Tortoiseshell Picks

[Murph]

I don't think I ever played one. I'm certainly old enough, but my first memory of picks are the D'Andrea and Fender Thins/Medium that "looked" like shell.  Around 1969. They were cellulose I guess. They would burn like crazy if you lit 'em on fire, I remember that. I don't know how I could have NOT been exposed since they weren't outlawed until 1973. I played in bars in 1970 in Clearwater Beach, Fla. and was playing a LOT out west by 1975.

Perhaps they were expensive around the turn of the 70's? 

How many of you old timers used to play them? Got any left over? I know you can't sell them, but pictures are surely legal, eh?

[zombywoof]

I started playing in the early-1960s so did own some.   I do not recall a thing about them though.  While I have bunch of discarded picks laying around courtesy of me switching early on to fingerpicking both acoustic and electric with my bare digits, I doubt there are any fashioned from tortoise shell.

Edited September 21, 2023 by zombywoof

[fortyearspickn]

I started playing around '63.  I try not to think of the tortoise shell picks I may have had and lost. Along with baseball cards from the 50s.  Comic books ... 

[Sgt. Pepper]

Never used one ever, so if it is the Holy Grail of plectrums, I would never know.

[Murph]

1 hour ago, fortyearspickn said:

baseball cards from the 50s.  Comic books ... 

 

Serious money, there.

[CAMELEYE]

I had a whole collection of them about 20 years ago.  Decided to not be a part of the death of tortoises so sold the lot.

Today I use real celluloid picks (heavy) and they work just fine for me.

[Larsongs]

I’ve never used them either.. Also, not a fan of killing Tortoises for Picks..

I’m still looking for the perfect Pick.. Tried 1000’s, maybe a little over exaggerated, but none have wowed me.. 

[QuestionMark]

I played with some tortoise shell picks.  I’m not too sure I ever actually noticed the changeover because the legal artificial replacements looked very similar, but I recall people at the time of the changeover talking about how picks that looked like tortoise shell were no longer real tortoise shell.  I always favored the pointy clear Dunlop clear thumb picks and either the clear Dunlap finger picks or metal fingerpicks rather than actual or fake tortoise shell versions or over flat picks for sure.  I may actually have an actual tortoise shell flat pick somewhere in the house that a mandolin player gave me that seems to be quite a bit thicker and less flexible than most other flat picks.  Whether it’s real tortoise shell or not, I have no clue.

QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff

[10PoundLester]

Red Bear Trading www.redbeartrading.com - the closest you'll get to real shell. 

Edited September 21, 2023 by 10PoundLester

[Murph]

I haven't tried casein. Charmed Life makes them too. I might order one today.

I've been using Bluechips and Wegens for many years.

[RBSinTo]

Since I began playing the guitar around 1963, it is possible I might have unknowingly used one at some point, but that is just conjecture.

And while I oppose slaughtering Tortoises to make guitar picks, I have no problem with commercially-raised Nylons being humanely killed and processed for them instead.

RBSinTo

[fortyearspickn]

Saw a documentary a few years ago -  on the way sharks congregate around a couple of small islands in the South Pacific every year to await the Turtle Breeding Season.   The poor turtles, having spent a year, swimming in the middle of nowhere, head to this island to lay eggs.  But they have to get past hundreds of sharks waiting for them.  Seeing a shark attack, kill and partially eat a large turtle is not for the feint of heart.  The 15 minute film ended by cruising along the coast and showing thousands of dead. partially eaten turtles.   Nature is a bytch.  Don't know where the tortoise came from they used for hundreds of years, but that island would have been the easiest way to harvest it.  Now, fortunately, it is illegal, and the carcasses sit there for the crabs and the gulls.  Circle of Life.  

[PrairieSchooner]

Years ago when I worked in a music store we imported these from Germany; we bought and sold them as tortoiseshell (pre ban).  I kept a lifetime supply.  I've been told since that they aren't tortoiseshell; don't know if they are or not but I love them and I've never used anything else since.

Edited September 22, 2023 by PrairieSchooner

[Sgt. Pepper]

What if you find one that has come to the end of his or her life on the side of the road? Can you make a pick out out the shell?

Edited September 22, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper

[JWG4927]

1 hour ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

What if you find one that has come to the end of his or her life on the side of the road? Can you make a pick out out the shell?

Then you might have somebody accidentally run over a whole flock of turtles. Guitar picks for everybody. Waste not, want not?

That would not be good.

[merciful-evans]

I've seen what I feel sure was a real tortoise shell pick. I was a child at the time and not allowed to touch the guitar. So no chance of using the pick anyway. It looked old and well used. Some here know I have a large collection of picks, but I've never craved a tortoiseshell one. It would be interesting to try one though.

 

We had a tortoise for many years. A previous owner had drilled a small hole at an edge of its shell, presumably to keep the animal tethered. It didn't work because it broke free and there was a recess where the hole had been. They can be quite strong. It came to us when my mother in law found it at the roadside. We called it 'Shelly'.