. Just stay tuned for my book, LOL. "Michael T.'s Big Book Of Tone", LOL.

I use the same picks for Steel, Dobro, Melobar and Banjo, as well as sometimes, acoustic fingerstyle guitar. My favorite fingerpicks are BJS plated Dunlop .020, and my favorite thumpicks include the Dunlop white or calico medium, the Gibson "soft" black medium, the Golden Gate MOP Medium, and a brand new pick on the market in the last year which has proven to be very durable and consistent, and you would never think it would by the name............ Johnson, yes Johnson (medium of course). It appears to be a very good copy of the Dunlop Medium with an ivoroid look to it. I was very surprised.

I have never as of yet had to heat a Johnson pick, so I do not know if the material is moldable. I do have to fit the Dunlops and Golden Gates. You don't need to boil the water, it just has to be hot. I use pliers to dip the pick and as it is cooling I slip it on and squeeze it down. If the pick spreads instantly as it hits the water, its too hot. Just takes a little practice I guess.

Buga blues, reds, Jef Newman picks, Ernie Balls, or any pick in a size other than medium just doesn't work for me. I can't use a pick that spins, and I could never get used to a Zookie, in any angle.
Thanks, God Bless,
Michael T.

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UTILITY MAN PRODUCTIONS
'73 EMMONS D10 FATBACK, '92 EMMONS D10 LASHLEY LEGRANDE,
'85 DOBRO 60DS, '95 DOBRO F60S,
'95 MELOBAR CUSTOM, 1955 FENDER TRIPLE NECK STRINGMASTER. EVANS, FENDER, PEAVEY,
and MESA BOOGIE Amps.

[This message was edited by Michael T. Hermsmeyer on 15 January 2003 at 08:23 PM.]

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 15 Jan 2003 8:49 pm

I've got a couple of Golden Gate thumb picks, I may have to try the hot water thing.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 16 Jan 2003 6:10 am

I might add that the inside of my steel-seat is littered with the remains of the old 'Nationals'(white/large) that I used to play with - they all, eventually, broke in half at the apex of the 'bend'; there's no sign of any weakness yet in my 21-month old 'Golden Gate'.

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Roger Rettig

Michael Haselman · Post by **Michael Haselman** » 16 Jan 2003 6:32 am

At a Jimmie Crawford/Weldon Myrick seminar back in '79 I saw Jimmie take a Blue Herco and hold a lighter under it for a minute to soften it up and bend it to fit on his rather large thumb.

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Marrs D-10, Webb 6-14E

Rex Thomas · Post by **Rex Thomas** » 16 Jan 2003 10:34 am

Fred Kelly Speed Picks - medium.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 16 Jan 2003 5:40 pm

I use a metal thumb pick (National or Dunlop, I forget which it is now). I started out playing guitar, slide guitar, and Dobro in loud acoustic jams. So I needed a metal thumb pick to get all the volume I could. When I started playing pedal steel, I alternated with Dobro and acoustic guitar, and so I learned to use a metal thumb pick on pedal steel to keep from having to change picks. It matches the metal finger picks well, and can be bent to any angle you want, and any degree of tightness you want.

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Student of the Steel, and cheap instrument connoisseur: customized 1970 Sho-Bud Maverick, Fessy S12U, Emmons S12 E9 P/P, Nashville 400, Fender Squire, Peavey Transtube Supreme into JBL 15", 1968 Gibson J50, '60s Kay arch-top, 7-string Raybro, customized Korean Regal square-neck, roundneck Dobro 90C, 1938 Conn Chu Berry tenor sax, '50s Berg mouthpiece, Hamilton upright piano. You make it, I'll play it (more or less)

Michael T. Hermsmeyer · Post by **Michael T. Hermsmeyer** » 16 Jan 2003 6:13 pm

Don't Under Any Circumstances Try To Melt A Celluloid Pick With An Open Flame or a light bulb or any heat source other than hot water!!!!!!!! It will Explode!!!!!!!!!!!

Please dont ask me how I know.....

Michael T.

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UTILITY MAN PRODUCTIONS
'73 EMMONS D10 FATBACK, '92 EMMONS D10 LASHLEY LEGRANDE,
'85 DOBRO 60DS, '95 DOBRO F60S,
'95 MELOBAR CUSTOM, 1955 FENDER TRIPLE NECK STRINGMASTER. EVANS, FENDER, PEAVEY,
and MESA BOOGIE Amps.