fitzy - Posted - 12/14/2013:  14:52:23

Does anyone know what the diff is between a TPR45 and a TPR40?

TI_USER - Posted - 12/14/2013:  16:45:39

Very slight difference in thickness.  TPR40 is 1mm thick while the TPR45 is 1.12mm thick.  A barely noticeable difference, in my opinion.  I'm surprised Blue Chip makes picks that are so close in thickness.  1mm, 1.25mm 1.5 and so on I can understand, but a 1/8 of a mm seems kind of silly to me.

fitzy - Posted - 12/15/2013:  00:02:36

Thanks. Have you used both and found no diff?I'm after trying a good few. But the tpr45 is winning hands down so far! just waiting on a couple I ordered from states. should have next week. Don't no if it's that I'm not hitting the.E string hard enough?? Doubt that!!but it's hard to get volume out! theGDA I wouldn't change! It's cracking.?

Ben Venuti - Posted - 12/15/2013:  15:59:09

quote:

---

Originally posted by TI_USER

 

Very slight difference in thickness.  TPR40 is 1mm thick while the TPR45 is 1.12mm thick.  A barely noticeable difference, in my opinion.  I'm surprised Blue Chip makes picks that are so close in thickness.  1mm, 1.25mm 1.5 and so on I can understand, but a 1/8 of a mm seems kind of silly to me.

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Not to a machinist --1/8th of a mm is like a mile.  If your going to create a pick that caters to the most discerning clientele and your charging a fairly outrageous sum for that pick then you better produce a product that meets the customers very nit picky tastes. 

TI_USER - Posted - 12/15/2013:  18:26:32

I suppose you're right Ben, but I have several celluloid 346 picks that are in 1.25 and some in 1.5 and there's very little difference in tone or volume between those.  That's a .25 difference so it's hard for me to imagine there's much at all in a .125 difference.  Then again, there's the same difference between the CT55 and the TAD 60.  Pretty much the same pick with a .125mm difference in thickness.  Of course, having Thile's name attached to it will automatically make it a better seller.

fitzy - Posted - 12/15/2013:  22:01:36

I'd say the material has lot to do with it? Is Chris Thile not on the wegen picks?I'm waiting on one if them to try.Wil be good if I like them you get three in a pack for half the price of a blue chip.

Ben Venuti - Posted - 12/16/2013:  20:45:53

Actually I looked into the material that the Bluechip is made of --I forget the name -merlon or something like that. The stuff is stupid expensive ,( like $1200 for a 1ft x 1 ft piece ) and only one distributor in the US. It's some sort of aero space stuff that is used for bushings and bearings, washers and gears, it seems like you can machine it into anything and is used mostly in extreme high heat situations and just so happens to make a pretty good pick.
I have one,I didn't buy it ,it was a gift. I had been using Dunlop Ultex picks mostly that I would buy by the hand full at maybe a buck a piece and didn't worry about losing one. I thought that the Ultex was a very good pick and I still do. The Bluechip is better I admit, particularly as far as grip goes. I work with my hands and they tend to get extremely slippery and dry and I find I don't have to hold a bluechip as tightly to keep it from turning on me. Tone wise, I honestly don't know, if I get a little more control that could easily be responsible for any perceived improvement in tone. The tone thing is really subjective. I have a friend that has the worlds greatest sound system. He's obsessed and is always adding improvements and wants to show it off. I haven't the heart to tell him that he surpassed the ability for human beings to be able to hear any difference what so ever $25,000 ago but he believes he can hear the difference.
A good pick is a good thing to have but I think a lot of people are looking for a magic bullet and the real answer is to have very good right hand technique...that is where the good tone is ----all the really superior players do and I think it's right hand control that separates them (well good ideas and taste are worth something as well) from the rest of us. The problem with great technique is that there is a great deal of work involved to get it . A pick? Well you can just go out and buy that!

TI_USER - Posted - 12/18/2013:  16:27:28

Well said Ben.  Good players know that there is no substitute for practice and good technique.  However, good (experienced) players also know the tone of their instruments well and can better hear the subtle differences that a top quality pick can make.  Those are the musicians that don't bat an eye at the cost.  I have heard so many times about how Blue Chip is "just another piece of plastic" and that they are making a fortune by charging such a extravagant price.  I read a interview with Melvin Goins, the owner, and he said that because the material is so very expensive that the profit margin is not that great.  I believe that when I first looked up the material (Meldin 7001) it was something like $1400 for a 12-inch square sheet that was 1/8" thick. 

The tone certainly is subjective.  I have owned a few and I have to say that it is the best engineered pick I have ever used.  When you look at the edge of a Blue Chip it is the smoothest and cleanest edge of any pick I have ever seen.  Compared to most any other pick that almost always has some sort of roughness that you can't see unless you use a magnifier.  That is what makes the BC sound so smooth and clean to me, and the grip is better than anything I have used.  I loved the tone from it, but in the end, I found that a non-standard custom Wegen gave me the tone I was trying to pull out of my mandolin.

You're right about the "Magic Bullet" thing.  I think people buy a CT55 thinking "Well, Chris uses it...". 

Ben Venuti - Posted - 12/19/2013:  14:24:47

The question of course is-- has anyone been heard to state -"My goodness has Chris Thile's playing improved since he started using that Bluechip Pick ! "
Some musicians don't bat an eye at the cost because it's tax deductible and yet other musicians are wondering where they are going to get the money to buy such an expensive pick! There aren't that many "professional" mandolin players actually getting paid much more than rent. In fact, I'd bet that most of us that have day jobs are in a better position to buy high class instruments and gear than a great many people that are full time being a musician.

ronwalker49 - Posted - 12/23/2013:  14:30:20

I ordered one today, just to see what it was all about...Thirty-five bucks won't seem like much if it's all that they say, but it will be an awful lot if it isn't...I'll know pretty soon

TI_USER - Posted - 12/23/2013:  19:47:14

Great thing about Blue Chip is that if you don't like it you can return it within 30 days for a full refund, or exchange for another model.

ronwalker49 - Posted - 12/27/2013:  04:56:11

My SR -60 came yesterday and so far I must say, I think I like it....It is to soon to say for sure as of yet because I only played one song with it...Donna & I were bundled up in our robes and slippers having a "movie night" and I didn't have time to really check it out...Today however, I will probably play most of the day, and this evening is the weekly jam at the "cornbread palace" so I'll have a pretty good idea what I think of it by tomorrow...But I will not be sending it back because I know so many Old Dudes (like me), who wouldn't be caught dead in front of a computer...They are my contemporaries and I know them well....Things that you never see for trade make wonderful trading material...

I was surprised to find that Elderly Music is shut down until the 1st of the year...I was trying to order some wegen picks and it seems they have had a major ice storm that has knocked out power for them..

Edited by - ronwalker49 on 12/27/2013 05:00:51

abinigia - Posted - 12/28/2013:  15:20:04

quote:

---

Originally posted by TI_USER

 

Very slight difference in thickness.  TPR40 is 1mm thick while the TPR45 is 1.12mm thick.  A barely noticeable difference, in my opinion.  I'm surprised Blue Chip makes picks that are so close in thickness.  1mm, 1.25mm 1.5 and so on I can understand, but a 1/8 of a mm seems kind of silly to me.

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Yes, and $35 for a pick seems silly to me.

Ben Venuti - Posted - 12/28/2013:  16:07:53

$35 for a pick IS silly and I probably wouldn't own one except that someone gave me one. It's been established that no one is ripping you off as the material used to make the pick is super expensive. So,---- I believe as do some others that a Bluechip helps their playing, a least some. If it was a book or a lesson cd or a workshop and you thought that that would help you improve your playing/tone/right hand technique,whatever. (Bluechip has the best grip of any pick I have used and that is what does it for me) would you spend that $35?

abinigia - Posted - 12/28/2013:  16:28:20

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ben Venuti

 

$35 for a pick IS silly and I probably wouldn't own one except that someone gave me one. It's been established that no one is ripping you off as the material used to make the pick is super expensive. So,---- I believe as do some others that a Bluechip helps their playing, a least some. If it was a book or a lesson cd or a workshop and you thought that that would help you improve your playing/tone/right hand technique,whatever. (Bluechip has the best grip of any pick I have used and that is what does it for me) would you spend that $35?

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Might be a good gift for somebody to give to a player who has everything. I'd accept one. But I can't imagine they're proportionally better than say the the Dawg picks I buy for a dollar or whatever they are. A pick can only do so much after all.

PS. There have been a few times where I didn't have a pick for one reason or another and had to make do with a doubled over match book cover, a coin, a credit card, and once even a bottle cap. I've also used tortoise shell picks, which I didn't care for because they were rough and wore out quickly. I have played briefly on a Bluechip and it seemed pretty good. I'm one who does like to try the latest thing, but I think $35 is way over the top.

Edited by - abinigia on 12/28/2013 16:40:12

ronwalker49 - Posted - 12/28/2013:  18:54:36

Well I have played with the Blue Chip pick for two solid days now and I think it sounds better--feels better--& I can hang on to it better than anything I have used so far...As Ben said this was a gift from my wife because I wouldn't buy one for myself, but I'll say this...If the Wegens and others that I have ordered do not out perform the Blue Chip, I will not hesitate to buy another...

I have wasted enough money on tapes & DVD's through the years to have bought many blue chips...This pick has made the drudgery of practice much more enjoyable "for me", and anything that makes pickin more fun is well worth the cost in my opinion...I have two packs of wegens coming and their 15.00 each, so that's just about another Blue Chip....I also have a large can full of picks of many descriptions in my work shop and many are 4 or 5 dollars...I don't believe in a magic bullet but some are better than others, and some just suck...It took me a long time and a lot of money to find my favorite thumb pick-& finger picks...When I switched to claw-hammer it was the same thing only they cost more...Now the wegens are 5 to 7 bucks more...So, if the Blue Chip "IS" the ultimate pick, then I want one... I won't lose it it will be just like my pocket knife or wallet or keys

My Dad was griping once about the cost of something that my mother bought, with her own money I might add, and she said "it don't matter what it costs if you want it bad enough"....I think that statement says it all...My guess would be that there are many things that others spend big money on that I would consider silly...I have spent many times 35 bucks on expensive dinners and how long do you get to enjoy that...But if I don't lose my pick, it just might last me the rest of my life...Now which it the better bargain?

abinigia - Posted - 12/28/2013:  19:10:35

quote:

---

Originally posted by ronwalker49

 

Well I have played with the Blue Chip pick for two solid days now and I think it sounds better--feels better--& I can hang on to it better than anything I have used so far...

---

That's a persuasive testimonial for sure. I'm surprised a pick can make so much difference but I'm open to what you're saying.

ronwalker49 - Posted - 12/29/2013:  04:52:27

Hey Brian...After checking out your & Bens home page it seems to me that you guys have been using flat picks for a great many years...My guess is that you would be comfortable with just about any kind of pick, IE match book--coin --Bottle cap-....We are near the same age but our music has taken different roads....I have been a fiddler since I was a small boy of about 10 I have played the Banjo nearly as long...I'm sure you would agree that the "Pick" is the right hand connection to a mandolin and a Guitar as well..I'm sure you would agree that playing finger style Banjo & Guitar don't have much in common with using a flat pick, nor does the mechanics of fiddle bowing..In the last 54 years I have tried many times to develop my right hand abilities on the Mandolin with not much success...If I can ever learn to develop my right hand I will become a Mandolin player over night....I've always wanted to play the Mandolin and this is my 5th attempt..All five times I have bought Mandolins and accessories and any other "eye candy" that appealed to me.. I also built & supplied a wood shop where I build Banjos in short, I have spent a small fortune on my hobby so 35 bucks is only a drop in the bucket and doesn't even figure into the equation for me....

I recently read that if you don't drop your pick once in a while, you are holding it too tight. I have been trying that and guess what, it's working but causing another problem, it flies out of my hand much too often...So, I bought some Gorilla Snot (9 more dollars) and I am back on track again...

I don't have much time to practice when the weather is nice because my wife Donna & I ("Just Us") travel and play lots of music...When I am home I spend a lot of time in my shop where it seems I am always behind on orders/repairs, but I'm not complaining because I'm doing what I love....This time of year cold/snowy I spend practicing and online--go to jams and still do what I love...The only thing is, I would love to do it on a Mandolin and this time, I am making progress...

fitzy - Posted - 01/15/2014:  13:37:02

Ya I spent a small fortune. On picks and the blue chip tpr 45 is the only one that gives me the tone. That I really like.! Have tried all the above and NONE.! give the the tone like the tpr45!

Jim Yates - Posted - 01/16/2014:  08:07:45

Anyone tried using a big button like Django did?

Ben Venuti - Posted - 01/16/2014:  17:49:36

Valid point! Jesse McReynolds and Jethro ,Bill , Grisman and a host of others did not have a Bluechip Pick. Dawg I hope is using a "Dawg" pick. Django had an unfair advantage though. He was a cripple which forced him to play differently than anyone else...Oh ---and he was a genius! The others are genius's as well...I however am not! A good button is hard to find these days. Bet ya a buck that Django's button was T Shell. A round pick IS part of the solution to grip problems.

UsuallyPickin - Posted - 01/19/2014:  03:56:37

Yes JY I have a tortoise shell trouser button from the 30's. A vintage clothing store owner located it for me. It's too heavy and not pointed enough for my tastes. But it is easy to hang on to by virtue of one side being dished out. Personally I like the rounded triangle in a CT-55 weight / thickness..... with a nod to all those sea turtles that I gave up for moral reasons. Though I have to add I have not tried it out on a mandolin, just guitar. Insofar as thirty-five dollars for a pick is concerned .... that amount of money is close in amount to a years worth of strings ..... and less expensive than a nice strap ..... not much at all compared to the cost of one of these instruments we play with....... my only grief with Blue Chip picks is the color.... it is  very close to my music room rug... Truth to tell I haven't bough any other kind of pick since I bought that first BC......

R/

Edited by - UsuallyPickin on 01/19/2014 04:05:55

ronwalker49 - Posted - 01/19/2014:  18:53:52

I have had the Wegens for about 3 weeks now and have given them what I consider to be a fair trial...I place them 3rd, right after the DOD 207...Blue Chip is still my first choice...

ErikForGod - Posted - 01/20/2014:  06:25:26

I've been reading and hearing alot about these Blue Chips. problem is it's like $300 pesos Argentinos for one pick...so I'm sticking with my Wegens. They feel good to me and seem to produce a pretty good tone....maybe one day I'll get a Blue Chip but my goodness they are so dern expensive!

bohemian - Posted - 01/22/2014:  16:07:11

1/8th of a mm..



forgive me for a prolonged laff fest.

Edited by - bohemian on 01/22/2014 16:07:45

Jim Yates - Posted - 01/26/2014:  22:36:49

How many of you work on your own picks?  Norman Blake is not satisfied with picks as he gets them from the music store:  "I get an extra heavy pick (triangle) and then trim the edge and polish it. I like a small pick but I can't find a small triangle type." He also says, in a Homespun tape, that he likes different picks for different instruments.

 

Jonnyboy - Posted - 03/12/2014:  07:54:47

I'm new to the mandolin and having read all the above comments I decided to order a TAD 60.

I do, however, have faith in the product as I've been playing banjo with a BC thumb pick for the last year. It took me a few days to get used to it, but once I did it became my favourite thumb pick with extra volume and smoother speed.

ronwalker49 - Posted - 04/20/2014:  03:13:57

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jim Yates

 

How many of you work on your own picks?  Norman Blake is not satisfied with picks as he gets them from the music store:  "I get an extra heavy pick (triangle) and then trim the edge and polish it. I like a small pick but I can't find a small triangle type." He also says, in a Homespun tape, that he likes different picks for different instruments.

 

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Some years ago I bought about 25 Grisman "Dawg picks, I drilled a 3/8ths hole in the center then ground them down to the size of a quarter then beveled the edge as a knife blade then polished the edge....It does not matter that it turns in my grip because it is round....I have worn the frets out on a new 000-15 martin with this pick and I love it...I have 3 Dawg picks left, but you know what, I can't make it work on the Mandolin and I don't know why, I sure have tried...

TSSN - Posted - 04/22/2014:  04:05:21

Dawg picks turn in my fingers as well.  Not sure why, but I think it's what they're made out of.  They sure seem smooth.

Susan H - Posted - 04/28/2014:  20:50:55

I got my CT55 this afternoon. I'm sold, and I was a die hard Wegen user for years. Does it make me play better, too early to tell. But, I noticed I don't have to hold the pick as tight, that's an improvement if you ask me. The pick feels tacky or sticky in my fingers, and I have trouble with picks slipping which it why I went to a Wegen pick. My hands don't feel fatigued after over an hour of just playing and noodling around. I like the way it feels in my fingers, solid. For me it was worth it.

phiddlepicker - Posted - 07/08/2014:  15:44:52

CT55s Rawk