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Mark E
Lokahi
USA
186 Posts |
 Posted - 10/14/2004 : 01:05:50 AM
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Can anyone direct me to where I can get some Kent plastic fingerpicks? I bought a couple years ago - I'm not sure where - but they fit and sound way better than any I can find such as Nationals or Dunlops. The two I have are multi-colored if that makes a difference. Mahalo in advance, Mark (Eisenstadt)
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Leonard
Lokahi
USA
124 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2004 : 2:03:05 PM
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| Sorry I can't help you on the kent fingerpicks. try internet search. But I can highly recommend the Alaska Piks. They come in four sizes (I use large on fingers and XL on thumb) and I think they're great. Elderly Music carries them at $1.45 each. They're unlike any other fingerpick, since they sit on the top of your finger, not the bottom, and they hook under your own fingernail. I've never had success using fingerpicks before, just couldn't get the knack, but with these, I could play about like my own nails the minute I put them on. Some people put a piece of transparent tape around them for added security, but I haven't had any trouble with them coming off. Good luck. LRR |
Be the change that you wish to see in the world. M. Gandhi |
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OHIO-HAOLE
Akahai
USA
86 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2004 : 06:13:57 AM
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 HEY MARK...I'm with Leonard...Alaska pics RULE!..I use the same sizes he does...they run small. Nice crisp clean sound...take a little gettin use to...I used one XL on my thumb first then worked onto my other fingers. Give it a go, what have you to loose but a few bucks.....Aloha...Ken. |
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wdf
Ha`aha`a
USA
1153 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2004 : 1:25:37 PM
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| Mark, post a picture of a Kent fingerpick. Maybe we can find something equivalent. |
Dusty |
Edited by - wdf on 10/15/2004 1:26:05 PM |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2004 : 08:16:10 AM
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Admin here, posting for eisensta since he needed help to post the image... quote:
The point about these fingerpicks is that the blades are curved side-to-side as well as lengthwise so they fit better and, most important, create a beautiful loud and round tone when the string is plucked. They are much louder than any other fingerpick (not to mention fingernails) I can find except for metal fingerpicks and these sound scratchy on the wound strings. They are also much louder than Alaska picks which also sound kind of tinny or thin on the high E string on my Martin. So any help in finding these or something like them would be most appreciated.
Mahalo,
Mark (E)
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wdf
Ha`aha`a
USA
1153 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2004 : 12:45:59 PM
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| The Dunlop shell plastic fingerpicks at the bottom of this page look similar. Have you tried them? |
Dusty |
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Mark E
Lokahi
USA
186 Posts |
Posted - 11/04/2004 : 12:06:11 AM
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Thanks but these are some of the ones I've tried. I wish you could hear what a beautiful, bell-like sound the Kents produce.
Mark (E) |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 11/04/2004 : 12:25:07 AM
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| I tried searching the internet and surprising (to me) came up with nothing. |
Andy |
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marzullo
`Olu`olu
USA
923 Posts |
Posted - 11/04/2004 : 12:49:42 AM
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mark, in what part (or parts) of the world were you when they first showed up in your life? was that weeks ago, years ago, decades ago? is there anything written on them besides "Kent (R)"?
i bet that they were made for the kent brand guitar. according to http://www.hagstrom.org.uk/history.htm#Goya:quote:
The Kent Branded instruments were extensively produced in Korea and Japan circa 1960’s. The was no Kent Guitar company, it was a distribution brand for the USA. Distributed in the US by Distributors in New York, Texas, North Carolina and Massachusetts. Kent was a trademark used on a full line of acoustic and solid body electric guitars, banjos and mandolins imported into the US and Canadian markets in the 60’s - but NOT MADE BY HAGSTROM. Some of the early Kent guitars (all types) were made in Japan by either Teisco or Guyatone, at this time entry level models. After this, Hagstrom produced versions of their Solid Electric Hagstrom I, II and III and Electric Bass guitars as Kents also just for the US market, as: 1) a way to get into the market with a brand that was at heard of in the US, and 2) a way for the Kent brand to make a quality leap in an increasingly discerning market. Hagstrom ceased to produce under the Kent brand presumably because they became popular under their own name! I have no other info on Kent, beyond the old “David Bowie once played a Kent Guitar” – now that one WAS a Hagstrom!
at http://www.hagstrom.org.uk/other_brands.htm is a photo of the Kent logo, which seems pretty close to what's on your picks.
aloha, keith |
Edited by - marzullo on 11/04/2004 01:03:28 AM |
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Mark E
Lokahi
USA
186 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2004 : 6:56:24 PM
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Dear Keith -
You're right!! The Kent logo on the picks is exactly the same as on the pictured guitar! However, as Dion and The Belmonts sang - "Who Knows Where Or When?" I got the two I now have. I can only say that it was in the U.S. and not recently. I know that I picked these up because I hadn't seen plastic fingerpicks shaped like this and thought I might want to try them with the banjo some day. So I threw them in the banjo case as I have done with all kinds of other fingerpicks I have accumulated.
I rediscovered them recently because my 0-18 came back from having a neck reset but the climactic notes of Doug McMaster's version of Puff The Magic Dragon come out too soft. (These are the 2 highest strings barred at the 12th and played together.) Since I knew that Doug uses fingerpicks, I went searching in the banjo case and came up with these, among others, with the results already described. (By the way, is there something else I can do to make those notes louder - e.g. doing something with the frets?) Bottom line - I'm searching for more of these before they give out.
I have sent an email to the Hagstrom site asking them to put this in their want ads. Any other ideas for how to make use of your discovery about them?
Mahalo mucho for your posting and help.
Mark (E) |
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