Guitar Pick Materials At Rombo
Guitar picks can really be made out of anything. In the past, some exotic materials were used to produce guitar picks.
The technological wave that came with highly specialized polymers created a new era of materials with amazing properties.
How The Material Of A Guitar Pick Influences Your Playing
The material of a guitar pick is strictly connected to its flexibility and tone. It is hard to imagine that such a small piece can have a big impact on playability.
However, you will clearly notice some sound differences when testing a couple of different guitar picks.
Luckily, these small useful gems are the cheapest guitar accessory you can acquire, allowing you to test many guitar pick models.
The Constant Search For The Perfect Tone
When it comes to guitar picks, changing the properties of a material is not an easy task.
Flexible guitar pick materials:
Flexible guitar pick materials can create mellow and warm tones when using specific guitar techniques. However, they can also achieve brighter tones when holding the pick very closely to the pointy tip or “attack area”. This is the reason they have been the go-to choice for guitarists for decades.
Stiff guitar pick materials:
Stiff guitar pick materials can create a snappier, bright tone that can be very delightful, provide more volume and more clarity to your chords and solo notes. These picks are often used for more specific guitar techniques by lead guitarists.
Material Isn't Everything
Thickness, shape and size will play an important role too!
Flexible guitar pick materials can create mellow, warm tones. However, when using plectrum thicknesses over 1 mm, the tone will get darker and heavier. This can be used to create the feeling of having more “bass” in your instrument. The same effect happens with the size. The more material you have, the heavier the sound will be.
We have a guide to find your guitar pick HERE. You will learn how these 4 attributes (material, shape, size, and thickness) are connected.
Finding The Materials For Rombo Guitar Picks:
Every guitarist has different preferences. Throughout our development, we have involved as many professional guitarists as possible, and asked them to define how their perfect material should feel.
We came to the following conclusions. The guitar pick material should:
- feel nice to the touch and be comfortable, yet provide grip
- be able to create clear tones, without compromising the bass tones
- be very versatile: feel flexible when thin and feel stiff when thick
- be durable
- look nice
With these premises, we started our long journey: the search for a suitable material.
After lots of tests, feedback rounds and sending dozens of pick prototypes around the globe to our guitar pick testers, we think we`ve found it!
Guitar Pick Materials At Rombo
We are using a thermoplastic polymer that belongs to the family of the polyamides. This material is used in aerospace and automobile industries and has the following properties:
- High-mechanical strength
- Versatile (rigid or flexible -depending on the treatment and thickness)
- Excellent impact resistance (guitar strings)
- Superior aesthetic properties
- Medium / low friction
The raw material we use is produced in Italy. We have worked very closely with our material partner to accomplish every requirement we had, including the 100% recycled material of the EcoBlack sets.
We believe we have achieved an excellent balance between, sound, comfort, aesthetic properties, and durability.
Combined with well-thought ergonomic designs, different textures, and very good quality control of the process, this material can accomplish all 5 premises we defined above.
Eco-Black Range: 100% Recycled Guitar Picks
We are also experimenting with recycled materials. In our “ECO-Black" range, we offer the same material formula, but use 100% recycled material from pre-consumer waste.
In this product range, the guitar picks are only available in Graphite Black. Currently, this is the only color we can produce when using this compound.
In addition, during compound manufacturing, there are 90% less emissions, 65% energy reduction, and a 61% reduction of total resources.
We will continue our hard work in this area and someday in the future, we will be able to create colored guitar picks out of this material. When this day comes, all of our guitar picks will be 100% recycled.
Read more about the Eco-Black range and the recycled guitar picks in our article "ROMBO Unveils New “Eco-Black Range Guitar Pick Models".
Conclusion:
Finding a material you feel comfortable with is not an easy task, but you will have lots of fun along the way.
We believe material development is fundamental to ensure a future of plenty of functional, good-looking and environmentally friendly materials.
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ROMBO Unveils New “Eco-Black Range” Guitar Pick Models
Guitar Picks Made Out of 100% Pre-consumer Fibre Waste
Rombo Picks has unveiled a new series of plectrums made out of 100% recycled waste. The material is not only environmentally friendly, but also has high mechanical strength and stiffness, excellent impact resistance and superior aesthetic properties.
Rombo uses this material for its Eco-Black range. In this range, all four guitar pick models are available only in Graphite Black, which is one of the properties of the recycled material. Each pick has been carefully developed for a concrete purpose.
For this reason, the Rombo team has redefined the four attributes of a guitar pick: shape, thickness, material and size.
The Highlights of These Guitar Picks Are:
- Micro-nodule grip structure
- High mirror polished tip
- 3D ergonomic design surface
- Variable thickness
- High-Quality materials
- Unique designs
Since 2019 Rombo has been researching surface finish and design in order to find the perfect balance between grip, ergonomics and function in guitar picks. Rombo was born thanks to an amazing guitar player community whose aim is to continue this adventure and quest for the perfect guitar pick.
We have a full article about the materials used for the manufacturing of the Rombo guitar picks here:
https://rombopicks.com/blogs/insight-rombo/guitar-pick-materials-at-rombo
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