Plastic in Places You Wouldn't Expect

TORTEX? Guitar Picks

If you're even vaguely familiar with guitars you know the "Dunlop" brand.

You may not know that you know it, but I bet you've seen this pick...

The TORTEX? Guitar Pick was created by a man named Jim Dunlop in the early 1980's as a response to the worldwide ban on selling genuine tortoise shell guitar picks.

Jim wanted to replicate the strong tone, weight, grip, and durability that had come from the picks made with tortoise shell... And the Nylon picks already sold by Dunlop Manufacturing simply didn't create the sound that Jim and the musicians were looking for. So...

Building on the precision, consistency, and color-coded gauge system he introduced with Nylon Picks, Jim resolved to create a pick with a bright and snappy attack, superior memory and durability, and an improved grip

What did he choose for his material?

Delrin? 

Delrin? is the Dupont trade name for the material known as Polyoxymethylene (POM) or Acetal. This incredibly common and versatile material has low friction, high wear resistance, excellent dimensional stability, and good colorability. All of which are ideal characteristics for a fashionable guitar pick that is going to be scraped across steel and nickel strings tens of thousands of times.

And since no musician with sweaty hands wants to drop their pick mid-song in front of 50,000 fans, Jim Dunlop further treated the material to improve the grip... The rest was history.

To this day, the TORTEX? Guitar Picks are made at Dunlop HQ in Benicia, California.

As always, please reach out with questions or corrections: [email protected]

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