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Topic: Speaking of fingerpicks |
Al Evans
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 14 Mar 2019 2:19 pm |
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In reading all the discussion about various sorts of fingerpicks, I'm surprised that it appears nobody else makes their own.
About 20 years ago, I was working to improve my abilities on fingerstyle guitar. Both of my hands hands were burned very badly in a car wreck in the early 1960s. Parts -- for example, fingernails and the thumb and index finger of my left hand -- are missing. Other parts, for example all my metatarsal joins but one -- don't function. I have lots of experience doing things I "can't" do, so it doesn't hinder me much.
Playing without picks just wouldn't work for me. I tried every option I could think of, ending up with a set of plastic picks, bent into a shape that worked but gave mediocre results. They were always problematic and limiting, and would fall off at inopportune moments. After a couple years of this, I got myself a jeweler's saw and some .016" brass sheet, and spent a couple of days cutting, shaping, Dremelling, and polishing a set of picks adapted to the odd configuration of my right hand. I came up with these:
They served me reasonably well for almost twenty years. I was always paranoid about losing one, or stepping on one. As soon as I finished them, I made a pattern on tracing paper that would let me replicate them, but never took the time to do so. A few months ago, my brother offered to try casting me a set in silver. I used the pattern I had made long ago, made models in casting wax, and he cast them:
After several hours of shaping, Dremelling, and polishing, they look like this:
They work great, fit well, and sound beautiful.
Anyway, if you can find fingerpicks that suit you, great. But if you're only marginally satisfied, why not spend some time making picks that correct all the problems you have with what you're using? A lot of folks here do things that seem to me to be a lot more difficult!
--Al Evans
_________________
2018 MSA Legend, 2018 ZumSteel Encore, 2015 Mullen G2, G&L S-500, G&L ASAT, G&L LB-100, Godin A4 Fretless, Kinscherff High Noon |
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Larry Dering
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 14 Mar 2019 4:24 pm
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| Inspiring and amazing all in one. They say need is the mother of invention. You have done just that. Great successful story. |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 14 Mar 2019 4:49 pm
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I was going to say much the same. I have no problem using off-the-shelf picks, but if I ever find myself in a difficulty like that I shall remember what you did, Al.
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2019 8:28 am
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Where there's a will, there's a way! 
Erv |
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Eric Watts
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2019 5:25 pm
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| Very nice solution and design work!! Do you think the lost wax method would work for a more thimble like design. Where you form the wax all the way around your fingers for a one of a kind fit. Think of how comfortable they might be. |
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Jon Voth
From:
Virginia, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2019 6:14 pm
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Yes absolutely! You don't need all digits to be a great musician. You and Django Reinhardt prove it.
Even Jerry Garcia didn't have all his fingers. |
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Al Evans
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 16 Mar 2019 5:07 am
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| Eric Watts wrote: |
| Very nice solution and design work!! Do you think the lost wax method would work for a more thimble like design. Where you form the wax all the way around your fingers for a one of a kind fit. Think of how comfortable they might be. |
That would be great! I tried to work out something like this using a plaster cast of my right hand. It immediately pointed out two sorts of problems.
Putting the picks on and taking them off wasn't really feasible with any material inflexible enough to make a good fingerpick. And even though the fingertips are relatively stable in position and size, they aren't stable enough to provide reliable support for an inflexible material -- think of people trying to solve the simpler problem of getting a ring off when they're slightly bloated.
Nothing makes you appreciate working body parts like trying to find good substitutes! 
--Al Evans
_________________
2018 MSA Legend, 2018 ZumSteel Encore, 2015 Mullen G2, G&L S-500, G&L ASAT, G&L LB-100, Godin A4 Fretless, Kinscherff High Noon |
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