It started with Moose

The shape came from staring at the back end of a black labrador. Moose, to be specific — James’s dog, who is mostly responsible for the BumNotes silhouette and a not-insignificant share of the QC budget (paid in treats).

The cutaway shape of Moose’s rear turned out to do something useful for guitar players: it gives the thumb a natural place to sit and the index finger a flat run-up to the tip. It’s a comfortable grip whether you’re strumming chords or doing precision work, and it doesn’t twist in your hand the way symmetrical picks can.

From sketch to prototype

Every BumNotes pick starts life as a 3D model. We iterate the geometry — the radius of the cutaway, the bevel of the tip, the texture of the grip — and run small batches off a 3D printer to test in the real world. “The real world” being our own gigs and rehearsals.

A pick can feel right on screen and wrong in your fingers, so the prototype-and-bin cycle is unglamorous and necessary. The current Medium and Heavy designs are the result of a lot of versions that didn’t make it.

Tough PLA, printed in Ipswich

Once a design earns its keep, we print the production runs in tough PLA filament. PLA gets a reputation for being brittle, but the tough variant we use is a different beast — designed to flex without snapping, hold an edge through hundreds of strums, and not melt the moment a guitarist with sweaty palms gets going on a hot stage.

Every pick is printed right here in Ipswich, UK. No offshoring, no mass moulding, no minimum orders of 50,000 units sat in a container somewhere. Small batches, tight QC, made on the same kit we use to develop new designs.

Two thicknesses, for now

We currently make two:

• Medium (0.88mm) — flex with a bit of attack. Great for acoustic, strumming, and anyone who likes a pick that gives a little.
• Heavy (1mm) — rigid and uncompromising. The one for precision picking, lead lines, and heavier riffs.

Both have the same cutaway grip. The difference is purely in how the pick responds when it meets the string.

Where this is going

We’ve got more thicknesses on the drawing board, plus some experiments with grip textures and tip profiles that we’ll write about as they’re ready to share. If there’s a thickness or shape you want, drop us a line via the FAQ page — we read everything.

In the meantime, pick your bum. Moose has personally signed off on every batch (his signature is mostly drool, but it counts).