Brossard Picks Review - Oooh shiny! (1 Sept 2013 Update)

Branshen

Brossard Picks

Brossard Picks is a manufacturer that strives to make something as mundane as a plectrum into beautiful pieces of craftsmanship. American rock guitarist Nancy Wilson calls them “wearable works of art”, and the reason for this statement becomes obvious for anyone who has a look at the pick store.

Whether or not you think wearing plectrums on your neck is cheesy, it cannot be denied that these picks are much more eye catching than your regular tortex variety. Brossard makes them from bone, horn, exotic woods and, possibly the most striking of all, abalone.

The founder and maker Chris Brossard honed his craftsmanship skills in France for a decade working with high end furniture and as a luthier, before moving to America in 1997. He then worked as a Luthier at ZETA Music Systems, producing violins and basses, and at Haight Ashbury Music Center, dealing with repairs and custom made instruments.

The manufacturing process of the plectrums. (Source: Brossard Picks? - The Acoustic Guitar Forum)

The set which I have for review today consists of the standard variety in 3 types of material. I was told by Chris himself that having a few would help me appreciate the different tonal performances between materials.

Starting from the left to right, top to bottom, we have a horn, bone and ebony pick, followed by a British pound coin and a Fender Heavy pick on the lower row.

First impressions:

Each of these picks are made with impeccable attention to detail, the surfaces of the picks are buffed to be as smooth as possible and the shape and form of each pick is well defined and consistent, which is incredible considering that they are all handcrafted. The only slight niggle is that there are inconsistencies with the horn material, as shown in the picture. Although it is forgivable knowing that the materials used to make these plectrums are, after all, natural.

The set of 3 picks comes with a nice leather pick-holder keychain, which proudly says “Made in Canada” on the bottom. It holds one standard Brossard pick.

Feel:

These picks are about as thick as my 3.0mm Dunlop picks, and they all have bevelled tips, which are a must to increase the playability of substantial-sized plectrums. The picks I have are from the standard series and are larger than a normal plectrum by a little bit. However, when it comes to playing with them, they feel a lot longer and I have to consciously pick a little further away from the strings. Getting used to this doesn't take long though, and soon enough “normal” picks will feel a little too short. The Horn and Bone pick have a glassy quality to their surface. Whereas, the ebony one is smooth, but you can still feel the grain on the surface of the pick. All plectrums come with a hole to string a necklace through. These holes are also dual-functional and provide some extra grip to the pick.

Sound:

Unlike gravity (previously reviewed) and v-picks, these picks don’t emit“chirp” sounds when used. I could not really tell the difference between the sounds of the bone or horn pick, both are very sharp and clear. The wood pick on the other hand sounds relatively duller. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, just different. 

My favourite:

Personally, the ebony one is my favourite, sound-wise and feel-wise. However, I am rather worried about durability, seeing as it is only made of wood. I'm sure the bone and horn one will fare better in that aspect. 

How to get some:

Brossard Picks are based in the USA, but ordering some is very easy. Just head on to the website, place your order and it will be delivered to your door. Delivery of my picks took less than a week. The set of 3 standard picks cost $19.95, but if this is too steep, the picks can be had for cheaper by getting the single picks and B-stock items. Theses start at $3.95.

Brossard also has occasional discount codes on their Facebook page, so check this out too.

Website: http://www.brossardpicks.com/

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/brossardpicks/

Lixarto

I don't know about that, but I have deleted the duplicate thread, which was picked up by the spam filter.

This should not happen to you again

ddlooping

Branshen said:

Admin: I received a message "Body is 822 characters too long." when I tried to post this review

  You could split it into several parts.

monquixote

It tends to happen when there is loads of formatting (like if you paste in from word) 

Try pasting into notepad and from there into the comment box and if that doesn't work split into multiple posts. 

Branshen

Fixed it! Yay! Cheers Monoquixote. 

redrighthand

"These holes are also dual-functional"

Lol