I read in last week's New Scientist mag about a patent obtained by a guitarist for a plectrum that's supposed to give the effect of doubling the strings. It sounds like two picks stuck together with a gap between the tips so that the string is plucked twice in quick succession, to imitate the efeect of two strings beiong plucked by one pick. The pieces said it would make a 6-string sound like a 12-string; well, it won't, of course: the four lower strings are tuned in octaves on a 12-string, as any fule kno. I suspect that it won't really sound like the strings are doubled anyway: I don't hear two separate 'plunks' on my mandolin; the distinctive sound comes from the sustain on the two strings, not the attack.

All the same, it might be interesting to hear. Any opinions?

Steve