Guitar Pick Details
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Properties:
Mechanical
OVERVIEW
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When deciding on the material and finish of a guitar pick, or its physical shape and size, Mechanical properties are important to consider, as they have great influence on a guitar pick's qualities. These key qualities are, Ergonomics, Tone, and Durability.
These key qualities are important to guitarists as they define and shape a guitar picks performance capabilities, and have relevance towards meeting each guitarist's personal needs and preferences. Below is a breakdown of each of these key qualities, and why they are important for guitarists to consider.
QUALITIES
Ergonomics
Ergonomic design implements knowledge and understanding of biomechanics, and psychology, in order to adapt a product's design to suit a target user's needs. Ergonomic design focuses on enhancing efficiency, ease of use, safety, and comfort for the user, being highly valuable for guitarists. NITRIDE implements and measures Ergonomics within its guitar pick designs by taking into consideration multiple different areas of interest valuable to guitarists, such as, mobility and strain of the user's wrist during use, comfortability and ease of grip, effort required from the user to perform.
Control
There are many properties of a guitar pick that influence how much control a user has over their own performance. NITRIDE has broken these components down into five key areas of interest it finds most relevant to guitarists. Timing, Precision, Speed, Intensity, Agility.
- Timing: How much control the user has over when a sound is produced.
- Precision: How much control the user has over the position of the pick relative to the strings.
- Speed: How fast the user can play each note in succession.
- Intensity: How much control over the displacement of strings and how they are released
- Agility: How quick and easy the pick moves along the strings
Tone
Overview:
An important aspect to consider in a guitar pick is its influence on Tone. A guitar pick can greatly influence Tonal Balance, Dynamic Range in Frequencies and Volume control, Attack, Sustain, and even Pick Noise. Below is a breakdown of these areas that are examined within NITRIDE picks.
Frequencies / Pitch / Personality:
- Tonal balance: Where majority of frequencies are present, how the sound is perceived when heard. The balance of frequencies in the audio spectrum
- Dynamic Range: The variability / control over the volume produced, measured in decibels.
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Frequency Response: The range of frequencies present within the produced sound.
Sound Shape:
Guitar picks influence the initial stages of a sound, being the attack. Only influence attack, where the other components of a sound, Delay, Release, Sustain, etc, are mostly affected by the type of guitar strings, (Gauge, material), and the setup of the rest of the guitar, such as guitar neck, tuning, etc.
PROPERTIES
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Compliance: ( Flexible | Rigid )
Surface Texture ( Rough | Smooth )
Overview:
Compliance is the measurement of deformation within a structure relative to subjected forces applied. A structure with high flexibility, has high compliance as it has high deformation relative to applied force, and a structure that is rigid, is less compliant as it has little to no deformation relative to force applied. The compliance of a guitar pick holds great importance, as it directly influences, ergonomics and functionality, tonality, and durability.
Ergonomics:
- Tonal balance: Where majority of frequencies are present, how the sound is perceived when heard. The balance of frequencies in the audio spectrum
- Dynamic Range: The variability / control over the volume produced, measured in decibels.
- Frequency Response: The range of frequencies present within the produced sound.
Mass ( Heavy | Light )
Resonance ( Sound absorption )
Compliance ( Flexible | Rigid )
Overview:
Compliance is the measurement of deformation within a structure relative to subjected forces applied. A structure with high flexibility, has high compliance as it has high deformation relative to applied force, and a structure that is rigid, is less compliant as it has little to no deformation relative to force applied. The compliance of a guitar pick holds great importance, as it directly influences, ergonomics and functionality, tonality, and durability.
Ergonomics:
Enhance Grip:
Flexible guitar picks bend relative to stress, (absorb forces), which reduces force transmission to the strings, and thus reduces force exerted on the wrist. This means your wrist is subject to less forces, making it easier to maintain a strong grip on the pick.
Minimise Effort:
Flexible guitar picks bend relative to stress applied, (absorb forces), which compensates for poor picking technique and harsh angles of attack, as the pick flexes, and automatically adjusts its angle of attack relative with the strings. This allows the pick to seamlessly glide along the strings with minimal effort, and reduces the need for wrist movement, simplifying guitar playing, and creating a more relaxed, and effortless experience.
Improve Comfort:
Flexible guitar picks bend relative to stress, (absorb forces), which reduces force transmission to the strings, and thus reduces pressure exerted on the wrist. This means your wrist is subject to less forces, reducing overall fatigue and strain, making playing easier and more comfortable. Flexible guitar picks also compensate for poor picking technique and harsh angles of attack, as they adjust their angle of attack relative to the strings through bending / absorbing forces. This also creates a more relaxed experience for guitarists as it reduces their need for perfect picking technique.
Enhance Grip:
Rigid guitar picks have high force transmission due to their resistance to deformation under stress. This efficiency in force transmission leads to higher forces exerted on the wrist as a result, making it harder to maintain a strong grip on the pick.
Minimise Effort:
Rigid guitar picks resist deformation under stress, meaning they will get stuck on the strings when poor picking technique and harsh angles of attack are executed. This makes guitar playing much more difficult, requiring more technical skill, experience, and consistency, and leads to guitarists needing to put greater effort into their performance. Although this is true, efficient force transmission makes it easier to apply higher forces to the strings, making aggressive playing easier to execute.
Improve Comfort:
Rigid guitar picks have high force transmission due to their resistance to deformation under stress. This leads to increased pressure exerted on the wrist, increasing strain and fatigue, and leads to a less relaxed experience as guitarists need to put greater effort into their performance.
Control:
Timing:
Flexible guitar picks provide players with poor control over timing, because they bend relative to stress during the picking motion, which ends up creating a delay between the moment the pick makes contact with the string, and the moment it leaves the string. They also cause timing delays in between consecutive strikes, because the pick tends to overshoot and flex in the opposite direction every time it is released from the strings, due to the release of tension in the material. This can create a “behind-beat” performance, and can sometimes cause inconsistencies in rhythm, as guitarists may speed up sometimes to compensate for being behind beat.
When using a flexible guitar pick, and aiming for perfect timing, players may play slightly ahead of the beat in order to compensate for delays induced by pick flexibility.
Precision:
Flexible guitar picks provide players with poor control over precision, because of vibrations induced in the pick, and poor force transmission to the strings. The instability and inconsistency of the pick tips position due to vibration, alongside it deforming under tension with the strings, causes lack of continuity and makes precise actions harder for the player to achieve, because of these unpredictable variables.
Speed:
Flexible guitar picks limit a player's speed capabilities by giving them poor control over how fast they can play. Flexible guitar picks bend relative to stress during the picking motion, which ends up creating a delay between the moment the pick makes contact with the string, and the moment it leaves the string. Moving the pick faster only increases the force applied to the strings, which then only ends up amplifying how much force the pick’s material absorbs, and how far it ends up bending. This in return has little to no impact on accelerating the pick's interaction with the string, and thus, limits how fast a guitarist can perform. Flexible guitar picks also tend to overshoot and flex in the opposite direction every time they are released from the strings, due to the release of tension in the material, which adds to limiting speed capabilities.
Intensity:
Flexible guitar picks provide players with good dynamic control over intensity, through the way they have a greater displacement to force relationship, when compared to rigid picks. They also make it easier to play with low intensity, due to their force dampening properties, however can also limit maximum intensity output which directly correlates with its flexibility.
Agility:
Flexible guitar picks bend relative to stress, (absorb forces), which reduces force transmission to the strings. This allows them to seamlessly glide along the strings with minimal effort, as flexibility compensates for poor picking technique, and therefore makes strumming and fast playing easy to achieve with minimal effort and skill required. Flexible guitar picks ensure the guitar pick never gets stuck on the strings, and ensures more fluid movement is achievable because of this.
Timing:
Rigid guitar picks have high force transmission, due to their resistance to deformation. This provides players with enhanced control over timing, through the way their pick movements directly influence string displacement proportionally, leading to superior responsiveness, with minimal delay in when strings are released, as forces aren't absorbed in the pick.
Precision:
Rigid guitar picks enhance a players control over precision, through the way their resistance to deformation under stress, leads to consistency and continuity in its pick tip position and orientation relative to the strings. This certainty allows players to have superior control over variables that influence their precision, as their pick movements have predictable, repeatable outcomes.
Speed:
Rigid guitar picks enhance players speed capabilities, through the way their resistance to deformation provides maximum force transmission to the strings, which results in pick movements directly influencing string displacement proportionally, resulting in superior responsiveness, and minimal delay in string release time.
Intensity:
Rigid guitar picks provide players with directly proportional control over intensity, through the way force applied to the strings, directly correlates with string displacement. Rigid guitar picks can also limit minimum intensity output, through the way they have high force transmission, and lack of force dampening properties.
Agility:
Flexible guitar picks bend relative to stress, (absorb forces), which reduces force transmission to the strings. This allows them to seamlessly glide along the strings with minimal effort, as flexibility compensates for poor picking technique, and therefore makes strumming and fast playing easy to achieve with minimal effort and skill required. Flexible guitar picks ensure the guitar pick never gets stuck on the strings, and ensures more fluid movement is achievable because of this.
Tone:
Timing:
Flexible guitar picks provide players with poor control over timing, because they bend relative to stress during the picking motion, which ends up creating a delay between the moment the pick makes contact with the string, and the moment it leaves the string. They also cause timing delays in between consecutive strikes, because the pick tends to overshoot and flex in the opposite direction every time it is released from the strings, due to the release of tension in the material. This can create a “behind-beat” performance, and can sometimes cause inconsistencies in rhythm, as guitarists may speed up sometimes to compensate for being behind beat.
When using a flexible guitar pick, and aiming for perfect timing, players may play slightly ahead of the beat in order to compensate for delays induced by pick flexibility.
Precision:
Flexible guitar picks provide players with poor control over precision, because of vibrations induced in the pick, and poor force transmission to the strings. The instability and inconsistency of the pick tips position due to vibration, alongside it deforming under tension with the strings, causes lack of continuity and makes precise actions harder for the player to achieve, because of these unpredictable variables.
Speed:
Flexible guitar picks limit a player's speed capabilities by giving them poor control over how fast they can play. Flexible guitar picks bend relative to stress during the picking motion, which ends up creating a delay between the moment the pick makes contact with the string, and the moment it leaves the string. Moving the pick faster only increases the force applied to the strings, which then only ends up amplifying how much force the pick’s material absorbs, and how far it ends up bending. This in return has little to no impact on accelerating the pick's interaction with the string, and thus, limits how fast a guitarist can perform. Flexible guitar picks also tend to overshoot and flex in the opposite direction every time they are released from the strings, due to the release of tension in the material, which adds to limiting speed capabilities.
Intensity:
Flexible guitar picks provide players with good dynamic control over intensity, through the way they have a greater displacement to force relationship, when compared to rigid picks. They also make it easier to play with low intensity, due to their force dampening properties, however can also limit maximum intensity output which directly correlates with its flexibility.
Agility:
Flexible guitar picks bend relative to stress, (absorb forces), which reduces force transmission to the strings. This allows them to seamlessly glide along the strings with minimal effort, as flexibility compensates for poor picking technique, and therefore makes strumming and fast playing easy to achieve with minimal effort and skill required. Flexible guitar picks ensure the guitar pick never gets stuck on the strings, and ensures more fluid movement is achievable because of this.
Timing:
Rigid guitar picks have high force transmission, due to their resistance to deformation. This provides players with enhanced control over timing, through the way their pick movements directly influence string displacement proportionally, leading to superior responsiveness, with minimal delay in when strings are released, as forces aren't absorbed in the pick.
Precision:
Rigid guitar picks enhance a players control over precision, through the way their resistance to deformation under stress, leads to consistency and continuity in its pick tip position and orientation relative to the strings. This certainty allows players to have superior control over variables that influence their precision, as their pick movements have predictable, repeatable outcomes.
Speed:
Rigid guitar picks enhance players speed capabilities, through the way their resistance to deformation provides maximum force transmission to the strings, which results in pick movements directly influencing string displacement proportionally, resulting in superior responsiveness, and minimal delay in string release time.
Intensity:
Rigid guitar picks provide players with directly proportional control over intensity, through the way force applied to the strings, directly correlates with string displacement. Rigid guitar picks can also limit minimum intensity output, through the way they have high force transmission, and lack of force dampening properties.
Agility:
Flexible guitar picks bend relative to stress, (absorb forces), which reduces force transmission to the strings. This allows them to seamlessly glide along the strings with minimal effort, as flexibility compensates for poor picking technique, and therefore makes strumming and fast playing easy to achieve with minimal effort and skill required. Flexible guitar picks ensure the guitar pick never gets stuck on the strings, and ensures more fluid movement is achievable because of this.
Environmental
Environmental
ENVIRONMENTAL
Important factors to consider during the material selection and fabrication process of a guitar pick are its environmental impacts. This includes effects that the fabrication process has on the environment, (e.g, Energy expenditure, Waste production and management, etc), and includes the relationship and influence materials and structural design have on the environment, which is affected by properties such as, (Biodegradability, Biocompatibility, Recyclability, Durability / Life-span, etc).
Comparing and weighing the environmental impacts of different design decisions, is an extremely complex problem to measure that can end up becoming subjective and left up to interpretation and opinion.
Analysing this complex problem, NITRIDE has accumulated and pin-pointed key factors to consider when comparing materials in this subject field. Using these key factors, NITRIDE has simplified the material comparison issue, by developing a ranking system shown below.
- Heat Resistance
- Impact Resistance
- Fatigue Resistance