Terry Allan Hall
Idol Of America's Youth
Last night, I was introduced to some amazing fingerpicks, that are not yet on the market, but may be soon!
At the party my trio, Too Hot For Snakes, played last night, I met a couple guys, one the host's brother-in-law, who works in the Plastics Industry, and are bluegrass pickers on the side (one's a banjoist, one's a Flatt-style guitarist) who aren't happy with the fingerpicks available, either, and decided (with their supervisor's permission) to try making their own.
They've come up with several plastic fingerpick designs, in various thickness and sizes, and had some samples of each with them, so brought 'em in to show me, and one "model" is pretty close to what I use to use! I used two of their version of my preferred ones (for forefinger and middle finger) for the rest of the fingerpicking songs last night and these are great!
So, I bought up the rest of this "model" they had with 'em, and now I've 12 in all. No more "click" and "clank" from the steel Dunlops and the tone stays the same, from thumbpick to finger picks. What's interesting to me is that the "band" (the part that goes around your finger) is of a different composition of plastic than the "blade" (the part you pick with), so you can get the feel you want, but the picks don't go flying off mid-song!
They've discussed with the plant supervisor the idea of offering fingerpicks along with all the plant's other products, once they figure out which will sell, and he's interested, so they may be commercially available in about a year.
In the meantime, I've ordered another gross, just in case the ones I like don't make the cut into regular production. A gross + 12 just might last me the rest of my life.
At the party my trio, Too Hot For Snakes, played last night, I met a couple guys, one the host's brother-in-law, who works in the Plastics Industry, and are bluegrass pickers on the side (one's a banjoist, one's a Flatt-style guitarist) who aren't happy with the fingerpicks available, either, and decided (with their supervisor's permission) to try making their own.
They've come up with several plastic fingerpick designs, in various thickness and sizes, and had some samples of each with them, so brought 'em in to show me, and one "model" is pretty close to what I use to use! I used two of their version of my preferred ones (for forefinger and middle finger) for the rest of the fingerpicking songs last night and these are great!
So, I bought up the rest of this "model" they had with 'em, and now I've 12 in all. No more "click" and "clank" from the steel Dunlops and the tone stays the same, from thumbpick to finger picks. What's interesting to me is that the "band" (the part that goes around your finger) is of a different composition of plastic than the "blade" (the part you pick with), so you can get the feel you want, but the picks don't go flying off mid-song!
They've discussed with the plant supervisor the idea of offering fingerpicks along with all the plant's other products, once they figure out which will sell, and he's interested, so they may be commercially available in about a year.
In the meantime, I've ordered another gross, just in case the ones I like don't make the cut into regular production. A gross + 12 just might last me the rest of my life.