make your own guitar picks from gift or credit cards!

in this instructable ill teach you how to make your own guitar picks from gift or credit cards
now you wont have to drive over to your music shop just to get frigging picks!
cheap, easy, and fast
i did not invent this, i used this as my idea, but i just tuned it a little

Step 1: What youll need

gift card or credit card (i prefer gift cards)
nail file
scissors
marker
a guitar pick

thankfully my handy dandy pocketknife thing came with both scissors and a nail file!

Step 2: Tracing the pick

pretty much self explanatory
just put the pick on the gift card
and trace around it
is that so hard to follow?

sorry, i already made a bunch of picks with this one :)

Step 3: Cut the pick out

just... cut the pick out

don worry about the rough edges
you'll trim them soon

sorry about the blurriness

Step 4: Trim it

trim the rough edges to make it pretty smooth

hey! its instructables back there!

Step 5: Bring out the nail file!

start smoothing out the edges on the pick

Step 6: Filing it down

now just make it about the right size

hold the ghetto pick and the real pick together and file

Step 7: Its done!

after 5 minutes barely doing anything
you have your new pick

now go out there and make some sound!

Comments

[MistressX956]

Haha I like your comment about the Id's and what not cleanmonk. ^_^ Good Idea!

[sheltiesruleusa]

hey im new at guitar and when i bought my guitar the guy told me i dont need a guitar pick but i want to have one to try out. problem is that the store is like half an hour away so its not worth driving all the way out there just for guitar picks. i wanted to make one on my own but i dont have A guitar pick to trace! does anyone know the sizing for a guitar pick? and does size matter otherwise id just take a credit card and cut it so its roughly the same shape as a guitar pick... thanks! sorry for sounding so ignorant but im NEW at guitar. thanks!

[INSTRUCTUBAL]

its okay, you could just look on google for an image of a guitar pick thats roughly the same size as a real one and just use that, and it mostly matters on what your preference is for using a pick, or what type of music you play or you could use picture 1, that looks like a good size for a pick

[nycnyusa]

library cards work great 2

[watermelonhead]

Thanks for this instructable! (or should i say.. INSTRUCTUBAL) we get these stupid blockbuster cards all the time, and my brother also loses his picks all the time.

[INSTRUCTUBAL]

no problem, and yeah i hate fake cards that come through the mail

[bassmonkey]

i dicovered this on accident, but it;s soooooo cool... make one of these picks,then put it under a hairdrier on th hottest setting for about a minute, or 30 seconds,then hold it like you woul a pick, and bam! custom pick!!!!!!

[kenzington]

I make my own guitar picks all the time--it's good to find thin but sturdy cards or pieces of plastic (but that's just my preferance because i like thin picks best). iTunes cards work great. To JonH20--how do you make it look like an elephant??

[INSTRUCTUBAL]

i think jonH20 means that since he has no pick to trace, his looks so deformed that it looks like an elephant XD

[robert the robot]

Elephant? What?

[dobbylvr]

this is awesome!!!! great work!

[Doveman]

Your 'handy dandy pocketknife things' name is a mutitool if you didn't know. :)

[Quiksilver2693]

Or a Leatherman.

[Mr. Brownie]

Or Steve" Handy Dandy Pocket Knife form Blues Clues

[fearme36]

What's that you say blue? there's a killer in the house? We need to bring out the handy-dandy pocketknife!

[randomrocks=D]

lol

[randomrocks=D]

just finished my 1st its great!

[Zippy_Pyromaniac]

I gotta make this with an Itunes gift card so I can have one of those funky dancing sillouhets on it!!

[bootycrewqueen]

This is so cool!

[cantth1nk0fnam3]

i have the exact same pocket knife that you have

[a7xforlife]

Awsome! I have a habit of loosing my picks... a lot.

[INSTRUCTUBAL]

me too... lol, but! i started the bass, which i like more. so now i play finger style, and i don't use picks. alas! small plastic pieces begone!

[a7xforlife]

I want a bass... I pretty much suck at guitar. I'm hoping Santa will bring me one.

[pandaboy292]

the best one on homemade picks hands down. no one elese has anything about sanding in it.

[INSTRUCTUBAL]

thanks!

[S O F]

beastly idea man

[firedragonblood]

what kind of gauge does it produce? i prefer medium (about .73 mm) would this work for me?

[INSTRUCTUBAL]

yeah then itll make like about that size

[firedragonblood]

thanks

[INSTRUCTUBAL]

lol... i dunno... you can find something that you like and do this. but im not that lik good with picks to understand what you just said

[saberscar]

she's talkin about how thick its gunna be if im not mistaken i think so

[Bongmeister22]

yeah

[thedog458]

grate job i really like the idea 10/10 for show and 5/5 for the idea.

[PyroMaster007]

cool...

[firegardeneve]

this is awesome. I just made some in 5 minutes at work using a H&R Block Tax Cut cd case I had lying around

[wvluhmann]

Hi,
If anyone cares I own the patent for punching out picks using a handheld punch. I plan to have this out hopefully in the next year. Here is another thread regarding this idea here on Instructables.......... Email [e-mail]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Credit-Card-Guitar-Picks/?comments=all#CQEUXWRFE3IPW3Z

[wvluhmann]

Hello...I changed my email to the following....got tired of paying aol money use the following to contact me: [e-mail]

[INSTRUCTUBAL]

great job. im happy to hear.

[DELETED_cleanmonk]

(removed by author or community request)

[INSTRUCTUBAL]

yup... i mentioned u a few comments back