A pick made from a coin

[vancouverois]

It's a week end hobby, a pick made from a coin.
Many time I read some famous players used various metallic objects as a pick.
May be the same as for slide guitar, the slide could go from various metallic things like a pipe,
a knife to a medication glass bottle.

I gave it a try and with a file I gave the pick shape to a coin. Actually it is a two swiss franc.
It sounds a tad clearer and more defined than a plastic pick though the high strings become
less harsh and lost this (sometimes) annoying bright sound, some say ice peak for Teles.

On a Strat it makes wonders with a crunchy tone for the rythm and with the open volume
knob for lead. I could notice that each guitar behaves differently,the gap is more important
than with a plastic pick on the same guitars. Most guitars also become more touch sensitive,
the metal attack is more clean and precise than plastic.

DSCN0765.JPG (117.57 KiB) Viewed 8781 times

[12bar]

I don't use picks at all but even if it's mostly "soft" copper it may shorten the string lifetime a bit...

[Blindboy]

Nice! I only use a pick on certain songs, but I need a heavy, stiff pick when I do. I have used a quarter in a pinch, sometimes filing the serrations off of the edge.

[MichaelRobinson]

Now I know what to do with my pile of coins !! Double value of them. Making plectrum for a total and double it when I sell !!

Seriously. I think it was a good idea.
Just wondering what they think holding the state currency and minting coins, say?

[Garry]

That's all Billy from ZZ Top uses. If I could sound like him I would use a coin also.

[losaavedra]

I went for smaller / harder picks and progressed into using mostly Jazz picks which are a heck of a lot thicker. Then I thought a bit about using coins (there were a lot of redundant ones around once most of Europe went on the Euro!) and set about making a few up. Just checked and notice I now have five or six coin picks in my collection. My favourite is, however, a re-shaped three-penny piece from before UK decimalisation in the seventies, favoured mainly because of the heavily ridged top edge (that you should not grind off) that prevents the thing from dropping to the floor while playing!
Do they sound different... yes they do... much more 'positive' IMO... and I like 'em!
Mind you if my fingers could work well enough to produce the same result as for several others here, who don't need to use picks, then I would prefer to do it that way!

[vancouverois]

That's all Billy from ZZ Top uses. If I could sound like him I would use a coin also.

I've read somewhere he uses a Mexican silver Peso and wraps around the strings on his LP tail piece.