![]() ![]() Red Bear Trading Style B Heavy Pick |
Red Bear Trading Style B Heavy Pick
Summary: Thick, meaty hand-made pick from Red Bear Trading. You might think a pick doesn’t really matter until you play one of these picks. They’re totally awesome! Pros: Thick and tactile, this heavy pick gives you instance response as soon as you strike a string. Chords seem to ring out better. Don’t be fooled by the thickness – the beveling makes this pick glide across the strings! Cons: None Price: $20 |
Okay, I admit it, I am now a true believer in hand-made picks! I wrote a review about Red Bear picks a few weeks ago. In the article I asked, “Does a pick really make that much of a difference?” After nearly a month playing with a Style B Medium, and now a Style B Heavy, I can undeniably say that it makes all the difference in the world! In this short span of time, I’ve become a better player, and while I attribute that to quite a bit of practice, I have to attribute a lot of my recent improvements in both tone and attack to the pick I’ve been using. I don’t say this lightly: These picks have totally changed my life with respect to my guitar playing!
When you first hold one of these picks, your first reaction is: Damn! This thing is thick! And while its smooth texture kind of sticks to your skin, it absolutely glides over your strings. And because of its thickness, it produces sound much faster than conventional nylon picks that need to be before they make a sound. The sound the picks produce is also much more crisp.
For instance, playing my Ovation acoustic/electric, I’ve never heard it ring the way it rings – and it’s because of the pick. I’ve had that guitar for over 15 years now, and it quite frankly has never sounded this good! It always sounded awesome to me because of its thick tone. But when I strum it with one of these picks, it now has a gorgeous chime! F-in’ A!
At first blush, you might think that paying $20 for a pick is just way too much. But how much would you pay for good tone? We guitarists spend literally thousands on guitars and amps and racks and pedals and other accessories every year! But most of us tend to play them with inferior plectrums, never knowing what we’re missing by making a relatively small investment compared to the vast sums we spend on other gear. Sure, our standard picks are cheap, and it’s okay to lose them, but there is absolutely NOTHING that compares to the tone you can produce with a hand-made pick. And once you play with a great pick, you’ll never go back to the cheapo picks again.
To be honest and fair, Red Bear is not the only one who makes handmade picks. But Dave is the only plectrum maker who uses TortisTM, a polymer made from animal protein that looks and feels EXACTLY like tortoise shell. Dave has mastered cutting and shaping of the material, something no one else who has tried to work with it has been able to do.
What’s so special about this material? If you speak with people who have played with tortoise shell picks, they’ll tell you about how good it feels to play with one. But by the same token, to play with tortoise shell means that a sea turtle had to be sacrificed to create the pick. On the other hand, Tortis feels like real tortoise shell. In fact, when Dave first sent out his first prototypes, people told him he was full of shit when he said the picks weren’t tortoise shell! That’s how natural these feel!
As I mentioned in the previous article, Dweezil Zappa swears by these! And for good reason. The sound they produce, and how they make your playing much more precise is an absolute inspiration! For more info, and to order them, go to Red Bear Trading!
If you live in the SF Bay Area, and especially near Palo Alto, you can also get them at Gryphon Stringed Instruments.
I’m having a great time reading all your reviews! I ordered myself a nice assortment of V-Picks earlier today and two of the Tuff-Tone Red Bears (classic shape with bevel and grips, one in each gauge). To be honest, I was biased towards the thinner picks. If I’d read your stuff first, maybe I’d have been going for the thicker ones! I did get a few (the V-Pick Acoustic at 2.75mm), though, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m kind of excited to challenge myself to really ramp up the gauge. I’ve been using nylon picks for years, slowly going up from the thinnest. I was at .60 for a while (medium, like you with the Tortex) and .73. Lately I’ve moved up to 1.00 and 1.14. Nylon seems to be a lot more flexible, though, so it feels lighter. This “flex is bad” stuff is new to me! Again, I’m excited to stretch out.
What I’m wondering is if you’ve ever had a chance to try BlueChip Picks (http://www.bluechip.com). They’re even pricier than the Red Bear Tortis at $35 a pop. I’d love to hear your thoughts on them.
I’ve heard of Blue Chip picks and actually wanted to do a review, but never heard back from them. Oh well… they look very nice. However, that said, I’ve found the picks that I will probably use from here on out, so trying a new pick will be a tough proposition.
I’m now playing the V-Picks Psycho which is 5.85 mm thick for blues leads, the V-Picks Snake (pointed) and the Red Bear Tuff-Tone for when I do more rock stuff.
You have talked about many curious points here. I found this article by using Google and I have to admit that I am currently subscribed to your site, it is very decent 😀
Hello,
I want to buy a Red Bear pick. I have an Ovation Elite 1768 deep bowl, bassy sound. I have a hawkbill tortoise pick bluegrass shaped. I play with the round corners,1 mm, and 1.2 mm. And they sound very good on my Ovation. Very balanced. If you divide the sound into Lows, Midrange, and highs, tortoise sound from 9 to 10 in definition: lows 9, midrange 9, highs 9. The 1mm slighty brighter, and the other slighty darker. However, the corners are unbeveled and not glide very nice on the strings. I´m looking for a better bevel, that allow me for better playability. How easy is playing rhytm with these Red bear? using my same scale of lows, midrange, and highs, how do you range sound of both, medium, and heavy Red Bear? I´m looking for sustain, volume, and ring in the sound. BTW I have a Bluechip td35, and would rate the sound as: lows 9, midrange 7, highs 6. It´s a darker sound, and don´t like it for strumming, altough has great playability and maybe good for lead. But in the lead department I prefer Mamooth Ivory from Tuskbuffer. I have one, and it´s great for leading, either six, or 12 string acoustic. And I know electric players enjoy it.
I apologise for 1 mistake, my pick is Red eared silder tortoise shell, not hawkbill, sorry