Friday, September 23, 2022: Ahhh, time comes the golds, reds, and even silvers of fall, in just another month in New England. Herco Gold Nylon Light Vintage 66 possesses a color like our surroundings here in CT.

A peaceful sigh, relaxing dog music playing on my brother-in-law’s stereo as I house sit with my beloved 2 canine friends. The Herco Gold Nylon Light Vintage 66 textured plectrum is calming to the touch as well. Ok, maybe not! It’s a rockin’ wild man’s pick, or, well, how do you play, wild or calm?

A lovely afternoon, almost cool, grandfather clock ticking away and chiming. Out in the country. The world is full of peace, but sadly, only here. All over the world, there is suffering, and music is all about suffering and joy, heartache, and hope. This pick elicits such emotions.

And with that hope, comes the golden gem of a Dunlop Herco Vintage ’66 Nylon Gold Pick. It is the brother of the first pick I reviewed, the silver Holy Grail. I daresay this is the “other Holy Grail” pick.

The two are similar, yet different enough that many guys I talk to have a preference for one over the other. The Herco Gold Nylon Light Vintage 66 has a decent amount of flex, but it is not floppy. Playing with it doesn’t produce a big click like with other flexible picks, but there is a click nevertheless.

It is highly textured since it is nylon and can be molded to fine detail. And speaking of those details, there is no flash plastic, it’s cleanly made, no need to sand it.

This is the kind of pick some well-known artists have used, it is versatile and one can pick and strum both pretty well with the Herco Branded Gold colored nylon guitar pick . Some guitarists can even speed pick (though this isn’t my personal choice for that). Doing a Rolling Stones Rhythm with this pick is next to perfect. It is a joy, and it is a huge standard in the industry, with Dunlop bringing us back the classic Herco line.

Where to get it. And: Who Makes it.

I’ll bet you all have used this pick if you are serious players, so how can I add on to the already famous reputation of the Hercos?

Writing can be hard to do…

Sometimes your thoughts flow and music inspires you to write away with abandon, just like playing. I think of Mark Knopfler, who is a great lyricist and music writer both. His ability to tell a story and illustrate it with incredible musical colors makes me wonder if Mark has used this pick. Mark, if you are reading, tell us, is this a pick you would use when not doing your famous fingerstyle?

The great Dire Straits frontman and independent artist tells a story of how he had to go without picks which led him to his famous finger style, but the artist does use picks sometimes. I confess that I don’t know what he has used, but were I to guess, he’s probably tried the Herco Branded Gold colored nylon guitar pick like a lot of you.

I often dream dreams of artists and even my own playing, and I wonder, even in my dreams, who uses this pick or that pick? Why?

Why do each of you out there use whatever pick you make use of? Some of you love a sharp point, some of you love a blunt point, some thick, some very thin. Some are hard, some are soft. I’ve read that some of you saying this pick plays faster or some say the silver plays faster. It’s funny, it’s such a personal thing. It’s a quest and I try to review in a way that accepts how each of us will react differently. It’s just like how many guys fall for different girls and visa versa.

Material	Attack Tone	Decay Tone
Nylon	Some click but strong	bright-ish
Durability/Wear	Comments/Dimensions	Shape
Wear of typical Nylon	Durmeter 58 versus 60 with flex 75 model	Standard 351
Grip and Feel	Flexibility	Likely Use
textured grip very secure	medium flex	Rhythm with some lead acoustic, electric
Thickness	Width and Height	Resonance
.80mm @ tip 1.35 @ grip	25mm x 29.75mm	Deep plastic
Tip Style	Bevel?	Approx. Cost
medium round standard	N/A	$3.99 for 6

I confess that I can’t really say which of the two I like better. When I get home I’ll give them both another try and do a hardness measurement of the two and add to this review, which is just in a draft form. Yes, I write from the perspective of a real-time writing instance, because we all live in the moment. Especially musicians- And then the moment is gone.

This Gold pick is somewhere in between all these different picks I test, but as it is nylon, it’s a little soft, a bit flexible, but fully functional for most uses.

One could play a Dread with it, or even an Ibanez speed guitar. It would be all in how you hold it. If you choke up on the tip you can go faster. But even so, a lot of speed pickers would choose a finer tip and harder material.

Different picks are more about different feels and sounds than anything else, though durability is important also.

So on further testing on my friend’s bassy, gainy Schecter guitar, the differences between the picks are:

This Herco Branded Gold colored nylon guitar pick is .80mm and a little more flappy and flexible with a touch brighter tone than it’s brother-

-The Silver Herco 75 has a more assertive tone with a tighter flex, more classic rock-ish. The “75” is .98mm thick at the tip, so about .13 mm more thick.

There is a difference in tone that I will only say is one you’ll have to compare for yourself. I kinda prefer the sound of the gold over the silver but I like the play-ability of the silver. For mostly strumming, the former will be better and the latter more for picking and strumming.

If you collect picks, you’ve got this one, if not, and you want to try nylon, get the 75 first unless you play acoustic, the two are similar yet different and you must be the final judge.

Now, next week, something new and exciting. Fresh to the market just weeks ago, something an engineer would love, see me there in a few days!

What about you, especially you pros out there? Do you prefer the similar Gray Herco previously reviewed, or this one? Why?