banjogit - Posted - 03/09/2019:  15:41:46

Hello,

for playing the dobro I want me to get a Bluechip thumbpick and I wonder which size and model I should choose.

I always played Dunlop plastic thumbpicks in size L, and they fit my thumb very fine.
So would you recommend to take the Bluechip also in size L ?

And which model should I take? The regular "Reso 1L Thumb Pick" or the JD Crowe style "JDL Thumb Pick".
What's the difference between the two?

Thanks a lot for your help!

-banjogit-

Iceman6937 - Posted - 03/09/2019:  15:57:48

I am no authority but I strongly suspect that a reso player would bet better off with a "reso pick" than a "JD Crowe style" pick. Just sayin'.

mesmithut - Posted - 03/09/2019:  16:41:25

I've used both the standard reso pick and the JD reso pick. I prefer the JD because the blade is a little shorter and I feel I can dig in a little better without the pick feeling like it wants to rotate on my thumb. I don't know about the sizing since I haven't used the Dunlop. I've got large hands and the large size Blue Chip fits fine. Also, if I you get a Blue Chip and it doesn't work for you, they're pretty easy to resale in the classifieds for a good percentage of what you paid.

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 03/09/2019:  16:41:45

You should probably go with Size L on the Blue Chip. It won't be a direct replacement in terms of fit and feel, but you will get used to it.

A few years aback on a Blue Chip order I thought I would try a medium because the Large rode up on my thumb more than the Golden Gates I'd been using for decades. But the medium was just too dinky so I returned it and went back to the Large.

BlueChip picks have been discussed to death here, type in a question over on the left side of your screen where the magnifying glass icon is located - you'll learn more than you'd ever want to know. 

It's easier for me to find my old posts to copy-and-paste rather than reinvent the wheel every time and start from scratch, and I found this one from a few years ago on the model I prefer:

As far as the Blue Chip, there is the longer blade reso pick (BCT-RESO) and the shorter blade reso pick (BCT-RESO-JD) which stands for, as pointed out earlier,  J.D. Crowe - not Jerry Douglas. I have both, and my preference is the shorter blade JD. I like my thumb being close to the strings.

banjogit - Posted - 03/09/2019:  19:34:59

quote:

---

Originally posted by Iceman6937

I am no authority but I strongly suspect that a reso player would bet better off with a "reso pick" than a "JD Crowe style" pick. Just sayin'.

---

They call it: JD Crowe style dobro/resonator thumb pick

shop.bluechippick.net/bct-reso-jdl/

So it seems to be meant for dobro.

Does JD Crowe also play the dobro besides his banjo stuff?

Edited by - banjogit on 03/09/2019 19:35:32

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 03/09/2019:  19:43:31

I’ve never seen J.D. Crowe play the dobro.

Without going to the BlueChip site to refresh my memory, as I recall both versions of the dobro picks, whether the longer blade or the JD, have  thicker blades than any of the banjo picks. But as I wrote earlier, the JD reso pick has  a  shorter blade - lengthwise the same as the banjo specific JD pick.

gtani7 - Posted - 03/10/2019:  10:31:50

There's one other shape they don't advertise, the Russ Carson pointy banjo model, only available in RH Large and .050" thickness (probably better to stay w/.060 if you're really digging in tho)

store.banjobenclark.com/produc...humb-pick

daver - Posted - 03/11/2019:  10:59:21

All the Blue Chip thumbpicks with "RESO" designation are made with 0.060" thick blade material. Before the reso picks were made, early reso adopters of the standard (0.050" thick) Blue Chip thumbpicks found that they would break when digging in to the heavier/tighter reso strings. Matt then designed the reso pick with the thicker material and, in a fine example of real customer service, replaced every returned broken pick with a reso thickness equivalent at no charge.



The only difference between the standard "RESO" blade and the JD (it is named for Crowe, who specified the shape) "RESO" blade is the shape and length. Both are 0.060" thick. If it doesn't say "RESO" in the part number, it's 0.050" thick.

As far as sizing, the large Blue Chip fits best on me, as do large Dunlops and large Golden Gates.  YMMV but Matt has a very good return policy as you figure out the best fit.

Edited by - daver on 03/11/2019 11:02:51

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 03/11/2019:  13:33:18

Hey Dave, this is off topic - but I want to mention it  since you joined this thread. You sent me a PM after our recent floods here in Sonoma County asking if everything is okay at my place,  and it is. Thanks for asking! A shallow lake was forming in my backyard and I was getting nervous but it never made it into the house. The underground drainage system we installed about 10 years ago paid off. In normal non-drought years we receive a lot more rain here than most of California. And we're far enough away from the Russian River that it would require rains of biblical proportions for the river overflow to reach my house. 

I sent you a fairly elaborate reply, but it didn't deliver. I'm wondering if the email associated with your hangout account is obsolete? You'll want to check that out. If that's the case and you want to PM me again I'd be happy to resend my earlier reply.

Nice and sunny today - we haven't seen much of that here in the past couple months. I'm going for a mountain bike ride in a bit. 

Back to BlueChip and here is something I didn't know. Jerry D mentioned it in his Premier Guitar Magazine Rig Rundown video - The name of the company came from the blue sparks that fly off the pick while owner Matt Goins is going through the grinding process.  Jerry talks about it around  the 28:00 mark. 

Some of us have wondered over the years why he blows through so many picks, and even with BlueChip he replaces them every 3-4 months. With the cheap picks like National or Dunlop he said he needed a new one every set.  

He does pick hard - but the biggest reason is that his thumb strikes the pick at a weird angle. He said he broke his thumb three times while playing football in high school and apparently with these multiple breaks his thumb after healing  is in a different position than the average person,  so he's thinking with his strike angle that this might be the reason he forms a "moon" in the side of a pick after awhile. Who knows - the weird angle might be partially responsible for his great tone!

Edited by - MarkinSonoma on 03/11/2019 13:47:20

daver - Posted - 03/11/2019:  14:37:42

Hey Mark. I did receive your thread and was grateful you were OK. Sorry to not acknowledge, my bad.

banjogit - Posted - 03/18/2019:  15:00:22

Ok - to get back to the topic:

I ordered me a Bluechip 1L Reso for 54,90 EUR - converted to US Dollar this is about 62 $.
Too make a long story short:
I'm gonna send it right back, because there was absolutely no difference in sound to my Dunlop L thumbpick (maybe the Dunlop even sounded a little bit brighter), and the Dunlop L fits much better to my thumb. The Bluechip is a little bit too loose. For the price of the bluechip I can buy me about 30 Dunlop picks. So no need to spent that much money for an overpriced item.