Three plectra for use with guitar

PlectrumFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringedinstrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars andmandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick, and is a separate toolheld in the player's hand. In harpsichords, the plectra are attached tothe jack mechanism.

Contents1 Plectra wielded by hand

1.1 Guitars and similar instruments1.2 Non-Western instruments1.3 Gallery: plectra from around the world

2 Plectra in harpsichords2.1 Voicing harpsichord plectra

3 Etymology and usage4 See also5 Notes6 References

Plectra wielded by handGuitars and similar instrumentsA plectrum (pick) for electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass guitars and mandolins is typically a thin pieceof plastic or other material shaped like a pointed teardrop or triangle. The size, shape and width may varyconsiderably. Thin items such as small coins, bread clips or broken compact discs and credit cards can beused as substitute plectra. Banjo and guitar players may wear a metal or plastic thumb pick mounted on aring, and bluegrass banjo players often wear metal or plastic fingerpicks on their fingertips. Guitarists alsouse fingerpicks.

Guitar picks are made of a variety of materials, including celluloid, metal, and rarely other exotic materialssuch as turtle shell, but today delrin is the most common. For other instruments in the modern day mostplayers use plastic plectra but a variety of other materials, including wood and felt (for use with theukulele) are common. Guitarists in the rock, blues, jazz and bluegrass genres tend to use a plectrum, partlybecause the use of steel strings tends to wear out the fingernails quickly, and also because a plectrumprovides a more 'focused' and 'aggressive' sound. Many guitarists also use the pick and the remaining right-hand fingers simultaneously to combine some advantages of flat picking and finger picking. This techniqueis called hybrid picking.

A plectrum of the guitar type is often called a pick (or a flatpick to distinguish it from fingerpicks).

Non-Western instrumentsThe plectra for the Japanese biwa and shamisen can be quite large, and those used for the Arabic oud arelonger and narrower, replacing the formerly used eagle feather. Plectra used for Chinese instruments such

as the sanxian were formerly made of animal horn, though many players today use plastic plectra.

Gallery: plectra from around the worldClick on the images to view them in full size.

A traditional handcrafted coconut shellsarod plectrum, alsoknown as a Javva

Alcaeus and Sapphoholding their lyres andplectra. Attic red-figurekalathos, ca. 470 BC,StaatlicheAntikensammlungen(Inv. 2416)

Bachi, or plectra for usewith shamisen

Biwa plectra

Risha for Oud

Plectra in harpsichordsIn a harpsichord, there is a separate plectrum for eachstring. These plectra are very small, often only about acentimeter long, about 1.5 millimeters wide, and half amillimeter thick. The plectrum is gently tapered, beingnarrowest at the plucking end. The top surface of theplectrum is flat and horizontal, and is held in the tongueof the jack, which permits it to pluck moving upwardand pass almost silently past the string movingdownward.

In the historical period of harpsichord construction (upto about 1800) plectra were made of sturdy featherquills, usually from crows or ravens. In Italy, somemakers (including Bartolomeo Cristofori) used vulture

Upper portion of a harpsichord jack holding aplectrum

quills.[1] Other Italian harpsichords employed plectra ofleather.[2] In late French harpsichords by the greatbuilder Pascal Taskin, peau de buffle, a chamois-likematerial from the hide of the European bison, was usedfor plectra to produce a delicate pianissimo.[2]

Modern harpsichords frequently employ plectra madewith plastic, specifically the plastic known as acetal. Some plectra are of the homopolymer variety ofacetal, sold by DuPont under the name "Delrin", while others are of the copolymer variety, sold by Ticonaas "Celcon".[3] Harpsichord technicians and builders generally use the trade names to refer to thesematerials. In either of its varieties, acetal is far more durable than quill, which cuts down substantially onthe time that must be spent in voicing (see below).[4]

A number of contemporary builders and players[5] have reasserted the superiority of bird quill for high-level harpsichords. While the difference in sound between acetal and quill is acknowledged to be small,[6]what difference may exist is held to be to the advantage of quill. In addition, quill plectra are observed tofail gradually, giving warning by the diminishing volume; whereas acetal plectra fail suddenly andcompletely, sometimes in the middle of a performance.

Voicing harpsichord plectraThe plectra of a harpsichord must be cut precisely, in a process called "voicing". A properly voicedplectrum will pluck the string in a way that produces good musical tone and matches well in loudness withall of the other strings. The underside of the plectrum must be appropriately slanted and entirely smooth, sothat the jack will not "hang" (get caught on the string) when, after sounding a note, it is moved back downbelow the level of the string.

Normally, voicing is carried out by inserting the plectrum into the jack, then placing the jack on a smallwooden voicing block, so that the top of the plectrum sits flush with the block. The plectrum is then cut andthinned on the underside with a small, very sharp knife, often an X-Acto knife. As the plectrum isprogressively trimmed, its jack is replaced in the instrument at intervals to test the result for loudness, tonequality, and the possibility of hanging.

Voicing is a refined skill, carried out fluently by professional builders, but one that usually must also belearned (at least to some degree) by harpsichord owners.[7]

Etymology and usageFirst attested in English 15th century,[8] the word "plectrum" comes from Latin plectrum, itself derivedfrom Greek [9] (plktron), "anything to strike with, an instrument for striking the lyre, a spearpoint".[10][11]

"Plectrum" has both a Latin-based plural, plectra and a native English plural, plectrums. Plectra is used informal writing, particularly in discussing the harpsichord as an instrument of classical music.[12] However,plectrums is more common in ordinary speech. In vernacular speech the abbreviation pleck or plec issometimes used.

See alsoGuitar pickHybrid pickingFingerpickMezrabFlatpickingCrosspickingString instrument

Notes1. Jensen 1998, 852. Hubbard 19673. For a discussion of these plastics, see [1] (http://www.fortepiano.com/plectra/plectra_002.htm).4. This reflects what is probably the mainstream view; however, the builder Grant O'Brien has suggested that if cut

properly, a quill plectrum will last indefinitely, and he mentions harpsichords from the historical period whosequills have lasted intact to the present. The correct form of voicing, O'Brien suggests, involves tapering, so that aplectrum will display constant curvature at the moment it is maximally displaced in plucking. Source: [2](http://www.claviantica.com/Design_files/Construction_particulars_files/Raven_quills_files/Raven_quill_plucking_string.htm)

5. Hendrik Broekman ([3] (http://www.hubharp.com/technical_articles2/soundboard_quill.htm)), Tilman Skowroneck([4] (http://skowroneck.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/voicing-i/)), Keith Hill ([5](http://instrumentmaking.keithhillharpsichords.com/quilling.html)).

6. See Skowroneck, op. cit., Broekman, op. cit., and for a particularly skeptical view O'Brien, [6](http://www.claviantica.com/Design_files/Construction_particulars_files/Raven_quills.htm).

7. Source for all of this section: Kottick (1987)8. Oxford English Dictionary, online edition (www.oed.com)9. Oxford English Dictionary

10. (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2383798), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus

11. Greek "" comes from the verb "" or "" (plss), "to hit, to strike, to smite, to sting". (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2383870), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus

12. The affiliation of "plectra" and "plectrums" with harpsichords and guitars, respectively, is vividly discussed byGuardian columnist James Fenton: [7](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/oct/13/classicalmusicandopera.art).

ReferencesHubbard, Frank (1967) Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making. Cambridge: Harvard UniversityPress.Jensen, David P. (1998) "A Florentine Harpsichord: Revealing a Transitional Technology" EarlyMusic, February issue, pp. 7185.Kottick, Edward L. (1987) The Harpsichord Owner's Guide. Chapel Hill: The University of NorthCarolina Press.

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Categories: String instrument construction Harpsichord

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