Patrick Vega just did an interview with Jason of Rock Zone. We just wanted to share his interview and also thank him for all the kind words on our picks! Patrick was just endorsed by us earlier this year.

1.  Patrick, I know that you endorse Steve Clayton Custom Made Guitar Picks.  First off all, could you please share with our readers how you first met Steve Clayton and what it was about Steve and his company that impressed you the most?

Someone gave me a Clayton pick at a rehearsal studio in downtown L.A. once. I remember that night very well, ’cause the guy had a 9mm pistol sitting on his amp and there was a house on fire across the street:) True story. Anyway, I tried it and liked it. That was my introduction to Clayton.

2.  You have gone online and basically let everyone know how much you think of Steve Clayton’s Guitar picks. What is it about these guitar picks that you find to be so impressive?

Claytons last much longer than most other guitar picks. And I have tried many of them. Most guitar picks wear down easily and I do play a lot and before having found the Claytons it was like this: I always ended up with like a third of the pick after like a few weeks of playing -most picks seemed to almost vaporize!  Also, I like designing things and Clayton has that really cool pick designer on the Clayton website where you can choose whichever pick you want. The gauge, the color and even upload your own art and insert text. How cool is that I like that sort of thing. I have a bunch of tattoos and my logo and stuff that I put on picks and I always make a design for each new release, featuring either the cover art or the font of my albums. That is how the Patrick Vega Signature Guitar Pick Series was born.

3.  As far as your custom guitar picks Patrick, do you get to come up with the

designs for the Guitar Picks or does Steve Clayton have someone who

comes up with the idea as far as the artwork/design of these guitar picks?

There are a lot of pictures and designs you can use that are pre-made by Clayton, but my picks are all me. I just received the new guitar picks that I designed in commemoration of the release of my new record ANIMA. Those designs are the first ones officially sponsored by Guitar Picks by Steve Clayton Inc. and turned out really cool. You can check ‘em out here: http://www.patrickvega.com/guitarpicks.html

4.  What has been your biggest seller of these guitar picks so far?

The awesome thing about a guitar pick is that it’s not only a very personal item to give away to fans (everybody loves picks) but that it is actually a highly collectible item. Especially since I do a design for each release. Plus they are being shipped out with every order of Pickbay Guitar Pick pendants which I am also endorsed by. I actually design the picks around the Pickbays, so they nicely fit in the pendants. Check out Pickbay here and get yours today: www.pickbay.com

5.  Do you have a favorite Patrick Vega guitar pick that Steve Clayton makes?

For playing purposes I exclusively use the Clayton “Acetal”, 1.00mm gauge picks. I am after all a pretty technical player and use a lot of picking. Heavier gauge picks just seem to have a better string response; they don’t bend. I use Clayton’s standard shape. As a give away it varies. Clayton makes many cool designs so that enables me to always change it up a bit and come up with something really cool and exciting every time. For example, one of the new designs is a really cool black celluloid, medium gauge pick, featuring my logo, website and the original ANIMA font.

6.  How can our readers find out more about these custom guitar picks?

You can check the Patrick Vega Signature Guitar Picks on my website: http://www.patrickvega.com/guitarpicks.html and you will also receive randomly selected Vega picks when you order a Pickbay Guitar Pick Pendant at www.pickbay.com. And you can always visit Clayton at www.steveclayton.com and see what they have to offer.

7.  As a Guitar Player, Patrick, what do you see as the advantage of having your own signature guitar picks?

Guitar picks are pretty important and actually a very underrated piece of gear (everyone is sooooo very particular about gauge, shape and material). Guitar picks are a very personal item/accessory for a guitar player. It makes a huge difference in your playing and also they’re like a tiny business card!

I always seem to lose a lot of picks, they end up everywhere (I usually find a bunch of them in the car, or the couch, or the washer or the dryer after doing laundry). And I always give some out at clinics and shows. People dig it. It’s something you can take home from a show and keep as a little souvenir. I still have all the signature picks that I caught at shows or clinics and it’s a cool thing to have. The guys actually used them to play the stuff you dig so much. Guitar picks rule.

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One of our latest endorsees Eldebrock just released their debut album! We are very excited for them. Also, they will be donating $1 per album sold to the fight against cancer. Eldebrock was founded in early 2009 by Del Bannerman. At the end of the year they headed into the studio with Ryan Andersen (some of his credits include Nickleback’s “The Long Road” and “All the Right Reasons”. The play rock/alternative and are located in Canada. They have been using our picks for 3 years now, Del uses our 1.26mm rounded triangle acetal. Definently visit their website to check out their music, not only will their site design blow you away but so will their music!

We wanted to show off a few of the really cool designs that customers have created recently for custom guitar picks. These are customers who did not hold back when designing their picks; they have a lot of color and detail and they all came out great on our picks! These customers all chose the “full bleed” option for their guitar picks. This means that, instead of having a small border around the artwork, the design will bleed right to the edge of the pick. It is a little bit more expensive to choose this option for custom picks, but it is well worth it to have designs that are as awesome as these. Most of our pick materials include the overbleed option. The pick materials shown here are white delrin (the middle pick) and acetal (the two outside picks). These materials are great for full bleed because they also allow for full color designs, so you can let your imagination run wild. Design your custom guitar pick on our custom design site today, and try out the Full Bleed option!

Here at Clayton, we offer three different white picks for custom design, including white delrin, acetal, and white pearl. If you are looking for a classy pick that is great for playing, or for use as a promotional tool, white pearl is optimal. Our white pearl picks have glossy finish, and they are marbleized, so they automatically have the “upscale look.” White pearls can be great with either single or full color designs, as shown in the image below. White pearl picks are also very popular for weddings, since they look nice and can support a design with any color in it. Our white pearl picks are available in six gauges ranging from a very thin .38 to an extra heavy 1.26. There are also two different shapes available for white pearl picks; standard (left pick in photo) and rounded triangle  (right pick in photo). Design your white pearl pick on our custom website today!

This week we are featuring a guitar pick that is from one of our endorsed bands, The Fabulous Po’ Boys! They are a bluesy/rootsy/pop rock blend of music from artist like The Beatles, The Byrds, The Eagles, Jimmy Buffett and more. Their band consists of members Warren Payne and Ed Johnson. They have been together since 1991 and have played all around the country. I grabbed the really funny story about how their band was formed from their website: “The band essentially started out as a dare. While chewing a rubber chicken dinner at a regional advertising convention in Denver, Warren and Ed were just two more ad execs in the room suffering through, what can only be described as, mannequins pretending to be a band. Bad songs, bad hair, bad clothes, no life and an empty dance floor. While having really only shared a few beers by a pool deck at another ad conference in Nashville just six months before, Warren and Ed at least knew one another were from Seattle and had spent some time earning their lunch money in front of a microphone with a guitar. Warren approached Ed (who was on his third beer, ignoring the show and wondering what the hell Turkey Chop was) and had the following proposition; “Janet (conference organizer and dear friend of the Po’ Boys) says if we want, we can take over for the band when they go on a break. They said it’s okay, and Steve (a media lawyer from Minneapolis) is up for playing drums.”
Ed replied, “Dude, we’re not even a band.”
“Do you know Louie, Louie?” asked Warren.
“Yeah,” said Ed skeptically.
“Twist and Shout?”
“Yeah.”
“Johnny B. Goode?”
“Yeah.”
“There you go. Three songs right there. We’ll get up, play, have some laughs and we’re done.”
Of course, they played for an hour.
The dance floor was packed; the crowd kept yelling out numbers that the intrepid trio happened to know and with everyone properly lubed, the band played on. The band that had been usurped didn’t seem to mind…they were getting paid anyway. Those guys had no soul at all. What kind of musician gives up his stage?
After the “gig” another conference organizer looking to set up entertainment at a national conference scheduled for Portland, Oregon the following spring asked if the boys were available to play the big after-party.
Again, replied Ed, “We’re not even a band.” (Did that stop us before?)”

Their pick is printed on our pearl celluloid. We love how the little palm tree looks on the pearl picks! Please make sure to visit their website at: http://www.fabulouspoboys.com/

We just endorsed Charly Rey who is a self titled rock band out of Mexico. Charly was  born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and graduated as an Attorney at Law from the University of Beuenos Aires in 1996. He started playing guitar at the age of 11. He studied classic, acoustic, electric guitar, harmony and composition with Enrique Berro and Damián Figueroa for 10 years. Charly also taught guitar from 1990-1995 and continued giving private lessons from 1995-1997. He released his first album “Respira” in October 2009. Charly will be starting a world tour with the mexican pop band OV7. Check out Charly’s music by going to his myspace. Charly has been using our picks for 3 years now and we are happy to have Charly now endorse our products.

We had to write a blog about this, because we have noticed that, lately, we have received numerous custom guitar pick orders for weddings that are on October 10, 2010. We have already discovered that custom guitar picks can be a very popular idea for use in weddings, and now we have even more wedding pick orders for this special date that is approaching! If you are planning a 10/10/10 wedding, or a wedding on any date in the near future, you should consider adding custom guitar picks to your planning. They can be used in save-the-dates, invitations, as favors for guests, as part of the decorations….you name it! Shown here are a couple of examples of some of the designs that we have gotten lately. We especially like the design for the ultem pick (on the right), because ultem is not a commonly chosen material for weddings, but this design looks awesome! The tan color of the ultem picks are great for weddings in autumn. They can support designs with red, brown, or black colors, so if these colors are in your wedding scheme, give ultems a try! Design your custom wedding guitar picks today at www.claytoncustom.com.

We are happy to announce Mickaël of MINUSHUMAN is now one of our new endorsees.

Mickaël plays bass for the french metal/thrash/rock band MINUSHUMAN. The band was founded by Thomas Billerey in 2007. I especially liked their video Liquid which you can watch on their Myspace, it is AWESOME! You can also check out their music on their myspace page. Here is what Mickaël had to say about our products: “I’m delighted to become a member of the big and wonderful Clayton family. Joining the ranks of bass players like Danny Miranda (Blue Öyster Cult, Queen, Meat Loaf) or Robert Kearns (Lynyrd Skynyrd) is an honor. Just like them,Steve Clayton Inc.picks and accessories are invaluable classics, strong and reliable.”

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