Exotic Wood Picks - Iron Age Guitar Accessories

Part three of this feature on Iron Age Guitar Accessories looks at the exotic wood set. This features picks made from tone woods such as padouk and peachwood, as well as Macassar ebony and coconut shell as we saw in the last feature. Each of these picks is a Jazz III XL kind of shape, with the coconut shell pick being slightly smaller and thinner.

Padouk is a naturally coloured red wood, not often used in guitar manufacturing due to it's colour, however it is increasing in popularity often as a rosewood substitute. The tone of this pick is very low-mid prominent with a soft attack - it is very unique sounding and works great for soulful, dynamic playing. To me it feels like playing with compression - there is a threshold where it begins to feel like no matter how hard I dig in with the pick it doesn't get louder. The shape of the pick is very comfortable, with a recessed bowl shape in the thumb grip area of the pick and the signature Iron Age engravings on the reverse which aid in stability, however as I've commented on before with wooden picks, slipping doesn't seem to be an issue, especially when open pored wood like padouk is used. I also really enjoy the look of this pick - the subtle red seems to suit the tonal nature of this pick. It is worth noting that the redness of the wood will turn to a light brown colour when left in sunlight.

Compared to the padouk pick, the peachwood is lighter in both colour and weight. Feel is very similar between these two picks, but this one feels slightly more oily and the wood is less open-pored. The tone of this pick is very balanced, with a really nice top end, and is very responsive to dynamic playing without losing the clean attack of the tone. I really enjoyed the tone and feel of this pick when playing chords - open chord strumming and muted barre chords were both clear with a very balance string volume.

The Macassar ebony pick is the last XL shaped, 2-3mm thick pick of this bunch. The tone of this pick is very interestingly scooped, with a crisp top end and a present warmth which would work well for distorted electric guitar playing, however I feel like the shape of this pick limits it's scope for playing in this area. I'm sure some will be very comfortable using this pick for heavy rock and metal, however I found it a bit cumbersome and clumsy at times - perhaps it could benefit from having the vets starting further in. If you like the sound of this pick, you should check out the spearhead pick made from the same wood (check out my review here).

Finally we have the coconut shell pick. This is about 2mm thick and 10-20% smaller than the previous three. The wood of this pick feels the most dense, and this is reflected in the tone, which is a bit top-heavy with a very clean, short attack. This pick enhances the frequencies of your guitar which really help to cut through a full band mix, and the reduced size means speedy licks feel a lot more comfortable to play.

I've really enjoyed trying out these exotic wood picks - as you may have realised by now I really enjoy playing with wooden picks, the tonal variety which is possible can be really inspiring. My favourite pick of this review and the one I'd suggest you go out and try is definitely the padouk. The feel and tone of this pick was just so unique and inspired me to actually write melodies when testing it out. If you have a large collection of plectrums but never tried a padouk pick, why not give the Iron Age Guitar Accessories exotic wood set a try - check out their website.

As usual remember to follow me on social media, links are down the side, and I've put links to the other reviews in the Iron Age Guitar Accessories series below, if you haven't yet, give them a read!

Coconut Shell & Macassar Ebony Spearheads

Carbon Fibre?!

Stone Picks!