B.B. King's Red Heavy Plectrum vs Ritchie Blackmore Custom Square Picks
The B.B. King's Red Heavy Plectrum and the Ritchie Blackmore Custom Square Picks are both picks. The B.B. King's Red Heavy Plectrum leans mid-forward and sustaining. The Ritchie Blackmore Custom Square Picks leans bright.
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Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.49% — somewhat different
B.B. King's Red Heavy Plectrum
Unknown brand · pick
Ritchie Blackmore Custom Square Picks
Unknown brand · pick
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.A heavy-gauge red guitar pick associated with B.B. King, whose thumb-and-pick attack on Lucille produced the singing, vibrato-heavy lead tone that defined electric blues guitar. Heavier picks generally give a fuller, less trebly attack than thin picks, suited to Kings style of bending single notes with wide, vocal-like vibrato rather than fast alternate picking. Specific documentation of this exact pick beyond its association with King in this catalogue is not something independent sources confirm in detail.
Ritchie Blackmore has played an unusually squared plectrum shape since the 1970s, originally cutting the corners off standard Fender Tortoiseshell Extra Heavy picks into a rectangular form because he disliked the conventional rounded shape, later having custom versions made by brands including PickBoy, some printed with his name on one side and a blunt declaration of ownership on the other. The square shape and edges change both grip feel and pick attack angle compared to a standard pointed pick, part of the distinctive attack and articulation heard across his Deep Purple and Rainbow lead work, and the design has since inspired several boutique tribute pick makers producing his shape in multiple gauges for fans wanting to replicate his exact feel.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Blues
- Electronic
- Hard Rock
- mid-forward
- sustaining
- dynamic
- transparent
- bright