How to Make a Custom GUITAR PICK...out of a NUT

[@janvereertbrugghen2775]

Hello Ben, would be great to see a shop tour of your home-shop! Setting up shop myself, I'm sure it will be good inspiration. Regards.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Will do.. give me a week or two to finish tidying and I will make it happen! B

[@marcialavine1272]

@@CrimsonCustomGuitars - Awesome, I'll be waiting for that one, too, since my shop is only partially set up- meaning I don't have shelving space yet, only some of my tools are hung up on peg boards, and have loads of tool boxes and cardboard boxes of stuff just piled up around my bench. I need bench vises and clamps, so looking forward to seeing what I will need to get!

[@BlackPhillip666]

Shop tour: Yes.

[@HENRYCOGIS]

👌

[@RemanentSphere]

In depth shop tour. I would like to see everything and have an explanation to tricks he may have.

[@amirkhalid5449]

As every guitar player has learned, plectrums (plectra?) are magical objects that can disappear of their own free will.

[@Nicole-J287]

I was inspired by this video to do a little project of my own; searched my neighborhood for some treenuts and ended up finding some hickories. Much harder to get a solid piece out of them but the material is still very pretty and smooth. Since they’re smaller the pick I made is like a small mandolin pick, so it’s more of a novelty than anything I’ll use regularly, but the sound is quite nice. Definitely a fun little project that I only needed hand tools for (a saw, a vice and some files)

[@tombworld9012]

Ben, with an interesting way to lose no-nut November.

[@beehype46and2]

What normal people see: The Title What veterans see: *NUT*

[@glennwhitlock1272]

When you dropped that pick, it must have been the quickest find of said object in history. Its a shame nobody from the Guinness Book of Records was there.

[@thealrightestguitarist9135]

Great video, Ben. This reminded me of when I quit smoking a few years ago...I desperately needed something to do with my hands, so I started making picks from any broken plastic I could find (my favourites were made from a broken taillight I found on the road when I was out for a walk). Anyway, two things I found helped immensely were: 1) a small, hard clipboard that let me easily swap out different grits of sandpaper when shaping the picks, and 2) an old piece of carpet for smoothing/polishing. I was amazed how well that worked.

[@jeroen9637]

22:00 Yes, there happens to be a parallel universe that is flooded with lost plectrums. You can reach it through your washing machine. That is why you find them so often when you do the laundry.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

This! For sure!! B

[@Forest_Fifer]

Alternatively, next week he's going to make a guitar nut out of some picks.

[@matthewpowell2527]

Guitar nut made from a nut

[@wombat6]

I also thought he meant a guitar nut at first, I was like... wut ??

[@asharwasim]

Yes and a full review will be nice of the workshop

[@DavidWilson-bf6tl]

Nice! I made one of these for sarod a few years back and have used tagua nut for key risers on my saxophones for decades. They age and polish up beautifully just from the skin contact from use. I also made a replacement saddle for a '70 Les Paul's bridge from tagua that is holding up beautifully and looks exactly like the original.

[@user-yv2cz8oj1k]

Oh cool, Coruillia Nut. Makes sense as it used to be used for buttons and sewing needle cases.

[@lawrencesimon]

Very interesting. Years ago I worked at a small company that made shirt buttons. The raw material was polyester, which came in long cylindrical blanks of various designs, often simulating wood. I made quite a few plectrums of the thicker variety, by shaping a slice of polyester with a bench grinder (yools to hand etc.) and then putting them in a large barrel polisher overnight, which is how the buttons were polished. The were very durable and I still have some, some twenty years later!

[@robgreenlandMusic]

My late Father was a silver Smith and made me a solid silver XLJazz, despite being a predominantly finger-based noodler, it is obviously a prized possession...and a nice material for a pic, albeit a tad softer than the strings....it gets a bit sharper every time I play it!

[@desktopadonis5646]

I love this, been working on various 3d printed guitar picks using abs and veggie based plastics. Awesome to see this.

[@michellecrickmore1180]

I've used a medical device easily purchased and very useful. If you check with your local medical supply shop you can usually find locking hemostats or forceps of various sizes and shapes and you may find one or more that are quite handy for holding smaller items as firmly or less so depending on the adjustment and clamping force.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

good call.. very good call! B

[@dustydarkhorse]

My wife keeps wanting me to make a bunch of Dice boxes for our annual ren fair.... I've got a bunch of scrap hardwood sitting around.... think I might throw a bunch of picks into those plans, thanks for the idea!!!!

[@Bunnifer]

Once you’ve finished getting the Plec to desired thickness etc, how would you finish it? Would you bother varnishing it considering the work it’s gonna be doing, or would you just put a finishing oil on it to bring out the “ivory” texture??? Interested to know

[@tellmeitsnottaken]

Yes. Workshop tour!

[@williambock1821]

Do you ever build amps and cabs? I’d be curious to see what kind of craziness you can turn a rectangular box into!

[@LordBarrington]

There's a Bermuda triangle somewhere filled with guitar picks, odd socks, and 10mm sockets also hot glue seems like it would work better than the mountain of saw dust and super glue

[@Intermernet]

If you've ever disassembled some electronics then you'll know that there's always one fastener that gets dropped and turns into pure sound waves before it hits the ground. You hear it bounce multiple times, but it's been invisible since it left the bench and will never be found again.

[@mattfleming2287]

Yay! I’ve been making my own picks for years. I use old large silver coins. After doing a lot of tests, I found silver had the least offensive pick ‘chirp’. Love to see you do one of those.

[@TwistedStrummer]

I've been making picks for awhile now, and have tried many materials. Mostly plastics, wood, bone, horn, and hoof, with varying degrees of success and failure. I will have to try ivory nuts as well as some of the local variety. I enjoyed this video and would like to see more, especially your checkering process.

[@motaman8074]

"Burn it! Haha! Yay!!" When I hear that, I know a fun video is coming. ( we need it on a tshirt, please)

[@colinbailey5505]

On Bogdan's headless guitar build from GGBO 2020, the arrangement of his tuners radiated outwards in a shape similar to the buttstock of a rifle or shotgun. You might also be able to work in a bolt action mechanism as part of the volume or tone control, and a safety that zeroes the volume.

[@jamescarey3995]

Dude!!! I've had some Tagua nuts for years and havn't done much with them, because they're so hard to hold - but not anymore!

[@gabrielcairns7050]

I'd love to see a tour of the shed! It look great

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Give me a few weeks! B

[@gabrielcairns7050]

@@CrimsonCustomGuitars looking forward to it. For most of us we have an abundance of time so we can all wait for as long as it takes

[@williamdewolfe1813]

Thanks! Stay well, stay safe.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

You too. B

[@robschaffer2189]

I have a very cool pick that was hand-formed from silver by an artist in New Mexico. Very unique, crisp, strong sound. Maybe you SHOULD have a go with that sheet silver.

[@totallyunmemorable]

I made my first pick in 1976 out of an American quarter (in bad imitation of Brian May). I used a conventional shape. I played that pick for 12 years. It wore into an almost unplayable condition. So when I lost it, I made one of similar shape but used a store bought stainless steel pick that I shaped to something more playable for me. Consequently, I've had to make every pick I use ever since then. I've made picks out of everything imaginable, and am always looking for better materials, as I like them about a millimeter thick but absolutely stiff, preferably with no flex at all. I've found that it works better to hold the pick rather than the tool shaping the pick. I take some masking tape and wind it around my first and second fingers with the adhesive facing out rather than adhering to my fingers. This gives me a good grip on the pick while I work it on my belt sander at first and then on various grits of sandpaper laid on a flat surface. Metal fingernail files (carborundum, I think) work well for fine shaping.

[@Crocodile_Guitars]

I would love to see a tour on your shop since i am currently building my own small shop... particularly i would like to hear what is the smallest bandsaw you recommend ... cheers Ben you are my teacher

[@poppy3215]

Ben, would really love to see you make a guitar using nothing but your vast collection of vintage hand tools. No modern power tools allowed. Maybe even using reclaimed wood.

[@davidneale-lorello2954]

Yes, yes! Please a shop tour!

[@prof.leandroaraujo9242]

Love ALL your videos... they decrease my anxiety. Seeing How you use your criativity it's sensational. How about making something to hold a T shape guitar on the wall? The ones I've bought make me uncertain they aren't wrecking my guitar

[@JG6869USA1]

I love this pick! I use horn and wood picks all the time! I need a couple.

[@williamjones3616]

It would be interesting to see what control knobs would look like made from these, good excuse to use the lathe!

[@jonlavigne3270]

OMG that guitar is gorgeous

[@justgonnagetbetter1037]

Would love to see the checkering done, as well as more plectrum videos because, even though I haven't learned to play guitar yet, I enjoy making and giving away plectrums!

[@JH-et7ig]

Shop tour would be great! Maybe quick overview of which hand tools you brought to your home shop and why? Thanks for the videos.

[@McSlobo]

Got idea about that wood buying episode. You could demonstrate properties of different woods. hardness, things to take in account when working with them, and of course how pieces of them sound when knocked, or dropped on hard surface. If possible, make a few small pieces of comparable dimensions, but it would be interesting to hear sounds of bigger chunks too.

[@rikfroschauer1743]

I used to make picks out of wood veneer, odd shapes and what not, I would put a hole or a series of small holes in the center to provide grip... Gotta try that nut stuff...

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

I am very surprised at how well it worked tbh. Thanks for watching! B

[@tho2ea]

Those jeweler's pliers are very cool! Alternately anyone wishing to use pliers as a vise can always wrap a rubber band around the handles. Come to think, I believe I saw it on Adam Savage's tested. I'd like a video on checkering. Did I just say that? I'd like to see a video on checkering!

[@grproteus]

18:55 - Where is that analyze button? I wanna click it!

[@lennartb]

Ooh I like this. I think I'm gonna try to make some for my guitarist friend by stacking walnut wood veneer. If it fails horribly I'll be back to ask for a tutorial on that!

[@bert3064]

This is nuts

[@MrCasetanner]

Great stuff man nicely done those are super cool!

[@Robster-Craw]

You just reminded me of my wanting to make a pick out of casein. 2.5mm thick with nice beveled edges.

[@mgcnashville6615]

I have made a pick out of casein. Sounds good! I made mine about 2.5mm as well. Super rounded edges, and a thumb grip indention

[@mgcnashville6615]

I use a leveling beam to sand picks down to the width I want. After utilizing the masking tape and superglue trick, of course

[@xXKASsNiPeSXx]

Question for you Ben, i need to drill a hole for a ground wire to a strat body im making, but the control cavity is in the back. What would you do to make sure you drill into the cavity?

[@danielsgrunge]

I love the crazy ideas you have

[@michaelcurnutt]

Always informative band entertaining.

[@BobTC22]

catching up on vids.... one more thing to add to the list of things to do with some spare time. Watching this also gave me an image of the children holding out their bowls saying "please sir, can I have some more" Ben replies "what a great idea, yes we shall get more tools"

[@alexander.angell]

Would love to see a checkering video, I was focused on those chisels in the background, I don't suppose you know whether you have any crank handled chisels, or the wide (2"?) Ones in stock in your shop? Obviously after lockdown that is, unless you're doing online orders?

[@jimnelson9798]

Love your channel first of all. Secondly, slides. I recently made one for a guitarist friend struggling to find a slide material that he liked. I made mine from deer antler and polished to a mirror. He says it's the best slide he has used. I'm sure yours would turn out nicer. Just a thought.

[@markdayneowalla]

I never thought of making pleks out of tagua nuts, but I have thought about making nuts with them. Make nuts with nuts.

[@TerribleTim68]

An in depth shop tour would be awesome.

[@jonahb.7119]

Hey Ben, new to the craft and I have been putting off making the bridge for my acoustic guitar. I have a block of bone bought at my local guitar shop. What is the best method of shaping bone to size? What tools would you use? Thanks for the content it has inspired me a lot.

[@carsonwiltink9613]

Is there a way to fix frets that are slightly sharp without re doing the whole fret board? Maybe by filing a certain way or something similar? I am a grade 12 student in my final year of high school in Canada and I just finished building a guitar from scratch as my senior woodshop project. I found that I was just a little off with my fret spacing on a few of my higher frets. I love your videos and you were where I went for 90% of my information as I had never built a guitar before. Thanks so much for making awesome videos and I’m excited to see what you do in the future!

[@saml8661]

Several plectrums (or picks as we call them in the states) from different materials would be great.. your videos have inspired me after 5+ years to buy another guitar which will be here today(yay!) And I forgot to get some (boo!) So I'd be curious what your favorite material would be after making from several

[@mgcnashville6615]

Take the material, draw out the shape, jewelers saw to cut out shape- masking tape and superglue, leveling beam angled to get the proper width and pitched angle. Sanded and shaped the edges to 320. Superglue finish, sanded up to 12k micromesh for a mirror finish. Ca glue is Tough and durable, and gives a brighter tone than the raw material. Although raw ebony sounds wonderful too

[@mgcnashville6615]

Some soft woods will sound dark and warm. And feel a bit slow. Ebony etc sounds great, and feels great too. For slow dark materials I coat with CA glue to give it a better sound/feel. Try it! It works.

[@Ucceah]

a great material to try out is polycarbonate. incredibly tough, but nice to work with .. and a glass clear pick, with a brushed finish, looks really cool. PS: i exclusively play home made PC picks for over a decade. i've settled on 3mm material in a long, narrow arrowhead shape, and with a playing edge like on gypsy style jazz picks. which gives you a razor sharp tip right at the ~30° angle you're normally playing at, making it very fast and precise, with a strong attack.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

I have played with a polycarbonate pick before.. I think I may well have to take your advice and go back and try again! B

[@Ucceah]

@@CrimsonCustomGuitars oh man, that notification had drowned in a sea of others. thanks for your quick response! PC definately is a wonderfully slick and very durable material for picks. but the magic is all in pairing it with that "gypsy style" geometry of the tip. no point in trying to explain the feel, but makes thick picks play incredibly smooth and fast, and almost effortlessly, without scratching even on bass strings. (very shreddable too - sweeps play themselves) really makes me wonder why that style of picks isnt much more common. PS: look at the wegen gypsy jazz guitar pick for reference

[@guus10]

I was thinking, why not do a competition to design a guitar, for people who don't have access to the tools and materials to build one. And then the winner gets their design made for them, or gets to do one of your courses and gets to build it themselves?

[@archloy]

Nice picks :). I think, it's a project for people confined in small apartment (and maybe the only one in wood related ones)

[@gramursowanfaborden5820]

i recently had a tooth extraction, and i told the dentist that i was into building guitars, she only let me keep the tooth on the strict condition that i _WASN'T_ allowed to use it as a guitar pick.

[@simont9984]

Is that material strong enough to make a guitar nut out of? Just curious.

[@user-yv2cz8oj1k]

It's Coruillia Nut, and used to be used for anything from buttons, to sewing needle cases, so yes I think it should be strong enough.

[@hogthrob]

Ben: "There is no wrong way" Me: "Challenge accepted"

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

This I would like to watch! angle grinder carved pick comes to mind first! B

[@markcooper8561]

Chainsaw!

[@edambrose4683]

Would love to see a tour of your shop! What blade are you using in the coping saw in this video?

[@averydeadhorse]

I’m extremely envious of the organization of all your work areas. My ADHD makes it extremely difficult for me to stay that organized.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

I find without having a spot for every tool my life swiftly descends into total chaos and I can’t achieve anything at all. B

[@alexoest]

Looking forward to the shotgun inspired build. Apart from wood choice, checker patterns etc, the engravings on the old Holland & Holland and similar guns could inspire some nice control covers.

[@DavidMFranks]

Absolutely nothing to do with this vid, but I wanted to thank Crimson for the fretboard cleaner & restorer kit. Wow. I'm never using lemon oil ever again. What a difference!

[@manson9083]

Yes please show us the checkering technique Ben

[@SimonDuffy2]

Sand an edge flat and stand it up, Ben. Plectrum, The Complication.

[@simcoe75]

Hi Ben, I’m very keen to try the tagua nut to make some picks but, have no idea where to buy them. eBay and Etsy are a bit hit and miss. I’ve made picks from 1914-20 George V pennies before and the brass sounds wonderful. Thanks for the videos, and stay safe 🤙🏻

[@duffduff4948]

I always enjoy the videos Ben primarily because they are awsome, talking of awsome a high end gun inspired guitar build sounds blummin amazing - yes please!!! By the way is your little doggie there a Jack Russell by any chance? take care.

[@DavidLewis-lk4bk]

You could embed it in resin to make it easier to clamp down.

[@jackcanada6082]

Small company called Howling Monkey in central New York state has been making tagua guitar picks for years, been using them for a while, very little wear from the amount I play (not as much as I would like). They should last a long time. By the way, they texture the center of their picks too.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Thank you for this, I'm very interested to see how long mine will last - B

[@longrangelunatic]

Howler Monkey Guitar picks makes picks from the same material. I bought a few, lasted about a year for me. They were around 2mil.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Very good to know, thank you. B

[@rhyskenny6429]

This has given me an awesome idea thanks Ben! :)

[@mcswordfish]

Would this stuff be suitable for fretboard inlays, or is it too hard?

[@robertcdrake5453]

Have a question about the nut on the guitar I'm going to start with a nut size for 10/46 but I need to adjust to 10/48 and cant find a set of nut files in 10/48 then what do I do to make the sizes?? Ty v m for your time RCD 🤓

[@MattCaffell]

Hi Ben, What is the benefit of using wood picks/plectrums as opposed to plastic ones

[@1961jscofield]

Your 3rd pick is off on the island of single lost socks I'm afraid.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

I know.. not even my wife knows where it is for sure and she knows everything!! B

[@mattomon1045]

What kind of tree did that nut come from? I'm in Denver Colorado and they are looking to lock us down again also.

[@iannesbitt2986]

I would love to see a checker ing demonstration. By the way, have you ever watched any of Uri Tuchman's videos here on KZbin? Very clever, creative, funny guy. He started out doing engraving videos but he has grown into so much more, making his own tools, including a lathe and a dividing plate.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

He is very very cool.. a bit hit and miss at times but his work always looks incredible. Haven't watched the dividing plate yet though! B

[@martinpearson2742]

I thought they would be to smooth!!! Have a look at big stubby or bison picks for some ideas 💡

[@guycore5478]

Ben, which is the best glue to use when building a classical guitar? Does the type of glue depend on the woods used and/or the different joints throughout the guitar?

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Some people do prefer Hide glue for the neck joint specifically and then use Titebond or similar for everything else, but in my opinion either will do.. as long as you use glue designed for use with wood you will be fine. B

[@juliansuarez3849]

I love trying different picks, it never occurred to me to make them myself

[@girouxlp]

Of course we want a tour!

[@bigtguitars7312]

How about a demo of that nice Rajani amp did you buy it at the guitar show I heard them there too and they sounded incredible although a bit out of my price range

[@darxmac]

That’s ... nuts ! (Thank you I’ll be here all week)

[@gruvedoktor]

don't forget to tip!

[@Spellfork]

this is totally nuts!

[@stevelaferney3579]

Ben, when said the first thing we need to do is “chop” I thought you said “shop”. Great, thought I, I’ll discover where to get these things never heard of. No such luck.

[@tobiashoor4875]

Hi Ben, I would love to see your shop layout! I recently moved my woodworking shop into a similar sized shed too and would like to know how you solved the problems with insulation, heating, moisture control and also your filming setup (I mean the camera and lightning takes a lot of space too) 👌 I really like your Content, expecially because your really explain and don’t say „don’t do this at Home“... keep going👍

[@AndrewAHayes]

This resembles a juvenile coconut shell which I have used as inlay material from time to time

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Make a plectrum and send me pics! I need to know :) B

[@Stahlkeks]

Hey Ben. I have a question. More than one actually ;) First: what does an oil finish with your guitar oils feel like? We know it looks spectacular, but youtube sadly conveys no sense of touch. Is it a smooth feel? And how do you generally get the best finish, both for looks and touch (meaning is there a rule of thumb like one coat of penetrating, then two of high build, then polish with renaissance can't go wrong for example)? Second: will you build another bass? Something fancy with a through neck, feom scratch? It would be so cool.

[@SteveWalkerGuitars]

Great to see other things music related being made, think I'll give plectrum making a go. A shop tour would be great! I am currently reworking my workshop and seeing how yours is laid out would be a big help. Do you find having your work bench in the middle as opposed to around the edge of the workshop better to work at?

[@BC_J0MBI]

would a 9 inch 2.5 amp band saw work to cut out guitar bodies? Im really getting into amateur luthery, and want to make my own guitar's. Thanks for all the great videos.

[@allenjohnston5755]

Hi Ben, great vid as ever!! Would love to see a tour of the shop and maybe a demo of your new triton planer thicknesser! Best wishes!

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

I use the thicknesser in the video coming up on Saturday but will film a demo of that and their new planer soon.. there is also going to be a tour as soon as the workshop is actually tidy.. maybe a few weeks. B

[@flyver]

Awesome video! I just ordered a bunch of these nuts and want to try and make my own. What would your best tip, for someone like me who does not have access to a workshop or even a workbench or power tools, and just want to do this by hand in the living room? Any genious tips? :) Cheers!

[@dalekitson1666]

Hi Ben Could you please tell me where your little bench is from I don’t have a lot of space but that bench would be just the ticket Cheers Dale