10 Sharkfin guitar picks plectrums - white

Sharkfin whites have been my plectrum of choice for more than twenty years. The patented design was the only significant advance in plectrum technology in the last sixty years, despite flirtations by manufacturers with bone, tortoise-shell, copper and even stone.In case you're wondering, these plectrums are made of plastic, not sharkfin. They are called sharkfins because of their distinctive four picking surface design, which allows the guitarist to produce sounds ranging from the ultra-mellow to the hyper-harsh by simply turning the pick.The standard sounds, which are similar to other plectrums, come from the obvious 'front' and the thinner back corner. The broad sweep between these two, on the 'top' produces a softer, mellower and less defined sound. You can't really achieve this with a standard triangular pick, because there isn't enough curvature to trigger the strings.All this is all very interesting, but it's when you try the serrated edge at the 'bottom' that you suddenly realise you are in new sonic territory. The six bumps naturally produce a harmonically rich, bright sound when played flat across the strings. They will give old strings a newer sound, or brighten up strings which are in good condition giving a sound somewhere between a twelve-string and a chorus pedal. If you twist or 'torque' the pick, you can up the harmonics on this sound until you get what sounds very like an overdriven or distortion sound, even on an acoustic guitar. On an electric with overdrive available, you can go from a standard crunch to a bitter-sweet lead without touching an effects pedal.There's really only one downside, and that is these picks wear out, especially if you use the serrated edge a lot. The 'white' picks are medium weight and flexibility, and, in my experience, produce the best sound, but they are for some reason softer than the hard plastic picks available in other colours from Landstrom (each colour is a different weight). I usually buy ten of these at a time. You can, of course, recut them, but, for many players, life is too short for that.There is clearly a vast difference between a player who kicks in a particular effects pedal and one who simply changes their picking technique to produce a wider range of sounds. Using pick control with a Sharkfin, you can go from sound to sound in an instant, faster and more organically than anything which could possibly be achieved with pedals.For me, these are the clear winners, and I only buy alternatives when I can't get them.