Originally started by owner Ollie Carson in early 2023, Carson Picks was born out of Ollie’s obsession with finding the perfect tone. As a true lover of all things music and guitar, he was fixated on altering every detail possible to get new sounds, in the pursuit of that mythical “perfect tone”.

SMALL DETAIL. HUGE DIFFERENCE.

He started experimenting with every widely available pick. He was shocked by how much difference such a seemingly small item could make, but he hadn’t found “the one” yet. Upon reading about Eddie Van Halen’s use of copper picks in one of his dad’s old music magazines, he got his mum to use her jewellery equipment to teach him how to make a pick from copper. The result was like nothing he had ever played before. The level of precision and detail provided by using hand tools opened up the possibilities of what a pick could be. It shifted from something you have to learn to work with, to something that could work with you. The sole point of connection between the player and the instrument.

Following this exciting new option, he used some scrap sterling silver to create a pick from silver. The tone was surprisingly, completely different from the copper. It had much more treble and unique overtones that really set it apart from anything else.

Extensive research

From here, a several month long period of research, testing and making connections within the small, but diverse community of boutique pick makers began. Ollie left no stone un-turned and made a pick from just about anything you could think of. He came to the conclusion that there is no “perfect” pick material due to how subjective tone and feel are. There are just different options that suit different players. Following his research, Ollie decided this was something he wanted to share with other people, and show them the incredible difference a pick can make.

The future

In the last few years, Carson Picks has seen great success in expanding our range of materials and improving the available personalisation and customization of each pick. Most notably with the addition of a laser engraver, allowing us to work with PEEK, a leading industry polymer. We like to think that there is still an undiscovered material out there that could truly make the “perfect pick” We look forward to what the future holds as things develop and we can offer more and more options!