Jergen, if you mean that the thickness is not given in millimeters, you are correct. Here is the website describing the three gauges of the picks: thin, medium, and thick.  Herdim Picks

I'm not sure, but I think the points have more to do with stiffness, rather than thickness, with I being the least stiff and III being the stiffest. As I noted below, people have measured the thickness of the pick and points, but the measurements vary widely.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I like them & use them a lot but  - yes  ( too pointy)  so I round them off just a bit with a nail file. I found the point could scratch my fretboard. 

For the dulcimer I use the red ones, the thickness is actually not documented anywhere. Here in Germany I can order a set of 12 in 3 colors for only 6,90 Euros, if they charge you more for a little piece of nylon you might have just been visiting the wrong shop.

Thanks Ken and Steven. I guess it's just a question of whether I'm so keen to try them that I feel it's worth paying for a variety pack or something. Prices seem a bit silly in the UK though (and I don't know any other dulcimer players in real life to pass them on to!)

Dictum, the company in Germany who makes the Herdim picks, says that they began making them in the 1960s for guitar players and developed by Gunther Dick. There are three gauges of picks; yellow, thin; red, medium; and blue, thick. On each pick there are three points: I is thin, II is medium, and III is thick. Folks have measured the various thickness of points on each pick, but the measurements vary depending upon who does the measuring. I use the blue pick and mostly play with I point.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I like them. I bought an assortment of all 3 colors and I found the blue to be my favorite. The difference between each color pick is not so evident until you start to actually use them; the difference between the 3 points on each color is quite subtle, but it is there. What's nice also, is that the picks have raised areas in the middle which aids in gripping them. Also, they don't seem to wear out (I've been using the same pick and same point for 7 years). 

Picks are a very personal choice...I use several different ones. Some seem to work better on different dulcimers, and I use them for different effects, or even for how I feel that particular play session.

Check your local music store, or, check the Folkcraft website, to see if they have individual Herdim picks. Or, buy the assortment of a dozen, and try them...if you like them, great! If not, they make swell gifts for your dulcimer playing friends!

 

I've never really settled on a preferred pick; I've just used whatever old guitar picks I've had lying around! I suspect I'd rather go thinner, but it would be nice to experiment a bit/have some options.

You ask a good question.  Herdim does not really publish the exact measurements of each corner, so it's hard to know if the different colored picks overlap or not.

When I first started on the dulcimer I bought a dozen of the yellow picks thinking that's what I was supposed to use.  I found it too thin and too pointy and gave them all away.

Some people like them, but I prefer a traditionally shaped guitar pick and buy Dunlop Tortex picks by the dozen.

--
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

I see one comment on a store's website that reads, "Cant say if there is any difference between the blue, red and yellow one - all feel same to me."  I have used one (beige?!), and they're fine.  But it seems to me that the folks I've seen using them always decide they like one corner or another best, and just use that one.  So why not just use a cheaper pick that is the thickness and stiffness you like?  (I buy Dunlop .88mm picks by the dozen, but other folks like thinner or thicker.  Personal preference.  But I sure couldn't afford a dozen Herdim Triangle picks!)

With apologies, I have no answers. This is an excellent question.

Can anyone explain the Herdim three-strength triangular picks to me please? They do a thin, medium and thick (yellow, blue and red respectively, I think), but each of them has three points with three different 'strengths'... How does that work? Does the yellow go from very thin to thin to almost medium, etc., or do they overlap in thicknesses, or are the different 'strengths' to do with something other than thickness, or what? I'm thinking of trying them but they're expensive and I don't want to buy the wrong one(s).

updated by @magictime: 05/26/20 12:48:34PM