Metal Pick

[dragoon419]

Has anyone here ever used a metal pick with their strings? Is it safe to do so, or could it damage my strings?

[K-T]

no it's fine. i use a metal pick alot, i like the tone it gives me for alt-rock and hard-rock. PS: watch out close to your pick-ups they can scratch them! think about it, why would they make metal pick's it they damaged your strings

[KrispyJones]

....money ? ^^

[Orangeclawhamme]

Rockette Morton and Eric Drew Feldman used metal finger picks when they played with Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band.

[knuckle_head]

Copper does the least damage - steel will wear hard on strings but won't shorten sonic life too badly.

[ishouldbeking]

Metal picks will wear on your strings a bit, but I'd be more concerned with damaging the body of your bass. Obviously using good hand control would limit the risk, but I know some of us like to get rowdy when we play... once you start moving around or flailing a little bit it gets a lot easier to hit the body or pickguard. And the above comment about scratching the pups is valid too... I use a tiny nylon Dunlop jazz pick and my pickups are covered with small, light scratches. I imagine a metal pick would do a lot more damage than that.

[metalbass66]

i used a nickel as a pick once and my strings did fine.

[Ruoska]

I bet metal picks would totally destroy the coating on Elixir strings..

[Sneckumhaw]

I hate the tone of metal on metal personally. I can imagine it's not too good for the strings' health either.

[chunkstyle]

copper picks. they sound good with aluminum necks. just ask bob weston

[dlmarquez]

Steve Swallow, bassist extraordinary uses copper picks with his beautiful Harvey Citron Swallow Signiture 5 string A/E bass.
He has the deepest, mellowest, smoothest sound you can imagine.

[ishouldbeking]

Originally Posted by chunkstyle

copper picks. they sound good with aluminum necks. just ask bob weston

god bless Shellac. does he play a Travis Bean like Albini?

sorry for the derail, but there's something awesome about the idea of a metal pick on a metal-neck bass.

[EddieN]

Originally Posted by Ruoska

I bet metal picks would totally destroy the coating on Elixir strings..

Indeed it did for me. On a g****r anyway. Shredded right thru the coating. I think it was an aluminum pick which was pretty soft & wore almost like a nylon. I tried a steel one on the same & you could see that it was damaging the (now uncoated) strings. Never tried a metal pick on a bass after that.

[sarcastro83]

Algy Ward from the Damned used one on Love Song off of Machine Gun Ettiquette... sounded really cool...

[chunkstyle]

Originally Posted by ishouldbeking

god bless Shellac. does he play a Travis Bean like Albini?

i saw them a couple years ago, and yup... travis bean bass. yea, there's something especially perverse about copper picks, metal necks, and roundwound strings...

[The Burrigible]

I have a metal pick my pal gave me (guitarist) because he didn't care for it much. I always felt like I was tearing my strings apart when I used it, and because I like the way plastic picks give when you use them more, the metal pick has since been retired. It did have a nice attack and a interesting scrape sound, though.

Mmmmmm... I'm gonna go use it some more now.

[Cy_Miles]

I usually fingerpick, but I've been using a "Cymbolic" pick that is cut from a brass cymbol,

It does mark my D'Darrio strings, but it doesn't seem to hurt them.

I love the sound for songs that call for a bright attack on the bass. If I want a fast attack that is not so bright I like Stagg, Duncan and Clayton heavy gauge picks.

note, I never use the pointy end of a pick, I always use one of the more rounded corners, chocked up deep so my fingers can mute the strings.