Unfortunately for us guitar players, abrasion is a fact of life for most materials that guitar picks are made from. And that means your favorite pick’s character may change as you use it. In fact, you might not even like a pick fresh out of the bag, but at some sweet spot in between fresh and worn. Welcome to the struggle!
The effect of abrasion appears to be an interesting intersection of two phenomena: surface texture change and geometry change. Come along with us as we investigate the many interacting effects of these changes, both positive and negative:
Tone-wise, materials like nylon and celluloid develop a rough texture as they abrade, and this roughness excites harmonics in the treble region of the frequency response. Mechanically, abrasion also makes the edge thinner, and this appears to amplify the harmonic excitement effect. A nylon pick, the Jazz III becomes scratchy as it wears away and its edge also becomes thinner. Not only does this reward you with a wear pattern uniquely suited to the angle of edge picking that you use, but it also produces a more treble-infused sound that’s very easy to hear when you line the two picks up back-to-back like this.
For more analysis of guitar pick design and function, head on over to the Pickslanting Primer and check out the awesome new section on pick design:
It’s almost two hours of tests, comparisons, and sometimes unexpected conclusions that puts a little objectivity behind some of the common experiences we all have with arguably the most important tools of our trade.
So an abraded pick gives a db boost in certain frequency range as well!?
So the fresh (smooth) pick gets dents, and these dents are scraped across the strings, creating extra treble?
Or the (smooth) new pick with sharp edges gets rounded out, but remains smooth?
The word “abrasion” suggests that the edge becomes rough, and if one just scrapes it, one can hear a difference?
Cool stuff’! Quick blast on a nail file gives that awesome mini cello,swishy sound on the wound strings and super grip on the high strings!
Yes, if you take a sanding block and abrade a new Jazz III you will get the rough edge and the treble boost.
Keep in mind though tha nylon picks like the Jazz III often have a fringe of extra material at the bevel left over from the molding process. You can see this clearly if you hold it up to a light. This very thin fringe of material functions like edge abrasion and creates treble boost. But it wears away after a couple minutes of playing, leaving you with the non-abraded Jazz III.
Right - it’s a treble effect, >5khz