How to Get a Perfect Fit
Human Fingernails
We here at Tiptonic have become world-class experts in the natural biological variation found among our species when it comes to fingernails. We spent years making custom fingerpicks, studying countless pictures and measurements that we’ve taken of people’s fingernails. In the process, we learned how to characterize the key variables that define a human fingernail. It turns out that you can get a perfect fit on pretty much everybody on the planet with about 200 sizes of picks. As with any standard product, it is possible that we’ll run across someone that we can’t fit, but it hasn’t happened yet. If it does occur we’ll add more sizes, so please let us know if you can’t find a fit.
While it may seem daunting to find your perfect fit given the number of sizes, we’ve made it incredibly simple and easy to do. There are two key aspects to finding the pick of your dreams: the inside fit and the playing length. When you purchase your Finger Pick Sampler, or Starter Kit you will receive the Sizing Chart which allows you to quickly and easily determine the inside fit and the playing length for each of your picking fingers.
Inside Fit
The inside of the Finger Pick is designed to precisely match the length, width, and curvature of your fingernail. This is the shape of the pocket that your nail goes into and it matches the top of your nail. It also has space available to allow for about 2 mm of variable nail length, so you don’t have to be overly meticulous with keeping your nails at a specific length. The Sizing Chart walks you through 3 easy steps that determine the exact right inside fit. The beauty of this chart is that you don’t have to break out a ruler or measure anything. The whole process is done graphically with images. You hold them up to your fingers to see exactly what they are going to look like on your hand.
Playing Length
Once you have determined the inside fit, the Sizing Chart then shows you various options to dial in the playing length that best suits your playing style. For example, many classical guitarists prefer Finger Picks that just go around the end of their nails. Others prefer a much longer extension to their nails. We offer a variety of lengths to fit any style or level of play on any stringed instrument. These choices give you freedom to experiment with different sizes to find what works best for you.
The outside playing surfaces of our picks are shaped to work well with the most common picking styles. Some musicians like to quickly file the outside of the pick to further adapt it to their unique playing style. We intentionally include extra material on our picks to allow for user customization.
For example, some musicians select a longer pick on their index finger. They then file the pick into a slightly more pointed and triangular shape. This enables better articulation when using it like a flat pick on fast single note runs, others may file the picks off centered in either direction to dial in the playing surface for each individual finger.
Tiptonic Finger Picks come with a handy file for quickly reshaping a new pick. This only has to be done once (if at all) when you first put on the pick. Again, our out-of-the-box outside shapes are designed to work for most of the common picking styles. Additionally, customization is easy if you are so inclined. Tiptonic Finger Picks are milled from Natural Delrin and can be filed with any grit sandpaper desired. The material is a bit slippery and they get a fast and glossy feel with sandpaper above 1000 grit.
Thumb Picks
There are two very different styles of playing guitar when it comes to the thumb. Classical guitar hand position angles the thumb closer to perpendicular to the strings. With this technique many players find that a Fingernail Pick on the thumb works great. However, many styles of fingerpicking, such as Travis picking, country, blues, etc., require a hand position with the thumb more parallel with the string. Tiptonic does not currently make thumb picks for this style. We do not recommend any sizes of our current line of Tiptonic Finger Picks for the thumb when it picks the string more along the side of the thumb instead of the tip of the thumbnail.