Transparent Guitar Pick

In this instructable, (which happens to be my first), I will show you how to make an awesome transparent guitar pick out of a few household materials.

The basic idea for making homemade guitar picks is not entirely original, but here I have tweaked the old method to make it sick nasty and see-through. Enjoy!

Step 1: Things You'll Need

Here's what you'll need:

1. An old CD
2. A pen or pencil
3. A guitar pick
4. Scissors
5. Sandpaper
6. Tape

Comments

[gtiba]

I made mine from an old Win98 CD and sanded it to make it look a little bit opalescent. Very cool idea. Thanks.

[andrecl]

Thank you, that was very useful and cool :)

[Danman430]

I tried everything to take the color off...heat,boiling the cd in hot water,prying it apart,sandpaper,but nothing works,how do I get this to work? (p.s. I did each try on a different cd)

[mikezuk]

Nice job.. No cost.. Gotta love it.. What I did was went to www.pickpunch.com and bought a pick punch for $25.00. I don't work for them and get nothing to talk about them. But you gotta see this thing. I can get four pics from an old debit or credit card. Everyone that sees one wants one.. It is just like a hole punch but makes pics. They also sell some clear material. I have all the pics I need now. I give them away...I had an expired drivers license and lined up the punch around the photo and walla, a pic with my pic on it.. Haha..

[bkennelly]

I bought a pick punch, too - and I have no need for guitar picks. I don't play & don't know anyone who does - but I just thought it was so cool I had to have it. Now I have jars full of picks I need find a use for. Time to get crafty LOL
A recent collection from a McDonald's Arch Card
http://twitgoo.com/4rqnft

[mikezuk]

Fun stuff. Crafty is a good idea. I like the McDonalds pics you made.

If you go to an Open Mic night sometime, there are a lot of guitars players that would love a few free guitar pics. Or maybe put them in a small jar and ask the local music shop if they will buy them from you for resale. Just sell them cheap.

[msmith69]

vinyl 45 rpm records from the thrift store work good. They make kids records out of virgin vinyl. (the old ones) they are clear blue, red or yellow. I bought a pickpunch too. I have been using bonus cards from the auto parts store and gas station. used phone cards, tupper ware works good too. Its amazing how much stuff you can find in the trash or at thrift stores or the dollar store that can be punched into picks. Some stuff you need to run under warm water and punch before it cools. warp proof records work good. they wiggle if you hold them at the edge and wave them up and down. A lot of late 70s early 80s LPs are made of this stuff. Lots of fun to try different things. I must have made over a thousand picks in the last couple weeks. I have a few nice ones with the Sunoco logo on them. LOL

[nelsonguitar]

I make my plectrums from old or damaged ouster cards ,old credit cards international phonecards or bleach containers the best one I try and mi favorite is made of plastic takeaway container give it a try it's really cool.best wishes

[Glockenator]

the easiest way to get the silver off is just press it to some masking or duct tape and pull it off

[remssik]

THANK YOU. This actually helped immensely.

[h3llo41]

really nice, though my pics are already hard to find as it is haha

[jvdlcr125]

Just tried this with a DVD and it doesn't work very well at all. When cutting the disk the disk just cracked.

[BigBagels]

and dvd's suck together, but dvd layers work better. the top layer cracks alot so dont use it!

[BigBagels]

I've noticed that plain 'ol CDs are kinda stiff, and its not as easy to play with. If you are having those problems too, i suggest using DVD layers. The op layer tends to crack more and is more fragile while the bottom layer is more flexible. the only bad thing about using the bottom layer is that the ones you use for rewrites can have a blue or purple tinge to them. but its worth it!

[bryce$merryman]

they shatter because some have two sides and if you split it into two the i do u could get twice as many picks i, but i use old games "ps2" and it still works great

[rigel1]

For not cracking the CD cover the surface with some tape.It works well for me.

[ajleece]

I have crap loads of cds. I shall make ze picks!

[labr87]

tq for your instructables.it nice and eay to do.

[da animal freak]

wow great post man! i usually lose my picks every now and then and have to go to the store (which is pretty far from us) and get a new one. and its also a great way to recycle old and scratched CD's that don't work anymore. great pics and great instructable, good job!

[spongebobs.killer]

my pick ended up all shiny and reflective. also it also as thin as a real one! =)

[chixi96]

HEY/......it reallly worked!!! 5 STARS TO U (i actually rated u 5 stars)

[Whales]

 So has anybody tried using the CD after this?

[ShoopDaWhoop]

Yeah, i took at random a CD and once i cutted it i saw it was epic fail 7 so i was like: D'oh and i thought i should test it and i putted it in the computer and then: BOOMM

[Whales]

What happened in this boom?

[ShoopDaWhoop]

Yeah my Pc, no house, no city, no country exploded i don't know how maybe a little dust, or the nuke in my room. But i think it's the cat

[twistedhairball]

hahaaa!

[greatg32]

can't do it!!!!!!!! it's not transparent!!!!!

[narutome44]

awesome but i dont know how to rate. any help?

[guitargod1417]

nice idea

[Morriscow]

haha i actually do this all the time! all my cds come out purple tho... :(

[Liberty Prime]

Wipe it down with rubbing alcohol. It comes right off.

[gavox]

Just made 6 picks out of a cd!! Only thing is I didn't aticipate the thickness, they are VERY thck, any help?

[maxievr]

Tanx Ive made 5 plectrums with one cd :P. Ive used a transparent cd, they're more flexible.

[nuckthebuck]

i didnt read these comments but hey soak the disk in hot-warm water for like 5 min dry off and then draw the pick and cut. if u use a sharpie you can draw the pick first before soaking

[Paulkartking25]

Nice work man love it!!!

[ramnik5]

GREAT!

[alexthedude1]

I just made like 15 picks from one cd!!! Thanks!!

[TSC]

They must have been small casue i could not make 15 picks out of one cd!!!!!!!!!

[beehard44]

i cant make 1 pick.....
they shatter while cutting

[TSC]

whta kind of cd are you useing?

[beehard44]

i gues it was the age of the CD, made it really brittle..
i used a CD from the late 90's
but the technique to cut it is by scoring the outline then heat it a bit then cut it...

[TSC]

wow thats old!!

[beehard44]

yuh, i found a big stack of CD-Rs from 2002 i guess...
i'm using them to make picks. After all, i do not have a burner....

[TSC]

cool!!!!!!!

[teapotking]

 for anyone looking for a good disc brand to use for this, try Verbatim. I'm not trying to advertise them or anything, just saying they seem to be made out of a pretty decent plastic for this project and they're nice and easy to cut after they've soaked in hot water for a minute or so. the only thing I would say was bad about them is you'll be trying to rub the silver off can be a pain sometimes, so be prepared for this to take quite a while.

[beehard44]

yuh, i have a couple of these...

[beehard44]

a couple in my vocabulary mens a huge stack
....

[animes25]

cd materials are toxic, so is not very healthy to cut them

[beehard44]

*ehem* they are only plastic and foil, and if they are toxic, why did they even make them?

[jgeekw]

Didn't feel like reading all the other comments, so sorry if this is a repeat, but I did the same thing with the top of a pringles can. Makes a nice flexible pick. I guess if you wanted it thicker, you could glue two pringles picks together. Also, I noticed that some CD-RW and DVD-R have two layers of plastic. If you could separate them, you will get a thinner, but more sturdy than the pringles pick, pick

[beehard44]

the technique is to slightly bend the DVD,  cut a small snippet with a not-that-sharp but not-too-blunt pair of scissors and separate the 2 layers . If you cannot pull it open, put it in a tub of hot water for a few minutes

[salishsilver]

There are a couple of different CD materials. if you get one that is made of polycarbonate, scissors will cause it to shatter. The softer ones will cut like this. The harder ones you have to saw out, and a jeweler's saw works well.

[beehard44]

nooo, see my comment above. just score and heat before you cut.
AND they do TEND to shatter

[eggyeggyeggy]

Lol
I wasted 4cds b4 i resd this

[Zolmeister]

 srry this is kinda a late comment, i say this a few weeks ago and tried it out and it works wonderfully. however i had trouble getting the silver off (im assuming all CD's are different) and my picks kept cracking and looking notsocool. i figured out that if you cut WAY around the pick (so no cracks appear) then its easy to slowly cut snipets off till you get the right shape.

[beehard44]

no, score it and heat it up..
but i guess everybody has different techniques

[SinAmos]

I use old credit cards.

[bipo]

Credit cards are PVC which gives a softer, more mushy tone. Polycarbonate has sharper attack. I think your driver's license is polycarbonate, but you probably don't want to cut that up :). CDs are a bit too thick for my taste in picks. Luckily I work in card manufacture, so I can get 760um polycarbonate cards which suit me just perfectly.

[natethegreat88]

"Sir i'm going to have to see your drivers license"
*looks down in ashamed manner* "I don't have it"
"May I ask why?"
"Umm... well i cut it up to make a guitar pick"

[TSC]

funny funny!!!!!!!!

[pyro1324]

LOL

[YOUTHGONEWILD]

My mom is starting to wonder where im getting all my pick,. And where my old CDs are going.

[fastcar123]

FYI do not use turbo tax cds because they are very hard to peel the label off of and they break too easily
ive broken all my turbotax picksand now have no clear picks :(
DO NOT USE TURBOTAX CDS!!

[fastcar123]

I made a whole cds worth.
I found it easier if you let the picks sit under very hot water for 15 minutes. the vinal just scratches right off without much problem.
I have also found they ate easy to loose because they are so clear!
still great instructable!!!

[NSB]

Don't use Maxell CDs for this, they break very easily.

[TSC]

wow this is so sweet i made one and it is so cool !!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 stars

[mithusingh32]

 this is  a great way to make cheap picks. you can also use PS/Xbox game covers to make picks. i made around 20ish from 1 cover. 

[pickupthepieces]

thanks! I'm thinking of making one as a gift, so it may take me a few tries. Great 'Ible!

[Atlas22]

I can't see the clear pick on the picture...

[Whales]

 Ohh just made one, used the sand paper to make the pick see through to a point, so its alittle blurry. i forget the word for it.

[kate-lily]

awesome, can't wait to make a bunch! (:

[bombniboy3]

Well done mate! this is an awesome instructable! I have a bro that always burns CD's and sometimes they dont work, so i will try on them!

Thanks again and Happy Haloween!

[RobCannon]

 I will never run out of picks again! haha! great job

[xoxogroganxoxo]

this is so great! good job!

[pevkev166]

this is an awwesome instructable good job!

[eggyeggyeggy]

I used a ruler

[wen3000]

this is great wer did u come up with this?

[Schooniedude]

cool! i will definitly try this

[Joeduke545]

Hey I made these .........they are so cool when you look through them you can see a rainbow!!!

[neckrochylde9]

I like it making musical tools out of music cds way to complete the circle!

[vonsynisterr]

i love it :D thank you!

[tihson]

Good use for unusable disc, try other package plastics to suit the player.

[Lithium Rain]

Cool!

[ragdollman]

love how you cut up a creed cd, lol

[hypnostics]

I love it! Great idea :)

[punkrules]

Nice job! You should also add some grip to the picks. Check out my instructable on that....whoever is interested go check it out. It's called Duct Tape Grip Picks. That would go great with this.

[weaponscollector94]

i will make one right now!

[dasoccerdude]

Great instructable!

[Samuel H]

these are really cool picks but after I used it for a while it started to crack and then break it could just be the CD's though!

[WillTheRescue]

Cool. But this will just make it harder to find a pick when I drop it! >.<

[imthatguy1125]

a good way to to remove the shiny stuff is to hold the pick under fast running water

[555mst555]

sorry to say this,but i made it already and it sux......the pick broke when was playing....i thought my string broke!

[FallingAwayFromMe]

Yeah i know what you mean, when i was sanding down the edges it was chipping instead of making a smooth side. This plastic seems very brittle, or at least the cd i used was brittle

[lioneatr]

ooh im goin to make these for my dad for christmas ! 5* , Faved, and Subbed!

[kickfrip]

also rubbing the edge on material like an old cloth quickly with heat up the edge and make it smooth.

[Rockerx]

Hmm, that's an interesting comment. You'd just have to have a material with a lot of friction...

[kickfrip]

yeah, ive even got it to work on just like a t-shirt or sumthing but jeans work great, gives it a smooth sort of glossy edge just like a a real pick.

[dudejetfighter]

this works perfectly! i like these picks better than the ones i pay for, nice ible.

[Jayceetoo]

If you then rub the pick onto some light sand paper , you then get a frosted glass effect :)

[kanapasaki]

one thing I love to do with picks is get a extra guitar string and make a card with it stretched through the middle but i would have to buy a guitar pick, now i can easily make them! THANKS!!!

[zvillesurfer]

when you buy a package of blank cds, there is always a clear one on the bottom to keep the bottom cd from getting scratched. thats what i make picks out of. sometimes the clear cd is really flimsy and it wont work but it depends on the brand.

[Imptheshrimp]

Yarr, you beat me to it. I make these whenever I run out of picks (which is often) and just for fun too and was gonna make an instructable but never got around to it. anyway, this is about the exact same way I do it and it works well. good job ;)

[itsachen]

Rated 5 stars becasue sick nasty is in your vocab. Plus the guitar picks look nice too, good job!

[clayball97]

i make picks with example credit cards and gift cards

[fruitkid101]

Wow I've made a ton of things from cds but never a guitar pick!

[lemonie]

I wouldn't have believed that you made that from a CD if I hadn't seen it! L

[ookid]

Yeah I thought it was acrylic

[pudi.dk]

Acrylic would be too brittle in that thickness, and would break. CDs are poæycarbonate which is more flexible and so I suppose they would be a good material. IIRC normal guitar picks are nitrocellulose?

[SharonH]

And polycarbonate is "bulletproof glass."

[qwertyzzz18]

i thought nitrocellulose was an explosive.

[lemonie]

It can be used as a propellant, Cordite is a low explosive made with nitrocellulose & glyceryltrititrate (nitoglycerine).

L

[madhops0620]

you might be thinking of nitroglycerin

[Father Christmas]

Via the almighty Wikipedia: "Nitrocellulose (also: cellulose nitrate, flash paper) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to nitric acid or another powerful nitrating agent. When used as a propellant or low-order explosive, it is also known as guncotton."

[Swert]

I believe the word you all are looking for is "plastic."

[pudi.dk]

Nope, plastics is such a general word. I was close but it turns out they are often made of celluloid, a mixture of nitrocellulose and a bit camphor - the first known plastic, also used for ping pong balls.

[stephenniall]

Looks very professional Love it rated 4 / 5 as im going to make a few of these for my band

[mrjubjub]

wow... i made some out of giftcards but i never thought of using cd's... :)

[Lucas0214]

Sure! You can even make them out of old console game cases from old video games/ DvD cases

[bloke2022]

i tried this using tin snips and it worked flawlessly, I made a bunch and gave one to my instructor, he loves them for acoustic guitars. very cool project.

[bloke2022]

the dvd i used gave it a sick purple swirl while still being transparent

[jokada]

I have a great tip that will help make the edges much less rough. Even using sandpaper wont get the pick as smooth as it can get, so grab an old sock and quickly run the edges back and forth along it. This will get it much smoother by slowly melting down the sides just a little bit. Great instructable. Keep it up. :-)

[Shut Up Now]

the second i saw the title i said "i bet he used a cd" good work!

[One.]

this is awesome! i make mine out of ice cream containers but they r quite bendy

[pbarnett]

Good Job! Great pics too! Ya did good!

[sharlston]

woaa that looks cool did you peel the film or sand it off? :)

[madhops0620]

That looks awesome. It was easy to make too and only took like 5 minutes. Nice Job, 5 stars

[Jerimiah40]

Wow, this is cool! People saying that this will break, I'm not sure how it could. A full CD can snap, but this is much smaller and therefore harder to snap. My result is just slightly shy of 1mm thick, which is thicker than most (but not all) guitar picks that you can buy. I definitely second the idea of rubbing the edges with cloth to smooth it. It definitely makes a noticeable difference.

[Virtuous]

Wow I am truly amazed that like a week after I made a see-through pick theres an instructable about it. Are you following me or something lol jk. But what I used and I believe is a stronger and better material for this is plexiglass. Now I'm kinda bummed I didnt think to put it up on instructables, lol ya beat me to it.

[berky93]

I'd use something other than CDs for making guitar picks. CDs are prone to snapping instead of bending while playing. I've made some great picks out of gift cards and credit cards - make one out of a starbucks card to make it clear.

[shaneomacmcgee]

Starbucks cards don't have enough clear material to make a pick though, do they?

[berky93]

not entirely, but you can do some interesting half-and-half things. I know there are also mcdonalds cards with clear parts, and I'm sure there are other clear cards you can use. or dont use clear cards. there are some neat designs out there too.

[Skyfinity]

I tried this with one of those colored transparent cd's, but the one I chose wasn't very transparent, and yielded a 11 black-purple picks. I couldn't peel of the metallic film without scratching it, so I just sanded that side down. Pretty awesome though, considering I found the CD in the street and got 11 free picks!

[Lithium Rain]

Would it be possible for you to scan in an image of it full scale or trace around it or something and post it so we could use it as a template? I would love you forever and ever and ever and ever and ever if you could! :D I ask because this only works if...you already haz a guitar pick!

[Galgarith]

You can buy guitar picks at any music store for as little as 25 cents, so you might as well go and blow a quarter on a pick instead of printing a template. ;)

[BuildBros]

Sorry my scanner's broken so I can't do that. But I measured and my picks are roughly 3 cm long and about 2.1 cm wide. if you can find a picture of a pick that that's that size, it should work

[Lithium Rain]

Thanks! :)

[bustedit]

i dont really think a guitar pick needs to be that EXACT shape

[lemonie]

I bet there's a mathematical equation that defines it though... L

[bustedit]

people use their finger-tips and nails to play a string. i really think the shape is just one that fits between the fingers with enough to grasp, and still enough to pluck with, nothing more. my father had a bag of picks, and some were shaped a bit different than the normal everday. i think these are all good tips, and a great way to re-use CDs, credit type cards, etc., I just do not think you need to be so precise as to have to scan an image so someone can trace it. it is a pick.

[The Jamalam]

The thicker the edge of the pick, the louder sound it produces but the harder it is to pick. There is some logic to it because they vary so much. You have to find the one that's right for you.

[lemonie]

Oh quite, but I was thinking there would be a formula somewhere that defines it (for the very geeky) L

[Skyfinity]

Isn't there always?!

[scoobbrandon]

i had this idea a few months ago and i put permanant marker on it then used a lighter to seal it in it turns out the same color as your origanal pick

[icebird]

Good idea! I love seeing practical instructables that anyone can do!

[MoRoToRiUm]

Most all CD spindles have a clea rplastic disc at the bottom of the stack(to protect bottom one from getting scratched). It would save a lot of sanding, and I think it would cut a lot nice then a CD. Nice ible

[FallingAwayFromMe]

Pretty cool, the only drawback is that the pick is a little thick and may be too thick for some guitar players liking, otherwise very creative. good job.

[Coliflower]

its really easy, nice, and simple. if its too thick why not just sand it a bit more and kind of 'sharpen' it?

[dreich]

Very nice. I usually use transparent candy boxes to achieve the same result. Going to try this out later, see how it turns out.