Lost my pick in the sound hole

robert schuler
robert schuler
@robert-schuler
9 years ago
256 posts
I make my picks slightly larger than my sound holes, and I make my sound holes slightly smaller than my picks. Problem solved... Bob
Mandy
Mandy
@mandy
9 years ago
140 posts

Haven't read the responses but the title sounds like it could be a song title "lost my pick in the soundhole"Smile.gif

Kristi Keller
Kristi Keller
@kristi-keller
9 years ago
84 posts

Hmmm

Try turning dulcimer over (strings facing your legs-assuming you are seated) and giving it a couple of shakes. You may hear the pick fall from base to top. Return to usual position and jiggle the darned thing to try to move pick someplace where it could be seen . A small flashlight or bright light is necessary. Then try the varied retrieval tools which have been shared by those of us who have also dropped our picks...

Maryann Lang
Maryann Lang
@maryann-lang
9 years ago
56 posts

Hi Kristi: No it is still stuck inside - I can get it to rattle around once in a while but it seems to get trapped and then doesn't move. I have tried almost every form of pick available from basic cheap guitar to home made from a coffee can lid to turkey feather and the V-pick just seems to produce the best sound for me plus I like the feel. The variety in size, shape and thickness seems endless and everyday I have a different favorite, changes with my mood and tune. They are hand made in USA (Tennessee) and the service is fantastic - I always order at least 3 and I get a free "try me" pick that I did not even ask for! Don't know i

f you have to order more than 1 for the free one. They start at about $3, but I think they are so worth it - here's a pic of my latest shipment - the pink one was my freebee, the red one is my current favorite!

it!

Kristi Keller said:

There is such a tool - a long handled hemostat. Use tiny flashlight to locate the blasted pick and shake pick until it is under a sound hole. Use hemostat. Viola, the errant has returned.

Kristi Keller
Kristi Keller
@kristi-keller
9 years ago
84 posts

Monday morning here. Have you retrieved your pick yet?

By the way, what is the allure of the V picks?

Maryann Lang
Maryann Lang
@maryann-lang
9 years ago
56 posts

Hi Tim: Thanks for the kind offer - I have to admit that I have at least a half dozen V-Picks, but this was my only Bing V-pick so I just had to order a new one! (and one other that I could not resist!) I'm registered for Maidencreek, looking forward to it!

Tim Shortt said:

Wait, people use picks?!! I've been tearing apart the feathers of dead Thanksgiving animals.

(I just read that sentence and it's a weird thing to say on the Internet)

I actually have string clippings inside my dulcimer. A pick I can understand (and sympathize with)...but string clippings? How did they end up in there?

Hemostat idea reminds me of the game Operation.

Maryann, if you don't get it out by Maidencreek I'll give you the two V-Picks I own.

Ken Longfield
Ken Longfield
@ken-longfield
9 years ago
965 posts

I too use the tape on the end of a pencil. Just like Joe said, ". . . works like a charm."

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Wout Blommers
Wout Blommers
@wout-blommers
9 years ago
97 posts

Psychology!

Funny remarks in the answers means everybody feel him/herself silly when it happens. Just like being angry with myself when cutting my fingers during cooking.

joe sanguinette
joe sanguinette
@joe-sanguinette
9 years ago
73 posts

tape on the end of a pencil works like a charm. iv'e used it for years. once the evil forces realize they no longer irritate you the problem stops :)

Dusty Turtle
Dusty Turtle
@dusty-turtle
9 years ago
1,649 posts

It happens to the best of us. Just tell people it's a rattlesnake rattle given to you by a blind shaman when you played a rendition of Shady Grove that cured him of gout during the blizzard of '78. Hey, it's a better story than "I dropped my pick."Grin.gif




--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie
Wout Blommers
Wout Blommers
@wout-blommers
9 years ago
97 posts

A knitting needle with some chewing gum?

(When the dulciner when moved makes a rattling sound: it's made by balls of hard chewing gum)

Playing the guitar it happened a lot to me, but not anymore. One is able to grow over it... Smile.gif

About loosing picks, in my case placing them on hidden spots in the house. I bought a 72 pieces bag, which makes them much more cheaper. I thought I had enough for the next two years. Wrong! I found them againover time, so the bag has a stable amout of 63 picksover theyears!

Don Tyo
Don Tyo
@don-tyo
9 years ago
10 posts

The eraser end of a pencil with a bit of folded cellophane tape will sometimes recover the pick. However a quill will not usually fall into a sound hole. Grin.gif

Kristi Keller
Kristi Keller
@kristi-keller
9 years ago
84 posts

There is such a tool - a long handled hemostat. Use tiny flashlight to locate the blasted pick and shake pick until it is under a sound hole. Use hemostat. Viola, the errant has returned.

Maryann Lang
Maryann Lang
@maryann-lang
9 years ago
56 posts

Hate when that happens! It was my Bing Futch model V-Pick. Heard it rattling around for a while but it stopped - don't think it fell out. Someone should invent a pick extractor. I'd definitely buy one!


updated by @maryann-lang: 06/11/15 07:40:42AM