Hand cut, hand shaped, and every nook and cranny hand sanded, then hand rubbed and buffed with Danish wood oil.
So Why would I put so much work into something so small and perhaps “insignificant”? Take a moment and think about other woodworkers. What might they be making? Maybe a beautiful Armoire, or mid-century dining set, and yet I’ve made thousands of these little, captivating guitar picks with a perfect fit thumb grip set at just the right attack angle.
Well there’s two parts to the story or History. First off, they weren’t my original idea. OMG! You copied the idea?! No. Not many would be crazy enough, and far less would put the amount of work I do into each pick. The original idea came from a question a very good, old friend asked. The second part of the History is why do I continue to make a pick with so much work involved on each and every pick?
“A spark of inspiration from unexpected places”
Let me take you back and paint you a bit of history. Go back with me over 30 years to a small, not very well lit shop on the back of our garage. Oh it’s also where my Mom and Dad had our extra fridge and a freezer – wait till the end and I’ll tell you about cookies. In this little shop was a plywood work bench, metal vice, hand tools on the wall, and a number of power tools, all very tightly arranged. It was in this shop I was working on a birthday gift for my little sister. She’s a keyboard/piano player. I was sculpting a tiny 16th music note from some walnut wood. This 16th note was for a necklace (which by the way turned out great!). There I was sanding and shaping when my good buddy walked into the shop. Chatting and checking out what I was doing, he asked “can you make a guitar pick?” to which I said SURE! Now see, I told you it wasn’t my original idea right? It was his question that sparked the whole thing off. Just like many other creations, they start with a spark of inspiration often times from unexpected places, or in this case person. His question sparked that creative process. We were both guitar players, or perhaps better said playing at guitar, but none the less very familiar with how to use a pick. My answer was sure, BUT why make just a flat pick. Instead I created a cradling concave section to fit your thumb and help control the pick from rotating when in use. This very first pick was crafted from Black Walnut wood, selected from a very dense, tight-grained section of the board to be the strongest and hopefully hold up to use. It worked out perfectly. Only one small but important improvement was made from that first pick to all that followed, that was to angle the thumb grip and provide a perfect attack angle.
I still have that very first pick. All these years and still looks great.
♪♪ Be inspired and play something beautiful! ♪♫
Inspiration is the reason I still make these today. I’ve had the pleasure to inspire guitar players and musicians young and old to play something beautiful. I limit making only a few at a time and each one with heart and soul poured into it.
Dylan was so surprised when I gave him his guitar picks. He was literally speechless. He was completely amazed and touched at how much love went into thinking about his gift and the precious time that went into carving such beautiful work! I had to convince him it was okay to actually use them, he was so concerned about messing them up! He then spent the next half hour just playing different songs and enjoying his new favorite pick.
Lisa
PS. Remember that fridge and freezer in our small shop? That’s where my siblings and I would sneak some of the goodies our Mom would bake and store in the freezer. Did you know frozen Chocolate Chip Cookies are really good!!!?
