Punch out your own plectrums/plectra

Subject: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 05:07 AM

An old friend of mine sent me this link today:

Pickmaster Plectrum Punch

which looks interesting. Unless you knew what material you were handling, though, you'd need some sort of gauge to get the right thickness..

Mind you, it's probably wiser, in the long run, to use a credit card as plectrums than as a credit card! (And do posh people say plectra?)

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Mr Red
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 05:16 AM

Credits cards eh? Yea, let them earn their keep. Mind you I would advise changing the PIN, which may be good for only one Key.

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 05:17 AM

LOL!

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Silas
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 05:18 AM

Looks neat, but you can buy a lot of 'plectra' for that money. I use the 'awe-in-one' plectums - anyone else tried them. They suit me very well.

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: theleveller
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 05:26 AM

I agree with Silas. I can buy 66 picks for the cost of the machine.

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Green Man
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 05:33 AM

Multiple plectrae.

I thought I might get the punch and make Egyptian style necklets out of different coloured plastic and little loops of wire.

The eye make up wouldn't suit me so I shelved the idea.

GM

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: harmonic miner
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 06:10 AM

Buying picks gives you an excuse to go into music shops and 'try out' instruments. It's the only way I'm ever going to play a Gibson.

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: harmonic miner
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 06:11 AM

And in pre-internet days you could thumb through all the books to look up lyrics.

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 06:18 AM

Multiple plectrae

Hmmm... might have to dispute that. If I remember my Latin correctly, masculine singular nouns ending in um mutated to a in the plural. So:

singular plectrum becomes plural plectra

Whereas feminine singular nouns ending in a mutated to ae in the plural. Thus:

singular puella becomes plural puellae

Remember the graffiti scene in the "Life of Brian"? I was that Centurion... :-)

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: johncharles
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 06:45 AM

First attested in English early 17th century, the word "plectrum" is the romanization of the Greek "πλῆκτρον" (plēktron), "anything to strike with, an instrument for striking the lyre, a spear point"[3] which comes from the verb "πλήττω" (plēttō), the Attic Greek form of "πλήσσω" (plēssō), "to hit, to strike, to smite, to sting".[4]

"Plectrum" has both a Latin-based plural, plectra (from Greek plural "πλήκτρα" - plēktra) and a native English plural, plectrums
Good old Wikipedia!

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 07:09 AM

How the devil did you get the Greek alphabet to display?

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Silas
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 07:20 AM

Erm...

I'm gonna take a leaf out of our American friends book and call 'em picks. Saves a lt of bother...

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 07:56 AM

It's all Greek to me, Will!

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 08:08 AM

Credit cards are no good, they are laminated and so prone to de-laminating and fraying.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 08:20 AM

Scissors then the outside wall bricks and mortar to finish off.

But from what?

L in C#

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 10:41 AM

A properly formed plectrum is a three dimensional object that cannot be punched out of a flat sheet without additional finishing that requires the hand of a master craftsman.

And, as previously noted, the credit cards in the display ad are nearly always laminated with at least a "surface coat" that frays and splinters if punched or cut with scissors/shears - or used for plecting.

Plectra can be "custom made" by the sufficiently skilled artisan, but the mass-marketed ones fit to use now are most commonly made by injection molding in a very expensive machine built by a skilled toolmaker, using properly formulated molding materials compounded by knowledgeable chemists.

The toolmaker is from the "Hang" family and the chemist's name is "Wong."

You can probably find a nearly identical punch at "Hobby Lobby" or "JoAnn Fabrics," made and sold so that "creative little old ladies" can produce their personally unique works of art by punching out little shapes identical to the ones everybody else punches out and pasting them into their scrapbooks (the same ones everybody else bought at the same stores) according to the same detailed patterns that everybody else follows.

When the LoLs get done they're entitled to call themselves "artists," but if you use the punches to make plectra you're still "just another whanger."

John

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: theleveller
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 11:43 AM

The best picks/plecs/pluckers/whatever are ideally made from fingernails - and preferably still attached to the fingers.

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 11:47 AM

The best picks/plecs/pluckers/whatever are ideally made from fingernails - and preferably still attached to the fingers.

Well, up to a point, Lord Copper... I'm a long-standing fingerpicker but some instruments - mandolin, tenor guitar, etc. - really need that little bit of plastic.

I think I'd rather buy them, though, than make my own.

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: theleveller
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 11:53 AM

True!

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: GUEST,Songbob
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 11:58 AM

Tortoise shell: Best. Expensive. Illegal.
Plastic: Adequate. Cheap. Legal.
Buffalo horn: Nearly as good as tortoise-shell. Less expensive. Legal.
Quarters: An acquired taste, and mostly for bluegrass mandolin. Cost $0.25. Legal (tender)
Coffee-can lid: Only for dulcimer, and then only for strummed, rather than plucked dulcimer. Free (though you have to like coffee). Legal, but who cares?

Bob

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: treewind
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 01:19 PM

"How the devil did you get the Greek alphabet to display?"
Tell your browser to "view source" (it's Ctrl/U on Chrome and Firefox)
and you'll see....

Stuff like "πλήττω"
Not a pretty sight but it does the job reliably.

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: foggers
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 01:27 PM

I have been experimenting with making oversided picks for the dulcimer, trying out a range of household plastics, and I agree that credit cards are of limited use.

HOwever, the lid of a Carte D'Or ice-cream tub is perfect for flex and resilience.... and I get to eat the ice cream first!!

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: gnu
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 02:27 PM

I knew a lad that just used to pocket the ones in the trial room at the music stores. I won't tell you his name. Resorceful he was.

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 03:32 PM

Mmm... I think I once gnu this person...

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: banjoman
Date: 14 Apr 11 - 04:56 AM

My problem with plectrums is that they tend to slip so I've started using Gorilla Snot to hold them. Anyone else tried it? It works fine but tends to leave a residue on the pick which shortens its life quite a bit

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 14 Apr 11 - 06:07 PM

So you've discovered Gorilla Snot to get a better grip(?)

I'd suggest you avoid letting it be known that you're using Anti Monkey Butt power in your shorts, lest someone mistake you for a trucker or a biker (known user groups for both).

John

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 14 Apr 11 - 08:44 PM

"Tortoise shell: Best. Expensive. Illegal."

Was she sundered into sections
As her shell fell to the ground
Would I find two hundred plectrums
My friend Myrtle all around

Will the turtle be unbroken
By and by Lord, by and by
Lord help my Myrtle as she hurtles
Through the sky Lord, through the sky

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 15 Apr 11 - 02:44 AM

Erm...

I'm gonna take a leaf out of our American friends book and call 'em picks. Saves a lt of bother...


Not for me, it doesn't.

A plectrum is a flat, sort of triangular piece of plastic. Picks are what I stick on my fingers and thumb.


DC

Subject: RE: Punch out your own plectrums/plectra
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Apr 11 - 10:24 AM

Picks are what you dig holes in the road with.