[B_Saved]

This is getting out of hand.... I say leave it alone. If you want to try the pick... buy it. If you don't... then.... don't. Leave God, Christianity and morallity out of it. In the big picture of things what does it matter... it's a guitar pick!

[d0c_99]

Robb... just a word of advice.

If you wanna present a good image for your company, the last thing you wanna do is start imposing your views of your product on people. If people don't like what you have to offer, leave them alone and let things be. You're just gonna give your company a bad rep if you keep arguing with everyone on this forum.

and YES, LEAVE GOD, CHRISTIANITY and MORALITY OUT OF THIS.
IT's a PICK for crying out loud!

[elijah77jc]

doc.....come on man. all robb was doing was answering our questions about the pick and then he had to defend himself when a couple of people decided to start making fun of it and then him. i don't know why some of y'all insist on fighting about this.

[Robb]

If the Jellifish is *just* "a pick", then a guitar is *just* a plank of wood!

[d0c_99]

Originally posted by Robb
If the Jellifish is "just a pick", then a guitar is "just" a plank of wood!

nice job quoting
now if only you can do it correctly.

Originally posted by d0c_99
IT's a PICK for crying out loud!

Originally posted by B_Saved
... it's a guitar pick!

anyway... i've said this twice already and i'll say it again
if people don't like your pick SUCK IT UP.
this thread is getting rediculous

[Robb]

Doc,

If you feel the thread is ridiculous, then please don't participate. I am here for people who have genuine questions about the Jellifish, such as those pertaining to proper technique, the product's origins, etc.

-Robb

[bobthecockroach]

As much as I want to make a completely thorough reply to all this mess, I've decided against it for the sake of hopefully letting the argument die. I will say, however, that I think it's completely ridiculous that this got so out of hand. Robb, I respect your patience in sticking around in spite of it. Others, I respect your attempts to back up what you believe even though I think you're way over doing it . That said, let's please get back to the point of the thread.

Now, on subject, how *exactly* is the Bow technique done? From watching the video it seemed to me the idea was the hold the Jellifish with the short tines (is that the right word?) foward. Then, when you pick, sort of turn the pick so that the shortest would play first up to the biggest. However, from reading your comments it seems the idea is to basically just scrape the string with the tines (right word?? lol). So.. how is it supposed to be done?

And now some less relevent questions...

Have you had any other ideas for innovative "picks"?

Why blue?

[Pete_H]

This thread is dangerously close to being closed.

[reags]

Bobb -

*u experimented making the bristles from other material apart from metal (ie: plastic fibres, copper, etc.) for diff sounds?

*will these picks ever reach sydney?

[Robb]

Bob,

Even when I show people the Bow! technique in person, it takes a few tries to get the all of the elements across, so don't get frustrated if you don't get this right off the bat.

At its core, the Bow! technique derives its sound from the "ribs" of the "tines" rubbing against the strings. But, there are a couple of variables to consider and some subtleties involved.

When you initially try this technique out with a Jellifish, I make 2 general suggestions.

First, when you get a Jellifish, I think you'll be happiest if you master all 3 techniques on an acoustic and then move on to experimenting with an electric. The impact of the Jellifish is *dramatically* different on acoustic and electric guitars (and, here again, is another difference between guitar picks and the Jellifish).

My second suggestion, specific to the Bow! technique, is that you begin experimenting with this technique on the wound strings before moving on to the unwound. It is much easier to learn to Bow! on the bass strings and then transfer the technique to the unwound strings. (In fact, as I am thinking about this, you should probably play with this *just* on the lowest string until you get Bow! down pat.)

This said, what I have found works best when using the Bow! technique is to bend my thumb such that it moves from 180 degrees (i.e., straight) to 90 degrees (I think I need to upload 2 JPEGs to show you exactly what I mean) and then back again...over and over. This way, the Jellifish is moving kind of in an arc, such that the shortest tine (which is closest to the nut):

a) makes contact with the guitar string,
b) brushes along it, and
c) breaks contact just as the next longest string begins the same process

...and so on, until the longest tine has swept against the string. What I have just described is the process of the thumb going from 90 degrees to 180 degrees. Going from 180 to 90, things are reversed; i.e., the longest tine makes contact, sweeps, then breaks contact as the second longest tine begins contact, etc.

I am being somewhat overly precise in descibing this. Does the longest tine always make contact when I do this? No. Does the shortest tine? The shortest 2 tines? Etc.? No. What I'm describing is the "ideal." Fortunately, you'll get the Bow! sound if only about the middle third of the tines follow the process described above. But, while practicing this technique s l o w l y, it won't hurt to nail the technique precisely. Doing so, you'll be exagerating the arcing movement, which is key.

To give you a better mental picture of what I'm talking about with respect to my thumb repeatedly moving 90 to 180 and then back again, my thumb is lying across the logo of the Jellifish from left to right, perpendicular to the tines. The Jellifish pivots on the fleshy part of the distal phalanx (the part of the thumb past the joint closest to the nail) in a rocking motion. The distal phalanx of the index finger rests on the opposite side of the Jellifish, also perpendicular to the tines. As the thumb moves 90 to 180 to 90 to 180 etc., the distal interphalangeal joint of the index finger moves like a hinge to accomodate this motion by the thumb.

Now, for the subtleties I mentioned.

First, there is pressure. Both too much and too little pressure are not a good thing. Experiment to find the range of pressure that sounds good. With practice, you'll find that:

a) begining the stroke with less pressure,
b) allowing the pressure to reach its optimal point mid-stroke, and then
c) ending the stroke gradually backing off of this pressure

...produces a Bow! sound that is more complex because you're altering the timbre as you actuate each note. This can be done by changing the parabola of the arc, or by pusing into the string. (The former is my preferred method.)

Second, you'll want to play around with moving your forearm back and forth in time with the thumb arcs described above. (This can also be done without doing the thumb arcs to get a simple Bow! effect that requires no practice...but also yields a less interesting sound, IMHO.) This movement covers a range of only about one-inch! You'll find that this movement is useful when using Bow! on slower passages as it allows you to exaggerate the bowing effect note-by-note (i.e., it allows you to draw out the interval over which the tines are sweeping against the side of the string.)

I know this is a lot to digest, but I think you'll get very satisfactory results following this approach.

All the best,
Robb

[Robb]

Yes, we definitely have a lot of other products we want to bring to market. Right now, we're focused on recouping the development costs that went into the Jellifish. I cannot tell you how eager I am to start further product development!!!

Colors: Why blue? Well, we worked with GE Polymers to create several engineered plastics (all polycarbonate with various appearances). Blue tied into the aquatic theme of Jellifish. We'll change colors in the near future. Each color will be a limited run of 10,000 units or less.

Other tine materials: Yes, everything from various plastics, to wood, to wound/unwound wire.

Getting to Sydney: We send everything First Class USPS to keep rates low. Orders are shipped daily. International orders go by US Airmail. International shipping and handling is priced no differently than US orders. For example, a Solo -- whether it's shipped to Los Angeles, Calif. or Sydney Australia -- will cost $9.95 + $1.00 Shipping & Handling. (When entering an Int'l order, just ignore the state field in the shopping cart -- leave it as AL -- and the labeling system will do the country lookup and adjust the addressing accordingly.)

-Robb

[bobthecockroach]

:kwhoa: Wow.. that took a while to type.

Thank you, very informative post. Unfortunetly I have not had the chance to order mine yet. Is it really only $1 s/h?

[reags]

sounds good, though the credit card payment atm is a problem here :/

will we be seeing jellifish in guitar/music stores in australia anytime soon?

[Robb]

Yep, S&H on a Solo, Duet or Trio is only $1.00

As far as getting these into stores, we've had hundreds of inquiries to that effect over the last 3 months, so we're looking into how to make this happen. I'm leaning towards hooking-up with a large distributor, such as KAMAN.

-Robb

[reags]

sweet - keep us up to date with any future exports this way *points downunder*