So lets talk acoustic guitar picks. Simple triangular piece plastic, right? And picks are cheap so why bother printing your own?

Well, I’ve found that a pick can make a huge difference in the sound you produce and the control you have while performing. And finding that perfect pick, in the right thickness, and in the right material, is a tough, time consuming task with all the different brands and types available. Printing your own lets you quickly and easily narrow down the pick you need to give you exactly the sound you want. And they’ll never be discontinued!

There’s a number of things that go into the design of a good pick:

1) Pick feel – this is down to thickness, and material chosen. Thicker picks will be stiffer which lets you dig into those strings for a strong sound. But it’s hard to strum gently unless you hold the pick very loosely, in which case you can lose it while performing. Thinner ones let you strum more gently because the pick bends more as it slides over the strings. The plastic you choose also has an effect on flexibility and feel of the pick.

2) Tone – interestingly, this is hard to predict based just on the physical characteristics of the pick. In general, strumming with a more flexible pick will create a thinner sound because the flexible plastic can’t put the same energy into the heavy bass strings as it can with the thinner higher strings. A stiffer pick will create a fuller sound when strummed. But the plastic used will also have a large effect on the sound, causing the pick to be warmer or brighter, which can only be determined by trying the various materials yourself.

3) String Slap – As the pick slides from one string to the next, it creates a slapping sound when it hits the next string. This is part of the strum sound and will vary depending on thickness and plastic.

4) String Noise – As the surface of the pick glides over the string, it will create unwanted noise unless the surface is very smooth. More on this later. The edges of the pick also need to be smooth to prevent added noise. And it also needs to have a shallow taper rather than a square-corner or rounded profile.

5) Grip – A smooth, flat pick is not easy to hold onto and can often end up flying out of your fingers during a performance, ending up on the floor or worse, inside your guitar. The horizontal bars and raised numbers on these picks gives your thumb something to hold onto for a much more secure grip on the pick, even with a lighter touch.

All of this goes into making a pick that will perform the way you want and create the sound you’re looking for. Often, you’ll want two or three different picks to use with different types of songs.

Customization

I’ve created this model as an assortment of thicknesses: 0.4mm, 0.5mm, 0.6mm, 0.7mm, 0.8mm, and 1.0mm. Note that the raised number on the pick indicates the thickness in 10ths of a millimeter. I would suggest printing the assortment in a given plastic and trying the different thicknesses to see which works best for you. Once you’ve decided, you can load the project, delete the sizes you don’t want, and then clone the remaining pick to print a bunch of them.

You’ll also want to try printing the assortment in different plastics to see how the tone differs. I used PLA, PETG, and ASA.

PLA: As expected, the PLA printed easily and cleanly even in the thinner sizes. And it’s a bit stiffer than the other plastics so it allowed a thin print while still having enough body to strum nicely.

ASA: A distinctly brighter sound, so I liked it in a thicker size where it would also pick up the low strings and provide a clean, yet full sound.

PETG: As usual, PETG is a pain to get to print right, especially when printing the thin layers needed for a pick. I spent a lot of time and printed many dozens of picks before I got the settings right. But PETG is a bit more flexible than the other plastics, allowing for a decent amount of flex in thicker sizes, which can result in better control over the pick dynamics during a performance.

Final Touches

Once your picks are printed, you’ll want to sand the edges. Due to the layer-by-layer printing process, and the small number of layers used, the edge profile of the picks are a bit of a stair-step rather than the smooth, shallow taper that you want. I did build a taper into the models, but the printers just can’t produce a noise-free edge on these thin picks. Use 600 grit or so emery paper and start by running it lightly around the tip and sides, at a 90° angle to the pick surface, to get rid of any tiny irregularities in the shape. Then spend a little more time sanding a shallow taper on the edge, from both faces of the pick, but especially on the underside (away from the printed numbers). Sanding only takes a minute and improves the sound of the pick dramatically.

Printing

The bottom surface of the pick needs to be as smooth as possible to avoid string noise. So printing on a smooth plate is an absolute must. I used the High Temperature Plate (Smooth PEI) which has an engineering plate on one side and a high temp plate on the other. The high temp plate was the smoothest. To get the top side relatively smooth, I used ironing on all top surfaces.

My pick choices

I’m using a 0.5mm Bambu Red PLA Basic pick for my thinnest. I don’t use it often, but at times I want to play a song where the guitar is a light accompaniment to a strong vocal piece. The thin pick puts the guitar in the background and competes less with the vocals.

A second pick is a 0.7mm pick in Bambu Lake Blue PETG Basic. I use it when I’m playing rhythm to another guitar’s lead or brighter fingerpicking. The warmer sound makes for a great backup guitar that fills in behind the lead to create a more full sound.

My main pick is a 0.8mm in Bambu Gray ASA. This has a brighter sound, yet still full, making it great for flat picking or strong chords when I’m the main guitar in the mix.