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Design Problem, or User Behavior Problem? Guitar Pick Storage

If you're an industrial designer who plays guitar, please sound off

By Rain Noe - May 24

in Human Factors

Imagine a time when tools were scarce, being difficult to manufacture. They were prized and owners were careful with them.

Nowadays we've grown so rich, we'll buy multiples of objects that our ancestors would have killed to own just one of. We do this because they're easy to lose, or we scatter them around various life stations so they'll always be on hand. For me, tape measures, reading glasses and rollerball pens fall in this category. For others it's umbrellas, sunglasses, sticky-note pads, guitar picks.

Let's look at that last one. I don't play guitar, but stumbled across a couple online discussions (here and here) of guitarists seeking solutions for storing picks, a/k/a plectrums. Their comments reveal: They're small and easy-to-lose; cats enjoy playing with them; like bobby pins, they seem to wind up all over the house, leading to time-wasting searches; storing them in dedicated pockets means they tend to congregate in the washing machine. These may seem like minor inconveniences, but the stakes are higher for a guitarist who's about to take the stage and can't find a pick anywhere.

As a result, one commenter stores them "In the small pockets of my jeans, in the guitar case, between the guitar strings, under my keyboard, in my phone case, in my wallet, in the car."

I looked at design attempts to solve this problem. One strategy is to attach them to something you always carry, like keys.

Image: Iron Age Accessories

Or your wallet. This one features a dedicated pick slot, making it less likely to get lost behind other items.

Image: Jack Archer

Another strategy is to attach them to the guitar case itself.

Image: Iron Age Accessories

Or the actual guitar. These gizmos cling to the strings.

Image: Alice

Image: Rombo

This sticky-backed holder stores three picks, and you attach it to your guitar. (A nice idea, but it gets poor reviews; apparently the adhesion quality sucks.)

Image: Lesun

Yet another strategy, is to create a bulkier object that is less easy to lose than a pair of picks. This spring-loaded object stores multiple picks (strangely, the manufacturer doesn't say how many) and takes up more space in a pocket.

Image: Jim Dunlop

This leather clamshell holder goes even larger:

Image: Rauyivany

Of course, all of these objects can be rendered useless, if the user does not remember to place the picks back in them when they're done playing. Which invites debate: Would you call this a design problem, or a user behavior problem, and why?

Lastly: If any of you are both industrial designer and guitarist, how do you store your picks?

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Joe Babb

5 months ago

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What? No solution for storing thumb picks? I use picks that slide onto my thumb. They don't store well. I keep a few here there and everywhere. Guitarists are generally "picky" (haw haw) about the picks they use and have favorites. Not all picks are created equal.

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Renato NYC

5 months ago

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Over 30 years playing guitar. About 30 years designing.

These solutions are all gimmicky, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a professional using any of them on a regular basis (the most common solution for pros is a strip of double-sided tape on the mic stand or guitar headstock.)

I've always assumed the little 'fifth pocket' on my jeans were made for guitar picks... one time I left it empty and grabbed a random pick at Guitar Center, that ended up in my mouth as most picks do, which made me gag and skirt hand sanitizer on my tongue. eew

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kent murphy

6 months ago

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Should have said 9 months after I sent it Pilot, not Pentel.

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kent murphy

6 months ago

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I see that you like retractable rollerball pens.

I claim to have originated them. Way back in the late 1980's, I realized that the then-relatively-new rollerball writers - then water-based, not gel-based - didn't dry out. I put a Bic-brand roller in the oven and gave it some heat, and it still worked. Left it uncapped for days. Blah blah blah.

I filed a patent application for a retracting mechanism:   https://patents.google.com/patent/EP0421937A2/en?oq=ininventor:Kent+ininventor:D+ininventor:Murphy

I was living in Ireland at the time - moved there from the US, since royalties are/were tax free, but I never got any royalties - and circulated to the various German pen manufacturers. One well-known maker gave it a long look, and another told me it would dry out.

I sent it to Pentel in California, and the Japanese president had me talk to an American, who told me it looked like something in a novelty shop.

I sent it to Pilot in Connecticut, and the American running it sent it to Japan.

There was a pen shop across the street from Trinity College in Dublin that I would browse through, and, about nine months later from the date I sent it to Pentel, I found Pilot's Explorer rolling ball writer.  https://www.officeworld.com/Worlds-Biggest-Selection/PIL35360/14Q1/

I asked the man in the store "Is this new?" and his reply was "They're exploring the market."

I re-contacted the German companies - see, look, don't you want to compete with Pilot? - and nobody did.

I returned to the US, and found the Pilot Explorer in a stationery store in West Virginia.

I never did see anybody else make a retractable rolling ball writer - water-based - until I see that everybody makes retractable gel-based rolling ball writers.

It seems that in the history of retractable writing instruments, there was only one rolling ball writer - the Pilot Explorer. Certain reverse-engineering characteristic allow me to claim to have originated it.

I got no money out of it. If there is anybody who doesn't believe Murphy's Law is real, take my word for it, it is.

I have a few now-30-plus-years-old Pilot Explorers. A few months ago, I checked, and they still write.

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Jason Blandford

6 months ago

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A dedicated pick-pocket (no pun intended) is unnecessary. You can easily fit 2 or 3 in the wallet pictured above without a special place for them. Depending on the guitarist's preference, they are nearly the same thickness as a credit card. In fact, I've seen credit-card-shaped plastic with pick-shaped cavities made just for wallets. Like John K already stated, EDC nonsense. :-) But to each his own.

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Louis Leblanc

6 months ago

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I think it's an identity thing from some guitar players. You show you're legit by always having picks on you. You don't ask for a pick in a guitar store, someone hands you a guitar - you reach for the pick in your pocket.

But it's kind of a legit problem. You end up having picks everywhere and you can never find the right thickness when you need it. With that said, I think the closest I'd come to having a dedicated pick holding device would be on the guitar strap if I was to play live again.

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John Kestner

6 months ago

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My solution would be to make the guitar out of picks, and you pull off a piece as needed. Like a bread bowl.

Seriously, I buy bags of them and leave them in my small jeans pocket, guitar case, back of the amp. They’re cheap! This is some EDC nonsense.

Reason the pick holder mfg didn’t say how many it can hold is because picks come in different thicknesses according to the player’s preference.

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Alan Nomoto

6 months ago

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Wouldn’t be caught dead showing up at soundcheck with a “bespoke” guitar pick case, holder, whatever… A piece of Black Gaffer tape works fine.

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