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Timber Tones – Exotic Wood Plectrums Review

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Timber Tones – Exotic Wood Plectrums Review

Guitar tone – an enjoyable quest for some, years of torment for others. Every now and again new guitar products hit the market that promise to aid our tonal quest, to provide healing to our guitar woes.

OK, so that’s slightly melodramatic, but with the subject of “tone” planted in the forefront of your mind, it’s worth asking the question: Do Timber Tones guitar plectrums really make a difference to tone?

…I had great fun in experimenting with these plectrums and I’ve narrowed down 1 or 2 that I’m going to purchase more of…

Timber Tones Plectrums

Features:

Timber Tones Plectrums offer a range of guitar picks made from a broad selection of exotic woods. I’m no way a wood expert, but to give you an idea of their product range, there’re approximately 20+ varieties of wood to choose from, ranging from African Ebony, to Zebra Wood through to Blood Wood and African Mahogany.

The picks themselves all seem to be of a similar thickness, fairly thick at approximately 2.5mm. They all look really impressive and they’ve been finished extremely well, with wax/oil applied to aid with grip and protection from dirt and sweat.

Ease of use:

These plectrums are thick. They are much thicker to the picks I currently use. For the past couple of years, I’ve been using medium gauge Fender or .60mm Dunlop picks. At times I play using Dunlop 1.5mm picks (depending on my mood/genre/guitar I’m using).

Placing a Timber Tones pick in my fingers seemed somewhat strange at first, but I was really surprised by how comfortable they are, and crucially, how easy it was to play using one. I was expecting a challenge by jumping from .60mm to 2.5mm, but it turned out to be really enjoyable. I’d even go so far to say I had a “light bulb moment”, with thoughts running through my head akin to “.60mm plectrums are for girls!” (or words to that effect!).

Sound Quality:

Do Timber Tones plectrums make a difference to your tone? In a word; yes.

I was fortunate to try 18 Timber Tones plectrums. The Timber Tones retail pack arranges the plectrums with the hardest and brightest sounding wood in the top left hand corner down to the softest and warmest sounding wood in the bottom right hand corner.

I used all the plectrums and A/B’d them against the 0.6mm and 1.5mm picks I normally use. The difference in tone was instantly noticeable, with all Timber Tones picks providing a warmer attack and tone.

The Timber Tones picks themselves do offer varying degrees of tonal colour, brightness and warmth, but to be honest I felt the differences are subtle. Working through all 21 picks, you can definitely hear the differences, but it took me around 30mins or so before I narrowed down my selection to 1 or 2 plectrums that I’d like to own more of.

It sounds a bit of a cliché, but the tones on offer are warm and organic. Playing my Duesenberg into my Marshall on both clean and dirty settings, the notes all seemed to blend really well into each other. I came away buzzing after narrowing down my selection, genuinely taken aback by subtle differences in tone on offer.

Reliability:

I’m not sure at this early stage how quick these plectrums will wear. I’m thinking it might be some time though…

Overall Rating:

I was slightly apprehensive about trying these plectrums, having a somewhat pessimistic mindset prior to using them, wondering if wooden plectrums will really make any difference to guitar tone.

Timber Tones plectrums do make subtle differences to guitar tone, more so if you are jumping from lighter gauge, Celluloid picks.

In summary, I had great fun in experimenting with these plectrums and I’ve narrowed down 1 or 2 that I’m going to purchase more of. At £2.99 each, they’re not cheap, but if you’re looking to experiment further with your tone, or you’re looking for a slightly warmer sound, it’s really worth seeking a guitar store that stock these plectrums.

Take yourself off and play through their product range – you might find yourself leaving the shop with one or two in your pocket.

For more information about Timber Tones, please visit:

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About the author:

Sam is passionate about talking all things guitar related and started GuitarJar.co.uk to help encourage all guitarists in their guitar playing journey.

3 Comments

  • Bung me one and I will soon tell you how the wear after a couple of hours of controlled metal pratice!

  • I bought one of these and I have to say I was disappointed, it played well, and sounded great, but less than a month of relatively light play it has snapped and now I have a shard left inside my guitar and a zebrawood splinter, I’d recommend it other wise just be careful with it and possibly varnish the end that you don’t use to play to make it more durable

    • No way… that’s so unfortunate. The ones I use are consistently good, although I don’t play hard/fast as a guitarist. Cheers for the comment, it’s great to hear other people’s experiences of the products Guitar Jar reviews.

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