For Earth Day, a word to DU guitarists

[Bake]

I posted this as a response in GD, but I think more musicians hang out in Teh Lounge. So I'm posting it here: Guitarists, just say NO to tortoise shell picks, pickguards, etc.

I know a lot of guitarists, particularly acoustic guitarists, who are partial to the sound/tone of tortoise shell picks. While they are illegal to buy or sell, you can find them at festivals, etc., and they sell for anywhere from $50 to $100 EACH. They are made from the shells of sea turtles. I know of players who have boxes of them.

Here's an alternative that does not involve killing sea turtles!! Clayton Gold (also called "Ultem") guitar picks are synthetic, and there's not enough difference in the tone they produce, compared to tortoise shell, to be audible. And they're cheaper.

Just say no to tortoise shell!!

Bake

[DarkTirade]

1. Crikey... I didn't know they still did that.

:\

[Bake]

2. They do!

In addition to pre-cut picks, I have also seen vendors selling sheets of tortoise shell for people who like to cut their own size/shape of picks.

There is no rational reason, in this day and age and with the availability of excellent synthetic substitutes, to use tortoise shell for this purpose!!

Bake

[DarkTirade]

7. I love the way the pattern looks... but I much prefer it to be printed on plastic, not on real shell

[Bake]

12. There is also a synthetic material for pickguards called Tor-Tise

I put one on my Martin, and it looks exactly like the old pre-war real tortoise shell pickguards they used to use, before they went with the "mother of pepperoni" guards that come standard these days. It's made by a guy in North Carolina, I think it's Greven Guitar Co., and it is marvelous. Google it, check out the pics, you'll be impressed. Mine is a sort of "tiger-stripe" that resembles Tony Rice's old D-28 (i.e., the "Holy Grail" that once belonged to Clarence White).

Bake

[redqueen]

3. Aww... I thought 'tortoise shell' was just a name for the color...

:dunce:

Thanks for the info... I'll be passing this on. I love turtles. :)

[Iggo]

5. What the...?

I also thought tortoise shell was just a name for a color or for the pattern. I assumed it was just plastic.

My picks are all nylon, all the time. I use .63mm Clayton for acoustic, and 1.5mm Dunlop Tortex when I'm being a metal god. I don't think my Harmony dreadnought (puchased brand new 25 yrs ago for $100) has anything as exotic as actual turtle parts on it.

[Blue-Jay]

4. Boycott Tortex picks too!

They're made out of the sex organs of the rare Texas tree-tortoise.

[Iggo]

6. What the...?

Wait a second...

Why, I oughta...:mad:

[redqueen]

11. So... he's kidding, right?

Gawd I'm so confused!

I have a tortex pick at home. :(

[Bake]

13. Uh, he's joking ...

But it was a pretty good one, I gotta say!! I admit I looked at it twice myself! Tor-TEX, TEXas Tree tortoise, get it? Hehe!!

:rofl:

Bake

[redqueen]

15. ...

:blush:

:P

[quip]

8. Right you are! I much prefer ivory!

:hide:
















Actually, Dunlap tortex (orange) :P

[Bake]

14. Ivory for picks?? I think not!!

I think that'd be too inflexible/brittle ... ya bastid! ROFL!

I do have a fossilized ivory saddle on my guitar, but I think that's OK, because whatever animal it came from (wooly mammoth?) died thousands of years ago ...

Bake

[quip]

17. Yeah, just kidding, but as you mentioned

it can be used for saddles. Although, a guy in my band loves these big, fat, inflexible picks, so it may not be out of the realm of possibility....

:hi:

[av8rdave]

9. I don't have any...but you can be sure I won't get any either!

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. Pshaw. Next you'll be bitching at us to stop wiping down our guitars with baby harp seal blood.

:eyes:

Then what's next on your Nazi agenda? Telling me to stop putting veal carcasses on the headstock to get that heavier sound? That I can't grease my tuning pegs with foie gras?

Some people take their PCness way too far.

[Bake]

16. Well, if you'll stop using strings made from live baby cat gut, that'll be a start!

Way to go, dood. I make a nice, serious OP and you go making fun of it! Bastids, I tell ya, that's what you are!!

:rofl:

Bake

edited because I can't type for shit this morning!