Pickmaster Plectrum Punch Maker

I really liked the idea of creating your own picks. I considered making something myself prior to buying the Pickmaster. Unfortunately I found the build of the Pickamster to be poor. The cutting edges of the punch had burrs, which meant the punch ripped at the cut material as opposed to a clean cut. I had to take the punch apart and dress the cutting edges to enable it to work. I should of just returned the punch for a refund but thought I had a chance of making it work properly. The punch now work better, although because of the gap-tolerance between the punch and cutter surface it tends to give a rough edge around the cut pick. It's a shame, they could of made this work a lot better, with a better build quality.

Bought for me as a Christmas present, this has proved almost completely useless. First card I used it got wedged inside as the cut wasn't accurate and close examination shows a small gap between the cutting head and the shape it fits into to form the plectrum shape. This cutting assembly is very heavily manufactured but if the shapes aren't accurate, then it won't cut cleanly! I saw videos of this being used at a guitar show and waited expectantly for its launch but I suspect between the show prototypes or first production run and the one I received there has been a breakdown in quality control. I have tried it on a variety of plastics and to make a useable pick you would have to use some special plastic in my opinion and it probably wouldn't work even then half the time. If you try it with a plastic card as shown in the photos then it just isn't accurately enough manufactured. Using thinner plastic like the packaging it came with, the poor manufacturing tolerances meant the plastic stretched and wedged between the two halves of the cutter and took ages to free.

If you did manage to 'cleanly' cut a pick, the edges are usually so rounded and rough that it is pretty useless. The instructions tell you to strum with it for a bit to wear these off but do you really want to wreck your £15 Elixirs by using them as sandpaper?

The concept is sound and the ones I saw on the trade show videos clearly worked but this is an object lesson in outsourcing manufacturing to another country. The construction is heavy enough but if the cutter and the die do not match up, you get this poor quality version. Beware and wait until the mark 2 comes out. Mine is being returned ASAP and I will go back to buying picks.

Just recieved the plectrum punch and as I had been and purchased a sheet of plasticard from a local model shop for £1.50 I decided to have a go. 2 runs down the sides of the plasticard gave me 20 white 0.5mm plecs, next onto my expired bank debit card, 3 green Lloyds Bank one's with chip still in place, NHS Direct card 3 blue ones, couple of RAC ones.

I already have enough from one 5 minute session to last me ages, as i usually pay 60p-90p each for a single plectrum I reckon it will pay for its self shortly. Sturdy, robust, brilliant bit of kit.