APOLLO (USA) John Reischman Pick

Introducing: The John Reischman picks

1.2mm, PEEK or PEI, Shape B

The picks are all 1.2mm in thickness, and you’ll have a choice to order them in PEI (black) or PEEK (off white).

If you want to know more about what this PEI material is, you can click on the FAQ link above. And you you can read about PEEK here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyether_ether_ketone

Why two materials?

According to John himself:

“I really like the PEI material for the mandolin. It’s similar to Tortoise Shell in the sense that you can get a full tonal spectrum. Easy to get a deep tone, but also provides a nice high end.

I prefer the PEEK material for mandolin when I have new strings. It smooths out the bright, new string tone, and also is less prone to getting a scratchy surface from the new strings. I also like the peek material for the larger mando instruments like my mandola and octave mandolin. Sounds better to me on the heavier wound strings.”

I think you are going to like these!

Two more things: You can specify whether you want a rounded edge, or a bevel on these picks. When I bevel John’s picks I do it super lightly. As a matter of fact, I had a chance to study the wear pattern on one of John’s favorite natural picks. The bevel I put on these will recreate that wear (angle, amount etc…) that I saw on that pick.

Lastly, the laser engraving looks a little different on the PEI than it does on the PEEK. On the PEI the laser engraves in a way that looks sharp and clean, but I’m finding that PEEK is a little more difficult to engrave. On these PEEK picks the laser marks seem a little “softer.” You can see the engraving marks in the photos to compare. It doesn’t look bad, just a little different.