Morgan Picks - More Pick For Your Buck

This week on The Pick I've been checking out Morgan Picks. This plectrums are made in Denmark using injection moulding techniques to create a variety of styles for a smaller price than is usually attached to boutique-y, hand made picks. They currently offer two models, the SJ1 and MS1, and I have been testing these out for the last couple of weeks.

The SJ1 Morgan Picks are clearly based on the Jazz III shape but is 3mm thick, which we know works really well for alternate picking and lead playing in general. The textured sides will definitely suit those who need an extra bit of grip on their pick and demonstrate the precision of design available by using injection moulding to create them. Tonally, these picks are well balanced with no pronounced treble scratchiness but enough clarity to sound better than the "usual" Tortex style pick, and work and sound really good on both electric and acoustic guitar.

The larger MS1 pick has a similar sound and feel, and has the same thickness and sharpened tip as the SJ1. Usually the larger models of a brands plectrums are more dull sounding, however these two models sound the same, meaning you can choose the size based on what you would feel more comfortable holding without losing the tone you're after.

Aesthetically, these picks aren't really my style. The colours are very primary, with solid red, blue, white and black and what appears to be a glow in the dark delrin used to make them. The font of the Morgan Picks inscription on the grip appears to be a Comic Sans style font, which shows these picks to be designed on the cheap by someone perhaps without a background in graphic design and could therefore use some more investment - as everyone knows, the look of guitar gear is the most important aspect(!). With some more time and consideration, I can see these picks looking great, with the visuals joining the high quality of sound and feel.

Morgan picks are made by two brothers, neither of whom are guitarists and therefore are keen to hear musician's opinions of their products. I think the mentality behind making these picks is a great one, making great quality plectrums at a price which isn't unreasonable if, for example, you regularly gig and have a habit of dropping and losing your pick. Definitely check these picks out if you like the look of them and are looking for a plectrum which is inoffensive both to your tone and your wallet.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have enjoyed this review of the Morgan Picks. If you do enjoy reading The Pick and feel like you would be interested in supporting it financially, please do check out my Sponsorship Page. Any donations would be excellent and let me continue to work on The Pick.

More Iron Age Picks! AKA The Only Picks I Use

As some of you will know I have recently been exclusively using my Blue Lace Agate stone pick from the wonderful people at Iron Age Guitar Accessories, however the problem was I only had one of them. I am now the proud owner of a few more of these plectrums in a few different shapes and I'm loving them.

I should start by saying that the fact I managed to get through multiple gigs using one single pick shows how easy it is to hold on to them, despite the glossy finish, which looks good but in theory would be more slippery. I now no longer need to take any spare picks to a performance or rehearsals which aren't from Iron Age Guitar Accessories.

Similar I'm sure to many of the electric guitarists in the world, I am obsessed with John Mayer's playing (if you haven't listened to his music I highly recommend checking it out, especially the "Where The Light Is" live album). I love the way his strat sounds when he finger picks; unlike classical finger picking I think Mayer's style is more similar to slap playing on a bass guitar, it has a bright timbre, and these stone picks bring a similar timbre to my playing which I love (but I have been working on my hybrid playing!).

Playing using these picks feels similar to playing with a high wattage clean amp which is just about to break up - it is so transparent sounding that to certain types of players it might feel so present that it is almost uncomfortable, however this suits me totally. The tone is so unique and unlike any other plectrum I have tried - when compared to the "industry standards" of a jazz 3 or a tortex pick, these Iron Age win on every front.

Of the 4 Iron Age Agate Stone picks I now have, I use the 2 blue lace agate picks for general playing - their tear drop shape works best for my style of playing; the wider red agate pick I'd use for any songs where fast legato playing is required without too much accented rhythmic playing, but the pick I was most surprised with was the black agate pick, which is much bigger than any pick I'd usually choose to play with, but which sounds great on acoustic. Despite trying and owning hundreds of plectrums from a plethora of brands in a wide variety of shapes and sizes I had yet to find a pick for acoustic guitar which wasn't the usual bendy plastic style, however this one does it for me. Even though it has a larger surface area, the finish feels similar to the other agate picks so the feel is consistent, and the tone on an acoustic guitar is so evenly balanced - the balance of the strings in rhythmic acoustic guitar playing is one area where thicker, more rigid plectrums usually lack.

It is easy to say that these four picks will be my go-to plectrums for the foreseeable future. If you haven't tried a stone plectrum yet, or like the sound of these particular ones, I definitely recommend going to Iron Age Guitar Accessories. They are really friendly and will happily help you out in choosing the right products for you. They also offer other guitar accessories like kill switches and guitar knobs, neither of which I have tried yet but I'm sure would be great.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have enjoyed this review of the Agate picks from Iron Age Guitar Accessories. If you do enjoy reading The Pick and feel like you would be interested in supporting it financially, please do check out my Sponsorship Page. Any donations would be excellent and let me continue to work on The Pick.