OK, I am obviously not talking about Hawksbill tortoiseshell - so illegal it almost hurts to LOOK at a pick. So we have created a thousand analogues, including things like synthetic plastics (delrin, ultex, etc.) and polymerized natural proteins (galalith et al).

But there are green turtles which are entirely unthreatened, and have comparable shells. There are horns from a dozen animals which are made of keratin. There are HORSE HOOVES that get routinely trimmed. Why are these not being used to replace actual tortoiseshell, despite being chemically closest to it?

  • Mostly_Gristle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    10 days ago

    There are horns from a dozen animals which are made of keratin. There are HORSE HOOVES that get routinely trimmed. Why are these not being used to replace actual tortoiseshell, despite being chemically closest to it?

    They are. Not by Fender, Dunlop, or D’Addario, but there are tons of little mom and pop businesses making picks out of horn, antler, bone, wood, coins, and anything else you can think of. You can even get picks made from the milk protein casein. They’re out there if you want them, and picks are actually pretty easy to make so there’s nothing stopping you from making your own if you want to.

    Also, I’ve had the opportunity to try real tortoise shell picks, and while it had a nice tone, it wasn’t life changing. It was a pick, it sounded nice, but it was hardly the hidden special secret to ultimate tone. Lots of players had already switched to celluloid and nylon picks even before tortoise shell became illegal in the 1970s. Personally, if all the legal and ethical problems around tortoise shell went away tomorrow I’d still stick with the Jazz IIIs I play with now.

    • Swordgeek@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      2·
      10 days ago

      Well, that was sort of my question - although I worded it badly.

      Everyone has been trying to replace traditional tortoiseshell for half a century, starting with celluloid and nylon, then delrin and ultex.

      Then along came the boutique pick makers like BlueChip, RedBear, etc.; and now D’Addario and Fender are in on the game as well. And they’re all using galalith, which is essentially plasticized casein.

      But aside from a few tiny vendors and mom-and-pop shops, very very few are making picks out of actual keratin, which would presumably be closest to real tortoiseshell picks.

      Just seems odd to me that such an incredibly common and cheap material that is so very close to old picks is by-and-large being ignored, while companies are making galalith to create picks.

      (For the record, I have some horn picks here - and they’re awful, but more because they were made by a company that puts their effort into drinking goblets rather than picks.)