{"id":266,"date":"2017-09-24T16:30:32","date_gmt":"2017-09-24T16:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/?p=266"},"modified":"2017-09-24T16:30:32","modified_gmt":"2017-09-24T16:30:32","slug":"on-v-picks-and-why-theyre-overrated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/uncategorized\/on-v-picks-and-why-theyre-overrated\/","title":{"rendered":"On V-Picks and Why They’re overrated"},"content":{"rendered":"

On V-Picks and Why They Are Overrated\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

By Garrett Mader\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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A collection of standard celluloid guitar picks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The pick, or more formally plectrum, is a small, generally triangular object that a guitarist, banjoist, or mandolinist holds in\/attaches to their dominant-hand to strike their guitars\u2019 strings and create sound from the instrument. Picks date back to the start of recorded history, with writings about music from ancient greece recounting that Lyres had picks attached to them by a string(https:\/\/www.premierguitar.com\/articles\/25204-the-surprisingly-long-history-of-the-guitar-pick).Those picks were made of ivory, bone, or wood, while since approximately 1922 the most common material for picks has been celluloid (<\/span>http:\/\/surfpick.com\/history\/<\/span><\/i>). Today the market for picks is massive and varied from brand to brand. For the purpose of this blog, however, I would like to narrow in on V-Picks. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the many varieties of V-Picks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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V-picks are the creation of amatuer guitarist Vinni Smith (v-picks.com\/v-picks-about-us\/). They are produced in Nashville, TN and Modesto, CA. They\u2019re made sheets of acrylic instead of celluloid, giving them a sleek, glossy look, and smooth feel. Acrylic is essentially a tough plastic used for windows, taillights, and bulletproof \u201cglass\u201d. For a brief chemistry lesson, Acrylic sheets are made by \u201c<\/span>reacting a monomer, such as methyl methacrylate, with a catalyst,\u201d such as organic peroxide (madehow.com\/Volume-2\/Acrylic-P lastic.html). I discovered a video on Youtube called \u201c<\/span>How It\u2019s Made-V-Picks<\/span><\/a>\u201d, in which some fans of these picks visited Vinni in his home and recorded him making a pick. The process is as follows; Vinni takes a sheet of acryllic covered with evenly-spaced V-Picks logos\/labels into a laser cutting machine. The laser cutter cuts the acrylic into pick-shapes around the text. The rest of the process is done by hand-a point of pride in V-pick advertising. Vinni takes a pick cutout and puts it to a grindstone to craft the edges to be smoother. After this the pick is too hot to continue working with, so Vinni takes it to his backyard and leaves it in his dog\u2019s water bowl to cool down for a few mins. Once its cooled he dries it on his shirt then puts a hydrogen flame, the clearest known combustible he says, to it to take away the roughness from the grindstone and the V-Pick is finished. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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A V-Pick is more than just the sum of it\u2019s materials and processes though. Guitar-gear culture is a sprawling universe full of kingpin brands (fender stratocasters and telecasters are arguably as standard as TV sets in the American home) as well as niche corners, and V-picks are a relatively new phenomenon (the company started in 2004) that has quickly made itself a widely esteemed product (wikipedia.org\/wiki\/V-Picks_Guitar_Picks)*. There is a certain reverence for them in the guitar-iverse that doesn\u2019t exist for most products. I believe this is derived from their unique, shiny look and the fact that most people believe they\u2019re made of glass, which seems much classier than plastic. That last bit comes from my own experience; the first several people to mention V-Picks to me all told me they are made of glass. There is also some celebrity endorsement-Carlos Santana and Billy Gibbons have both officially endorsed V-Picks as their main pick brand. Not to downplay the contributions of those guys, who do you know who\u2019s all-time favorite guitarist is Gibbons or Santana? V-Picks are also pricier than your average pick, with a single pick costing upwards of 5 dollars. I believe the elevated price, general esteem, and celebrity endorsement are as much parts of the product as the acrylic and the logo at this point. When a guitarist buys a V-Pick they aren\u2019t just buying a pick but they are buying what hundreds of youtube\/guitar forum commenters have told them, and buying the idea that because they are paying more for a pricy, celebrity-endorsed pick that they are buying a more high-end product that will make them a better player in record-time. In the aforementioned Youtube video Vinni himself says of one of his products \u201cI guarantee you this pick will make you a better player\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

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I personally think V-Picks are sorely overrated. To me they generally don\u2019t give your sound much mid-range or warmth, and they got scratched up fairly quickly when I tried them which made them sound worse. I respect that some people swear by them, but I believe that they have fallen under the hype surrounding them in the guitar-world. I do respect V-Picks for the brand they\u2019ve created for themselves and the esteem they\u2019ve created for their product, but \u00a0when it comes to picks I think it\u2019s always imperative to remember that some of the most iconic guitar solos in the world were recorded by Brian May of Queen using a sixpence, so sometimes simpler is better. <\/span><\/p>\n

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*I understand that generally Wikipedia is not a reliable source, but the V-Picks website explicitly refers those interested in their product to the wiki page, giving it legitimacy in my eyes. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Links to Media <\/span><\/p>\n

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http:\/\/www.guitarmania.co.uk\/ekmps\/shops\/guitarmania\/images\/assorted-medium-guitar-picks-plectrum-pk-of-12-for-acoustic-or-electric-210-p[ekm]300×229[ekm].jpg<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=urywl-Jy4yo<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/71eysAIzVAL._SL1000_.jpg<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On V-Picks and Why They Are Overrated\u00a0 By Garrett Mader\u00a0     The pick, or more formally plectrum, is a small, generally triangular object that a guitarist, banjoist, or mandolinist holds in\/attaches to their dominant-hand to strike their guitars\u2019 strings and create sound from the instrument. Picks date back to the start of recorded history, … <\/p>\n

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