The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #137239 Message #3141093
Posted By: Bill D
23-Apr-11 - 11:55 AM
Thread Name: I have an autoharp :)
Subject: RE: I have an autoharp :)
When I first started playing, I had the problem with catching standard picks in the strings. Then I read about Kilby Snow making a pick from an old brass auto headlamp and shaping it with a bent tip so that he could pick both ways.
I never found a direct image of his pick, so I 'invented' my own using a piece of sheet brass. I use it on my middle finger Like this. And here is a closeup of just the pick.
I have also used a formed wire sitar plectrum ("Mizrab") as in this photo, but they are hard to find and pinch my finger. (they come in many sizes....perhaps I never got just the right one)
That photo also shows another brass pick which was not bent at the tip, which I sometimes use along with the bent one for tapping/patting the strings..mostly for just one song.."Silver Bell"
I have used that bent brass pick for about 25 years now... I'd hate to have to re-make it.