OK, Clinton seeing that you have zero sense of humor. Playing with a rubber pick sounds horrendous. I have tried it and I know of zero excellent musicians who use one. Obviously you use one because you are embarrassed by your plauing and really don't want to be heard because of all the bad notes you hit.

And I don't particularly like the sound of brand new strings either until they have been played a while. But unlike yourself, I will spend the money to replace them instead of using that as an excuse not to.