morthawt wrote:Do you think I should get it in 0.025" thickness? I am thinking of getting another steep hook in 0.025 since the last one was 0.020. I just like the idea of the nuclear force proof picks that are super strong. I am just not sure to what degree it matters. 301 max yield steel or what ever it is, how much of a difference is it really? I have never broken a pick, even my thin SouthOrd C801 kit. But I have seen videos of people really going to town on their picks bending the hell out of them to get pins set. So I am really curious about max yield steel picks like the Sparrows 0.025 and SouthOrd MAX to know if it really matters?
.025" is going to be just fine most of the time... It's plenty strong, and sparrows' steel is good steel. When I rake with it, I just sort of "brush" the tips of the pins, so I don't use a lot of force with it anyway (I generally don't use a lot of force for any picking, but there are a lot of locks I haven't experienced yet so I can't yet claim that heavy force is never necessary). The main advantage of thinner picks is they will fit into keyways a .025" pick won't fit into. Thinner picks also give a little better feedback, imo. I've been using the Peterson .018" hooks quite a bit... they feel much stronger than the .015" picks I have, but generally fit into all the stuff I used to use .015" for. I don't personally see a lot of advantage in buying a bunch of thin rakes, tho... I have a few tripple-peaks in .018" but rarely use them and they don't seem as effective as others for whatever reason, and I have a sparrows .015" tripple that I keep for "just in case" but also rarely find a need for.
That said, I would also tell you that's all just me... you may find other ways work better for you, and I think a big part of this game is trying out as much as you can and finding what you really like.