Dunlop Jazz III guitar picks review - Part 1

I've been playing guitar for over 20 years and for most of that time been using fairly stiff regular size picks - the green Dunlop Tortex .88's mainly.

I find these about as stiff as regular nylon 1mm picks and grippy enough for sweaty gigs. The Gator grips are pretty cool too.

Anyway, a student of mine would regularly bring along his latest pick experiments which seemed to be mainly super chunky beasts of plastic - 2mm type things, but on occasion there would be something a little more svelte!

Memorable ones include the Pickboy carbon fibre and .....the Dunlop Jazz III.

Thanks but no thanks

The Jazz III is a pick that I've been aware of for a long time, having read about it countless times in guitar magazine interviews with six string cover stars. These artists include Matt Heafy (Trivium), Mick Thomson (Slipknot), John Petrucci (Dream Theater), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Joe Bonamassa and the tonemeister himself; Eric Johnson but when my student brought it along and kindly gave me one, it pretty quickly got relegated to the "interesting but I'm happy enough with my Tortex thanks" pick tin.

A true guitarist wants, they don't need.

Fast forward a few years to today and I've been looking at my current pick collection and thinking its a little tired, not having bought any picks in a LONG time. Now don't get me wrong, the picks themselves are holding up very well, there is still a decent shape and I don't notice any real difference playing with the worn picks compared to the tips of new ones, so apart from the slight rounding of the tip and the printed graphics being long gone, I don't really need any new picks, but need is not really in a guitarists vocabulary.

A touch too much?

Such is the way of the world these days, we have an unhealthy amount of choice available to us for every item under the sun. The Jazz III is no exception! So in the interest keeping the dirty cogs of consumerism working, I wanted them all! OK, maybe not all of them, but a good selection. I suppose I was also slightly interested in actual meaningful things like: what is the actually difference between all the different types of Dunlop Jazz III picks and do they make me play and sound better, differently or is it all moot?

A late night trip to http://www.guitarplectrums.co.uk/ had various incarnations
 of Dunlop's famous pick on their merry way to MartysGuitars HQ.

Among the consignment was a Tortex Pitch Black, Max Grip, XL, Red Jazz III and as guitarists can never resist a signature model, an Eric Johnson version.
A few days later they arrived, held in simple but clever slits on the invoice sheet.

I like simple and clever things.

Here's a run down of the different types

Regular Red Dunlop Nylon Jazz III Red Nylon Sharp 1.38 mm Guitar Plectrum;
The biggest difference in using Jazz III and regular size picks is the size difference.
The smaller surface area seems foreign and initial doubts are placed in the guitarist mind weather they will have the same control, if they will drop it easier and other paranoid views.
The truth is that the smaller size provides more control because the pick can be held tighter to the hand and dropping it is no different than another pick. The nylon has raised letters which provide the necessary grip on the bright red nylon surface.

Dunlop Nylon Jazz III XL Red Nylon Sharp 1.38mm Guitar Plectrums;
These have the shape an point of the regular Jazz III but with a larger size more akin to "normal" plectrums. I thought these would be a good transition plectrum from regular size to Jazz size.

Dunlop Max Grip Jazz III Red Nylon Guitar Plectrums

These are regular sized but with grippy raised texture, like a plastic sandpaper effect. The idea is to provide maximum grip for the user.. Clever name eh? There's a 24p price increase over the regular on these.

Dunlop Nylon Jazz III Eric Johnson Red Nylon Sharp 1.38 mm Guitar Plectrums

These are very similar to regular red Jazz III with a raised Eric Johnson signature. The material is a little softer and apparently it's shape was digitally scanned from Eric's favourite (and worn) Jazz III. Oh yeah, and a 10p price increase.

Dunlop Tortex Pitch Black Jazz 0.88mm Guitar Plectrums

A regular sized jazz but made from Tortex rather than nylon. I like Tortex because of its smooth but grippy feel and I'm too much of a cretin to hear the difference in material when playing. These are 10p cheaper than the regular Jazz.

The MartysGuitars verdict

Regular

I've been using these now for around 3 months including a few gigs - the real proving ground! - and they are now my go to pick. Using a regular size pick now seems too big and harder to control for detail single note playing

I still use medium to thin regular size picks for acoustic but for electric, the Jazz III has taken over.

XL

Whilst the shape and in particular the tip provide the great attack and accuracy of the regular Jazz I find these a little big to be comfortable playing. I would suggest they are used as the transition pick for players wishing to change to the Jazz III

Eric Johnson

I find these no different in playing compared to the non signature version and I don't buy into the "exact replica" of his favourite pick marketing.
I like the fact that tat Eric's name is on them. But that's just a guitarist thing. And good marketing. Oh dear.

Max Grip

These do feel very grippy when holding but I'm wary that they may be too grippy and not allow the fine adjustment of the pick when playing, making note attack and nuances more difficult. I will give them more playing time to prove them out but for now I recommend them for particular sweaty players.

Tortex

I had been using Tortex for a long time and found them hard wearing with good stiffness. The Jazz size Tortex is a good pick for those who don't get on with nylon ( sound and feel and grip). My biggest issue with them is, as the name implies, they are black, which makes them invisible on a dark stage and even in the house/rehearsal room. Make them red or green or something else and I might move from nylon to Tortex.

Addendum, I've noticed that there are medium Tortex ( the green .88) in jazz shape available. I'll be getting a few of these in the future to try. Stay tuned.

Next time....

In the next instalment, we have sound samples of the different Jazz III picks for you to hear the tone yourself.

Thanks for reading, and let me know about your Jazz III experiences, let's have a bit of Eric...

Dunlop's official Cult of Jazz III page is available here.