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Does anyone know of any kind of animal-based material available in sheets for making picks out of? I'm thinking there may be something made of hoof/horn/hide/bone/or - ? Something other than plastic that more or less replaces tortoise shell. I'm not looking for the holy grail of pick materials, just something I can experiment with. And not something super-hard like sea shell.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

allparts sells cow hoof picks. I've got some and they sound nice,
although the fit and finish is not the best...

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

I have used solid abalone but you are limited to heavy picks only. My brother in law does alot of abalone diving a gives me all of the shells, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It looks great, plucks good, but it's not so good for strumming because it has no give.

I've got your holy grail of pick material. Armadillo shell!!

    "U-PICK" Armadillo Farm
       
     Life-time supply of the absolute finest
     pick material to be found. $5
     Call for appointment. Guide available.


Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

[QUOTE=old man] I've got your holy grail of pick material. Armadillo shell!!

    "U-PICK" Armadillo Farm
       
     Life-time supply of the absolute finest
     pick material to be found. $5
     Call for appointment. Guide available.


Ron[/QUOTE] I could see that coming a mile away

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

i have heard good things about tortis picks,

check out red bear trading

Canadian Bears are no good for pick materials, i just thought it'd be important to make some clarifications so please don't shoot me!

And Ron, nice try!

Bone and ivory work well--I've made several from Giraffe leg bone and hippo ivory, elephant ivory when I have it. Fossilized mastadon bone is real pretty too. These all make heavy picks except the ivory, its softer.

I'll second what PaddyD said. The tortis picks that Dave Skowron sells are the closest thing I have ever seen to real tortoise - and I have access to an abundance of real tortoise. Dave's stuff sounds like it, feels like it, makes similar string noise...and the stuff wears better, IMO. In all honesty, it's the real deal. Now, "what" it is, I have no idea, but it's exceptional, and it's cheaper than the real stuff.

All the other stuff, hoof, bone, etc. is usually just an attempt to find a cheaper substitute for real tortoise...and it hasn't been found yet. Armadillo might be the ticket though.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Swan quill is the best material for lute picks! Though lute fingerpickers tend to look down their nose at the quill pickers. Nothing changes then!

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

[QUOTE=John Mayes] allparts sells cow hoof picks. I've got some and they sound nice,
although the fit and finish is not the best...[/QUOTE]

Thanks for that info, John. What I want is sheet material that I can cut myself, and even bend with heat, to make various sizes and shapes of flatpicks and fingerpicks. I know I could do this with plastic (e.g. delrin), but I'd really like to know if there's an applicable sheet material made from hoof or something natural. I wonder if the picks that Allparts carry are made from a hoof material that has first been processed into sheets. Anybody have any knowledge of that?

Thanks to everyone else for your ideas as well. Armadillos, unfortunately, are rare in central New York state.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

[QUOTE=Bill Greene] The tortis picks that Dave Skowron sells are the closest thing I have ever seen to real tortoise - Now, "what" it is, I have no idea, but it's exceptional, and it's cheaper than the real stuff.:)] [/QUOTE]

It is Greven's Tortis pickguard material. He licensed the pick manufacturing out to Redbear a few years ago. I love the stuff, too.
Scott Thompson38796.5744791667

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

you can also find buffalo horn blanks for really cheap on ebay (also
useable for nut and saddles, although I don't really like it for that)

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com