Janet Deering - Posted - 03/19/2024:  09:09:12

There aren't a lot of resources for info on fingerpicks. We at Deering bought the Propik fingerpick brand and tooling in 2020. Now with 4 years of pick making and sales to every type of instrument player we have learned a lot that may be helpful to you all. I made the picks myself for 3 years before I was able to train another very competant person to take over. We make 84 different picks so let me know any questions you have and I will do my best to fill in the answers.

Edited by - Janet Deering on 03/19/2024 09:10:25

aaronoble - Posted - 03/19/2024:  09:12:12

Just wondering if there's a chance at different sizes for the Heritage picks. I really like them, but I have small fingers and find smaller picks more comfortable.

aaronoble - Posted - 03/19/2024:  09:13:30

Also, I'm curious if you have any insights about various materials (plastics) for thumb pick blades.

eagleisland - Posted - 03/19/2024:  11:55:58

quote:

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Originally posted by Janet Deering

There aren't a lot of resources for info on fingerpicks. We at Deering bought the Propik fingerpick brand and tooling in 2020. Now with 4 years of pick making and sales to every type of instrument player we have learned a lot that may be helpful to you all. I made the picks myself for 3 years before I was able to train another very competant person to take over. We make 84 different picks so let me know any questions you have and I will do my best to fill in the answers.

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Janet, I am beyond delighted that Deering picked up the ProPik brand and tooling. Although I've personally moved on from ProPik, as a teacher I personally believe that the split-band ProPiks are by far the best option for new players due to their comfort, the depth with which they sit on the finger and their ease of adjustment for a good comfortable fit with little risk of coming off. And I tell new students exactly that.

Janet Deering - Posted - 03/19/2024:  12:32:42

Thank you, Skip. The split band picks are very popular. That explains why they named them the "Extra Comfortable". Not everyone has even shape up their fingers so the split band allows for a larger knuckle as needed. I have enjoyed being able to bring my pliers to festivals like Merlefest and helping customers by fitting their new picks to their hands.

Old Hickory - Posted - 03/19/2024:  13:25:57

quote:

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Originally posted by Janet Deering

We make 84 different picks so let me know any questions you have and I will do my best to fill in the answers.

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I bought a pair of the Standard picks during what might have been your first holiday sale and like them a lot. They're very close to my decades old, comfortable, worn in, worn out Nationals. I especially like that they're less than half the price of most boutique fingerpicks. But I have to admit I splurged on a pair of Dotson 8s last year, and they're really something, too.

Anyway, now I have several pairs in rotation, including your excellent ProPiks, because some days my fingers or ears prefer one pick over another.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

Now to answer your question.

What you can most do for customers is complete the integration of the ProPik product line into the Accessories section of the Deering website so that on every product ordering page where a customer must choose among options, you provide all the information needed to make that choice. As it stands now, you provide none of it.

For an example of what I mean, go to the Deering website page for ProPik Standard  Fingerpiks. The easy-to-spot info tells me they're $7 per pick, inspired by vintage design, and made of nickel-silver. Lots of pictures. Great. I want a pair.

To begin my order, the first drop-down menu requires me to select among three blade styles: #1, #2, #3. No problem. Let's see what the product page says about these. Oops. Nothing. How am I supposed to choose? The middle drop-down menu wants me to choose a blade angle: straight or angled. I can guess at that, but let's see how the difference is described. Oh, wait. It's not.

Maybe if I back out briefly to the main ProPik product line page I'll find the missing/needed info there. Nope.

Is there anywhere I can find the information that helps me choose among the various options in the model of pick I want?

Yes. On the legacy product pages at Pro-Pik.com. These pages tell me everything I need to know about pick sizes, blade styles, blade angle, and material. And for now (for how long?) these pages still let me order -- though if Deering has a sale it's not clear to me that I'll get that deal if I order through Pro-Pik.com rather than DeeringBanjos.com. 

So I believe you need to make it a priority to port over to the Deering versions of these pages all of the information available at Pro-Pik that is currently missing at Deering. There's a great story to tell about these picks and their options. Make it easy to find.

You're welcome.

Janet Deering - Posted - 03/20/2024:  12:25:53

Thank you, Ken. That is a great suggestion. We should have all the data needed also on the Deering site. I will pass that along. I really appreciate hearing about your customer experience. We will handle it.

Capybara - Posted - 03/21/2024:  21:20:20

Only a quick question-I've been meaning to try several propiks varieties for awhile, especially the supertone thumb pick. I was very happy to hear about the St. Patrick's Day accessory sale, as I'm on a student's budget and that discount allowed me to finally splurge, so I loaded up my cart with several different products.

Unfortunately, life got extremely complicated that weekend and I ended up being totally unable to complete my transaction. I felt pretty silly when I realized. Frankly, I was wondering if you could tell me how frequent, if at all, such accessory sales are to help me gauge when I might be able to get my hands on some. Thanks!

Janet Deering - Posted - 03/26/2024:  13:27:05

There isn't a specific pattern to our sales that I know of. But they tend to be around celebrating holidays.

Owen - Posted - 03/26/2024:  13:50:35

A decade (?) back I tried one of these [easy now ... although the topic is fingerpicks, rest assured I tried it on my thumb ].

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Several reviews said its ability to maintain tension (spring?) in the band was a significant plus.  But mine seemed  to have quite a bit of premature, and permanent, non-tension... like mucho metal fatigue?? ... loose within seconds.  [However the Super-Tone looks intriguing.]  

FenderFred - Posted - 03/26/2024:  15:12:28

quote:

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Originally posted by Janet Deering

There aren't a lot of resources for info on fingerpicks. We at Deering bought the Propik fingerpick brand and tooling in 2020. Now with 4 years of pick making and sales to every type of instrument player we have learned a lot that may be helpful to you all. I made the picks myself for 3 years before I was able to train another very competant person to take over. We make 84 different picks so let me know any questions you have and I will do my best to fill in the answers.

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Hi Janet 

I have been using Stainless Steel 2 - Ang ProPiks for several years now. Prior to that I used Dunlop picks and I suffered badly with scratching from the tiny fragments of metal around the hole pressings as a result my fingers were constantly painful. Since changing to ProPiks I have not had any issues.  My picks predate your ownership of the brand. I started out with the regular straight bladed ProPicks but after watching one of Alan Munde's videos I noticed his blades were slightly twisted and swapped to the angle picks. They seem to strike the strings full on where as the straight blades I had to rotate the picks on my fingers slightly to avoid catching the edge of the blades . Hope this is of some interest to you.

Footnote I also tried the split band but didn't like them.

Edited by - FenderFred on 03/26/2024 15:16:08

NotABanjoYoda - Posted - 03/26/2024:  15:44:25

I own a set or two of propiks. They seem small compared to my dunlops but forcwhatever reason i like the one band on the dunlops better than the 2 on the propiks.

I like the Fred Kelly bumblebee thumbpicks. They allow me to scruggs and flatpick with the same thumbpick. There is a fella I play with who has a thumbpick setup that allows him to insert his own guitar picks. There is another guitar pick style thumbpick from Black Mountain on Amazon, but it it like the Fred Kelly. I sure would love a Fred Kelly style thumbpick that lets me use my favorite guitar picks.

Janet Deering - Posted - 04/02/2024:  15:00:57

Hi Owen,

I'm sorry you had weak metal a decade ago on a thumb-pick, that is not normal. We have had very satisfied customers with the original thumb-picks we are making now. The Super-Tone thumb-picks are getting even more rave reviews since they are a lot more stable with the stronger band. I highly recommend them.

Janet Deering - Posted - 04/02/2024:  15:04:41

Yes, Fender Fred,
The angled picks work well. You described it perfectly when you wrote: " I started out with the regular straight bladed ProPicks but after watching one of Alan Munde's videos I noticed his blades were slightly twisted and swapped to the angle picks. They seem to strike the strings full on where as the straight blades I had to rotate the picks on my fingers slightly to avoid catching the edge of the blades ."

Most banjoists don't realize how comfortable the angled picks are for that very reason, they are designed to give you the right angle for banjo playing so that the pick hits the string square on. Very observant of you, thanks for sharing that.

Old Hickory - Posted - 04/03/2024:  06:51:49

quote:

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Originally posted by Owen

A decade (?) back I tried one of these [easy now ... although the topic is fingerpicks, rest assured I tried it on my thumb ...

Several reviews said its ability to maintain tension (spring?) in the band was a significant plus.  But mine seemed  to have quite a bit of premature, and permanent, non-tension... like mucho metal fatigue?? ... loose within seconds. 

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Contributing a bit to this thread drift . . .

When I sampled the leading competitor's high-tech plastic and metal-banded thumbpick at their booth at a festival, I found the large too loose and the medium too tight. Years later, when I put these on a birthday wish list, I chose medium, believing it would be better to open up a tight band than close up a loose one. Several years in, it appears I was right. A tiny bit of bending and the medium metal band is comfortably snug.

I imagine the same size adjustment solution probably works with ProPik thumbpicks.

Back to the regularly scheduled conversation . . .

NotABanjoYoda - Posted - 04/03/2024:  10:02:21

When I started using fingerpick and thumbpicks of various brands 20 years ago, I would boil the plastic ones in water and get the perfect fit. Had a guy try to start one of those contrarians about boiling em makes em prematurely fatigue and break. My initial thought was theyre cheap, Ill just buy more. Then I looked doen at the 15 year old boiled lot on my fingers and just agreed with him.

gcpicken - Posted - 04/09/2024:  04:49:39

Hi Janet. Do you have plans to make the wide blade SuperTone in Quik-Pik narrow plectrum format?

gcpicken - Posted - 04/09/2024:  09:19:12

I did order the wide blade Super Tone today!

Janet Deering - Posted - 04/16/2024:  15:45:02

We could put a white quickpick onto a Supertone. It would be interesting to see how that works. You would need to custom order 12 of them by calling 1 619-464-8252.