This week we selected a guitar pick with a fun alarm clock on it.  We love this graphic, because it really fits the shape of the guitar pick.   This pick is printed our our White Delrin material, which really make the clock stand out. 6:AM is an all original hard rock band based out of San Jose, 6:AM has been rocking the bay area for over 7 years. Their music is an obvious mixture of each of the member’s unique musical style and influences…ranging from classic rock, 80′s metal, Straight ahead rock of the 90′s and far beyond. The bands musical D.N.A. is made up of solid Bass and Drums, Catchy, dirty Guitars riffs and rich powerful vocals. If you are in the bay area make sure to check this band out! For more information on them please check out their website.
www.6amband.com

We are excited to announce the new signed artist John Konesky!   Konesky is the guitarist for Tenacious D and also the band Trainwreck. Trainwreck was so impressed with Konesky’s guitar skills and his character that they wrote a song about his talent.  Tenacious D also referred to him as the anti chirst because of his shredding abilities on the guitar.

Konesky has also co-wrote a song on Guitar Hero III called “The Metal.” He also appears on  Tenacious D’s 2008 concert video and their documentary titled, “The Complete Master Works 2.”  He has performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Saturday Night Live, and the American Music Awards 2006.  John currently uses our Acetal .80mm.

We are all looking forward to hearing more of John’s performances rocking through the 2010 year!  Be sure to check back for information regarding our endorsed artists and more on John Konesky.

www.johnkonesky.com

www.trainwreckingwithkg.com

Clayton fans have you tried our new hot stamp foil picks?  Just below to the right you’ll notice I have shared some of the styles people have come up with recently. What makes the picks unique is the foil provides a shiny look that catches the eye. There are many colors to choose from for the picks. For the foil color options you may choose our popular silver, gold, red, or purple foil. The hot stamp foil picks are definitely a popular item because of the sleek looking material and bright foil. The hot stamp foil picks take generally 4-6 weeks to produce, but when finished you’ll see the amazing quality! If you would like to learn more about our custom picks give us a call at 877.752.9484

Eric Church is one of our endorsed artists and we just wanted to let you know he is one of country’s hardest working artists. We could say working a little bit too hard after last fall.   While performing in New York, he was stomping so hard on stage that he hurt his ankle. He still finished the show and is ready to set the stage for his 2010 tour with our Clayton custom picks. Here are the picks you might get at one of his shows if you’re lucky. He’s already sold out for this Thursday’s show at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville.  Church’s picks are the white pearl rounded triangle with the gauge at 1mm.  The white delrin 1mm standard pick is another choice for Church. He has a top 10 hit with his song “Love Your Love the Most,”
one of his songs on his new Carolina album. Another big hit on the album is “Hell On the Heart.” Eric is a rising star that we are excited to follow this year. We look forward to supporting Eric Church during his 2010 tour.

If you are an artist that is also interested in becoming endorsed by us, you may mail us information regarding record label, band picture, tour schedule, and type of Clayton picks you use. There is a full list of information you can find through our contact information on our Steve Clayton website. Any questions you have for us you may email to questions@steveclayton.com.

We have been getting lots of requests to put up pictures of our 2010 NAMM booth. I finally got around to getting them on here.  We had a double decker booth this year with a lounge at the top.  In addition we had 2 sound proof offices to conduct meetings in. As anyone who has ever been to NAMM knows, it is very loud! Without the sound proof rooms it can be quite impossible to get any business done, especially in Hall C were we are located.

We just got done doing a large pick necklace order for both Cirque du Soleil Chris Angel and Viva Elvis.  These are both amazing shows, so next time you are in Vegas make sure to check them out!

Below are descriptions of each of the shows:

“Viva ELVIS®, a harmonious fusion of dance, acrobatics and live music, is a tribute to the life and music of Elvis Presley. Nostalgia, modernity and raw emotion provide the backdrop for his immortal voice and the exhilaration and beauty of his music.” Click to visit the Viva Elvis Site

“CRISS ANGEL® Believe™ will be a haunting exploration deep inside the inventive mind of mystifier Criss Angel as he hovers between the land of the living and a surreal world uniquely woven together by the distinctive imaginations of Criss Angel and Cirque du Soleil.” Click to visit the Chris Angel Believe Site

Every once in awhile when I am looking for something in my office I come across a custom pick we did from a long time ago. Just today I happened upon this Johnny Cash pick that we made. This exact pick is probably about 18 years old! Yes, very old. It is our Rounded Triangle Acetal (in Black) Johnny’s signature color, with his signature on it in white, gauge .50mm. Johnny loved our Acetal so much, but didn’t want it in white, so we had our Acetal material made in black just special for him. This pick is pretty hard to come by now a days because Johnny didn’t use them as his toss out picks. They are the true picks he played with and loved. I have often seen this pick go for over $100 on ebay. So if you ever come across this pick or already have it in your collection, It was made by Clayton! From what I know most other Johnny Cash picks are either newly made fakes, or were his toss out picks. Johnny ordered 1,000′s of picks from us until his passing in 2003. He actually ordered so often from us that we would pre-make the picks a head of time. So when Johnny passed we were left with about 2,000 of his printed picks that were made in advance. People who knew we made the pick have called and begged for at least one of them, but sorry we will not give or sell the picks. They were only meant for Johnny.

A loyal customer e-mailed us today asking about the difference between our Ultem pick and authentic Tortoiseshell picks. What a great question for today’s post. Most of you have probably never played with real tortoiseshell before. This is because it became illigal to produce/import tortoiseshell into the United States in 1947, which was before even I was born! A lot of guitar picks are made to have the appearance of tortoiseshell such as our cork-grip picks. However these are actually made of celluloid. Some people bring me some pretty convincing celluloid and tell me they have a true tortoiseshell pick, when almost always they don’t. Not sure if you have a real one or fake? Quickly rub the pick in-between cloth several times to create mild heat, if the picks starts to smell like camphor or vicks vabor rub, that is a celluloid plastic pick. They smell strong! Cow horn is also often passed off as tortoiseshell. If the pick is made out of cow horn then it will have a milky white appearance in parts of the pick.

People allude to the authentic tortoiseshell as the holy grail of picks… and are sought after. Well I have played many in my life-time and here are my thoughts on them. They sound nice, with a nice tone, but they break and sometimes even explode in your hand which is useless during a performance. Also the edges get rough. In my personal opinion, Ultem creates a much brighter, cleaner sound with better overtones, plus is much more durable. In the end when it comes to authentic tortoiseshell, I recommend saving your money and the turtles.

In a prior blog posting we mentioned that we recently have started endorsing James Otto. James and his management team were nice enough to let Patty McGrade (Sales Dept. at Clayton, Inc.) and her daughter Kathy go backstage for a Meet & Greet with James at his concert in Schaumburg, Illinois last night (April 16th). James and his team were so accommodating to them and we all really appreciate their kindness. You can see James’ Clayton picks in the picture at left in his mic stand. James uses the Clayton Acetal 1.00mm. His picks are custom imprinted and have the endorsed eagle on the back. If you didn’t read our prior post about James, please follow the links below to listen to him and find out more information about this amazing country performer.

James Otto Official Website

James Otto’s Myspace

We just recently endorsed the band A Dull Science out of California. They have a good blend of a punk/pop sound to them. With some really great lyrics, that everyone can relate to, like their song “Cheater’s never prosper”. This song has some killer lyrics to it, with a catchy chorus that I couldn’t help singing along to while looking over their press kit. Even better these guys seem to have a sense of humor which is refreshing to see since some bands can be so serious as they get more famous .

You can check A Dull Science out at the following links:

A Dull Science’s Myspace

JetSpeed Records