According to Crawford Young, the thing to do is to strip the feather material away from the stem on the THIN end of the feather. This gives a strong, round, flexible stem which can be bent in any direction. He often uses a nylon G string from a guitar, which is about the same thickness and flexibility. I've been told by Kenneth Be that a feather duster can be a source of ostrich feathers. cheers,
>This past weekend I spent half a day with Carlo Cecchoni - he made some >adjustments to the >cittern he made for me - and we talked quite a bit about picks. Carlo >plays baroque mandolin >(Roman version) and has been experimenting with various materials. He's >made some nice picks >from bark that work very well. > >I'm in Umbria this month so may be able to get some ostrich feathers. Has >anyone had any >experience making quill picks? I've heard that ostrich feathers work well, >as do crow. I've never >tried splitting a quill, though, so if anyone has any tips or advice... > >What picks are people using? > >Doc > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------- >mail2web - Check your email from the web at >http://mail2web.com/ . > > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Ed Durbrow Saitama, Japan http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/
