Magic Room Picks - Eco-Friendly & Tone Friendly

This week on The Pick I'm checking out a selection of picks from Magic Room Brand Music Supply. Made in Missouri, these picks are made 100% biodegradable by using bamboo. Vijoy, the founder of Magic Room, assured me that when the time comes, you can "bury their gear in the ground guilt free. Poof. They'll go away", but I'm not sure I'll be doing that any time soon with my new MRB picks! The box which my MRB picks came in has a great design, and along with the letter describing which pick was which was a handwritten note from Vijoy saying he hopes I enjoy the picks. In the box with the picks was a small material carrying bag and a sticker both with the Magic Room logo on. This was probably the nicest package a selection of picks has ever come for me in, and I really like the effort they put into this, making the whole experience that extra bit special.

Having enjoyed using wooden picks in the past, I was really looking forward to trying bamboo picks. Both on acoustic and electric guitar these picks sound great - very usable and definitely unique, I'd even happily use one or two of them for picked bass guitar.

First up is a composite pick (the one with the logo). This is made from bamboo cellulose (the inside bit of bamboo) and other natural plant materials, moulded into the shape of a pick. This plectrum has a smoother finish than the other MRB picks I have which are finished with a more open grain, and feels more sturdy in general. On acoustic guitar, this pick nicely pronounces the lower mids of my 000-style guitar, making it great for melodic lines. There is a curve on this pick which gives a tonal and slightly dynamic variance between up and down strokes, however this can be used really well to create some innovative new rhythmic sounds. I would definitely use this pick in the studio if I was recording acoustic guitar.

Secondly is the standard bamboo grass pick. With a taper from 2.5mm to 0.8mm, this pick has the comfort benefits of a thicker pick with the precision of a thinner pick. MRB offer three variations on the standard pick - one could be considered a "normal" pick shape, one has a thumb indent, and one has a thumb indent on one side and a finger indent on the other. All three are tonally very similar, slightly mid-scooped with a clear attack and lots of volume available if you dig in. Unlike a few of the wooden picks I've tried, these picks aren't too scratchy when you strum or pick lightly. I really enjoyed the thumb groove on the standard pick, that extra bit of grip support, however the I didn't notice the finger indent on the other pick until I had read Vijoy's letter which described the picks, as it wasn't where I normally have my finger when using a plectrum, however I'm sure for some people it will be a great extra bit of grip.

Out of all the MRB picks, the one I would choose to use with electric guitar would be the jazz bamboo grass pick. As you might have guessed, this pick has a familiar jazz pick style shape, meaning faster playing is a lot easier. By reducing the size of the pick there is some compromise in volume, but often this doesn't really matter with electric guitar. It is very similar tonally to the standard pick.

Finally is the "fatty", a 3mm pick shaped like a triangle with rounded corners designed for use with guitar and bass. Because of the rounded corners, on acoustic guitar this pick produces a very balanced sound, each string played evenly. Because of this there isn't much dynamic variation, however I can imagine this being really useful when recording rhythm guitar parts which require even strumming. On bass guitar the sound produced has the attack of using a pick without losing much warmth, and retains an even dynamic across each string.

I've really enjoyed checking out Magic Room picks this week. They excellently balance saving the planet by using biodegradable materials with creating great picks with unique tone and feel. If you like the sound or look of them, go check out their website at www.magicroombrand.com. If you enjoy reading The Pick and want to see more variety and more regular posts, please do consider donating or sponsoring. For more info check out the Sponsorship page, but benefits of contributing include the ability to suggest what kind of post or product review your contribution will go towards and your name or company advertisement in the blog, plus it enables me to continue to put time and effort into producing content!

TT-59 & Power90 - Magneto Design Lab Pickups Review

Today on The Pick, a couple of excellent pickups from Magneto Design Lab. Based in North Carolina in the US, Magneto Design Lab (MDL) pickups are extremely handmade, and currently offer three pickup models as standard: the '62-SC's, 60's inspired single coil Stratocaster pickups, the Tru-Tone '59, PAF-esque late 50's style humbuckers, and finally the Power90's, humbucker sized P90 pickups with a duo-voiced asymmetrical design. I have been trying out the Tru-Tone '59 bridge humbucker and Power90 neck P90 in my Epiphone Les Paul, and absolutely loving the tonal results! If you would like to read about my experience installing these MDL pickups, check out my post from a couple of weeks ago here.

The Tru-Tone '59 bridge humbucker is the flagship product from MDL Pickups. With totally hand-wound bobbins and being individually hand-assembled, you can really tell a lot of love has gone into them, and the sound of this humbucker really reflects the time and effort required to make a product of this standard. With a clean amp sound and no pedals, the Tru-Tone '59 has a unique tonality in the upper mids which gives the pickup a great clarity without the "honk" which can often be heard from bridge humbuckers. This tone is expertly practical for live performance, balancing the ability to cut through a full band mix without the uncomfortable timbre often found in products designed with this intent.

With a crunch tone from the amp, the Tru-Tone '59 is highly articulate with hugely wide dynamic range on tap from just picking variation. Finger-picking or hybrid picking can be clean whilst retaining clarity, and using a pick to dig in deep overdrives the amp nicely. Similarly, rolling off the volume on the guitar reduces drive and compression but again keeps the top end. As you can hear from the video demonstration, this pickup reacts really nicely to gain from pedals and other effects too.

In the neck position of my newly tooled up Epiphone Les Paul is the MDL Power90. This humbucker sized P90 has an asymmetrical design, meaning during the installation process you can choose whether to have the pickup "smooth & singing", or rotated 180 degrees "dynamic & aggressive" - as the pickup is in the neck position, I went for smooth and singing, and MAN I am in love with the sounds that come out of this thing! In general, I love neck pickups. Often amongst electric guitarists, especially those who play primarily with distorted tones, the neck pickup can go about underused due to lack of clarity, but this is most certainly not the case with the Power90.

Set with a sparkling clean tone, the Power90 exhibits qualities reminiscent of a smaller single coil pickup but with a depth that is very welcome. Winding down the tone control and adding some gain enables you to channel the smooth, compressed woman tone without losing pick attack. This pickup is definitely one to hear.

The middle pickup combination of the Tru-Tone '59 and the Power90 is a very special and unique tone which retains the attack and warmth from the neck Power90 but blends in the bold upper mids from the Tru-Tone '59 and creates a very full sound. Add a little compression with a light crunch and the end result is a sound I could hear being an excellent tone for the only guitarist in a three-piece band, filling in the frequencies between the bass guitar and the vocals with a rich, dynamic, rhythmic and full sound.

Finally, I just wanted to quickly mention how awesome these pickups looks. They are finished with a subtle ageing which takes the sheen off the metal parts and makes them look appropriately lived-in, and the black behind the Power90 has a horizontally brushed finish. Both of these aesthetic elements further display the amount of care that has gone into producing these pickups. In my matte finished transparent red Les Paul, these pickups bring some class into what was once a fairly dull looking guitar. It is worth saying that you can get the Power90 with a similar covered look, however I am a massive fan of the mismatched one-on-one-off look - I've gone to the effort of upgrading my pickups, I want it to look different and I think it looks very cool.

As I'm sure you can tell, I am very pleased with the tones available from my once dull and underused Epiphone Les Paul. If you like the sound of these Magneto Design Lab pickups, definitely head over to their website - as well as the stock pickups I have demoed, they also offer custom options, wiring harnesses, tone caps and to top it all off some awesome looking cables - Lee is a great guy with an excellent ear for brilliant guitar tone, so I don't doubt each of these products are to a very high standard. And maybe in the future I will check out their 60's Strat pickups in my Squire Stratocaster!

If you enjoy reading The Pick and want to see more variety and more regular posts, please do consider donating or sponsoring. For more info check out the Sponsorship page, but benefits of contributing include the ability to suggest what kind of post or product review your contribution will go towards and your name or company advertisement in the blog, plus it enables me to continue to put time and effort into producing content!

Magneto Design Lab Pickup Demo - TT-59 & Power90

Written review coming next week!

If you enjoy The Pick and want to see more variety and more regular posts, please do consider donating or sponsoring. For more info check out the Sponsorship page, but benefits of contributing include the ability to suggest what kind of post or product review your contribution will go towards and your name or company advertisement in the blog, plus it enables me to continue to put time and effort into producing content!