Our very own VONHOTCH has relaunched his web site featuring his truly awesome guitar picks. I became a huge fan after getting an early prototype and have been on board ever since. I still have my "Signature" V-Pick line over at VPicks, but I gotta say, the custom OCTAVIOUS pick that he built for me is my fave pick of all time and the secret sauce to my precision/speed. Here is a link!!


http://www.vonhotch.com

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Sweet I have been waiting for a couple of months to get a Vonhotch pick since I saw your review on Youtube!
I might order some soon

They really are that good. I'm stoked to see his site back up so he can share his picks with the world!!!!

Sweet!

Definitely going to have to get some! The invader seems like a good choice for me as it looks similar to the Jazz III XL that I use but I'll have to get an Octavius as well!

Now I have something to put on my xmas list

I have a few here that I enjoy playing with

Hey guys. Yea, I'm back. What do you think of the new site? It has been a long time coming getting ordering integrated into the site. Don't be afraid to let me know it there is anything you think needs improvement. With the picks or the site. They are what they are because of the great feedback I've gotten along the way, mostly from the great community here.

Hey mate!! Welcome back

If you ask me - the website is a bit too dark - I've been in the design business, not a designer myself, but my ex business partner and friend was a great designer and I learned how to look at things when dealing with a site design.

I would go for something a bit lighter and more minimal - then again, I like bright things and I like stuff to have a lot of white in it An example of overall design would be this site for instance:

http://kzxtreme.com/

http://www.31three.com/

I picked them up from here: http://sixrevisions.com/design-showcase-in...or-inspiration/

.. in case you would like to scour for more inspiration How's stuff going?

Those are some very clean designs COSMIN But they don't really have much in the way of conveying the whole "pirate" vibe that sorta pervades the Von brand. I see what you mean about lots of white having a clean classic look But in this case, the dark and dark green serve to give a "dark" vibe which sorta matches the overall vibe of the brand. Making a site like Von's that bright and happy would just not be Metal. Not to say that these picks are only for Metal. But man oh man are they ever perfect for Metal

Hey! Thanks for the input. I do like it a bit dark and foreboding but maybe some lighter more colorful items could make it pop. It's a work in progress. My main goal was to get on site shopping and ditch Etsy. Now I'm gonna fine tune it a bit.

Things are going good. Trying to get things rolling again after going through some things and being a bit lazy with it. How have things been going with you?

I've been looking into laser engravers, and I'm hoping to be able to do some engraving like we talked about awhile ago. Hopefully in the next few months if all goes well.




So why are pirates called pirates?????......... They just RRRRRR.
I was going for a dark and somewhat techy look. I'm much happier with this site than the previous version.

Hey Von! Glad to see you back in the business matey! I sure remember our discussion and I think it would be more than great if that could happen

Me.. well, I'm busy as usual - band, GMC, PRS related activities, my little company and lately, I'm in the middle of organizing my first fund raising event, under the form of an acoustic concert, in which 4 bands join forces to support a center that treats patients with incurable diseases in their terminal phase. I'm pretty stoked about it, but man, did it drain me... Please keep me updated on the website and on the laser engraving thing!

Wow, that sounds like a great cause and event. When is that happening?

It will be happening on December 10th in Bucharest, in our nices live concert venue - The Silver Church. This is how it looks like:

Nice! How about a raffle to raise money and use some Custom Picks as the prize?

I will talk to the guys at the Hospice institution about it They are organizing the raffle and out of what I know, they already have prizes prepared. I haven't poked my nose into this aspect too much, tho - let's see what they'll say, but it's a very good idea!

We have 3 of Romania's most famous tattoo houses coming over with stands and offering a day's work from 2 of their artists, each, for anyone wanting to get a tattoo - they pay half the price and the money goes exclusively for the charity cause.

I'm thrilled to see how this thing - which was supposed to be something small initially, has evolved into the biggest thing of its kind in the last years or so.

That place looks amazing!!! And cheap tattoos for charity. If I could I'd be on a plane to be there! And I'd be happy to throw in some picks if they wanted.

It's going to be really big and hopefully people will react and change something

http://roevents.ro/pretuim-fiecare-clipa-d...ta.html#77/6077

Here are some pics from the center - last week, we all went there for a visit I have decided to teach guitar to these kids as a volunteer from January onward - I think music has the power to change something in their lives, so if I can do that - why not?

I wish you the best of luck with it. It is really admirable, and must be really rewarding to make those kids smile. Charities like that really put things in perspective.

Thank you very much, mate It's the best I can do and since I have this power, why not bring the folks together and make a difference? An artist is a center of influence and he should act accordingly!

How did it go? Hope it was very successful!!

I also wanted to let everybody know that, I have managed to make some changes and get my costs down considerably. 1.27mm and .81mm are only $5.00 and the big 3.2mm are only $6.00. This is more more the price range I have wanted all along.

Hey mate!

It was successful beyond any expectation I had - that evening, we raised about 5000 bucks and all in all, after several additional donations, around 6500 bucks. Here's the video recording of the gig:



and a pic with the team that I worked with so that we could make things possible:

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How did you manage to reduce the production costs?

That's great! It looks like it was an amazing show!


Getting costs down was really due to finding cheaper suppliers for EVERYTHING from the aluminum to the coating to packaging. And getting more efficient in the process of making them. The very first one I made took me over an hour to make. I've found better ways to do just about every step and have cut down the time it takes each one by A LOT. I was never a person who would have paid a lot for a pick so getting the price down was important to me. I feel much better about the price point now. I've been hooked on economics books lately (Yea I'm nerd like that), and looking at things economically helped find better ways of doing things.

Just got my Octavius for Xmas

The hole is a little weird for me, since I never used star picks or anything like that in the past - but the overall feel and slight twang it gives makes up for it ten fold.

A new loyal customer

Mate! Learning about every aspect involved in your trade, is of utmost importance I'm glad to hear you have discovered ways in which you can improve your customers experience and yes, indeed, it was a show which went beyond any of my expectations. I had no intentions of taking the 'All stars' concept any further, but it seems it has grown into something which is far greater than myself, so I am already thinking about setting things up for the Easter edition - open air, electric, more bands

What fun would it be if I had all the right answers straight away.

Indeed!

Good choice!! My fave is the octavious The tone it creates helps guitar cut through a mix.

Awesome!!! Glad you like it!

Received my order today
One 1.27 mm Invader and one 3.2 mm Octavius. Got used to the Octavius pretty fast and definitely like it so far, hasn't been able to really test the Invader yet because I am too stunned by the look and the feel of the Octavius Awesome job

WELCOME TO THE CLUB!!!!


There is the IBANEZ MAFIA and now there's the VONHOTCH MAFIA!!!

record some bits if you can! Let us know how they work out The OCTAVIOUS is just PURE AWESOME imho. I just love that pick. It seems to do some of the work for you once you get used to it! Killer job by VON! It took us over a year of prototyping to finalize that design. Enjoy!!!

Todd

It's an honor to be in the VON HOTCH MAFIA

Did a quick video where I played the Octavius, Invader and just a regular pick.


I would also like to have some feedback on my tone from you Todd, do you got any suggestions to make it better?

I get some black color on my thumb and finger after I have been playing with the Octavius for a like 60 min, anyone know how to fix this?

I'd be happy to help you on your tone First up!! A few questions.


1.)What gear are you using?
2.)What recording software/hardware do you have to work with?

As far as the black stuff, that's actually pick dust! You may be leaning in to the pick to hard. If you pick lighter, you won't rub the pick on the strings as hard and create pick dust IT's a handy way to train your hand to have a bit lighter touch!


Todd

Awesome !

1.) I use Fender MiM Strat, Tubescreamer Clone (Joyo Vintage Overdrive) and Orange Micro Terror. I also own Orange PPC108 but practice mostly with headphones.

2.) I plug the Amp headphone jack into a soundcard to Reaper.

Spiff little rig you have there!

With a tube screamer in front, should have plenty of gain. The problem is pluging in to the computer like your doing. It results in a somewhat poor sound quality. The headphone jack output is not idea for recording.

You might get better tone by setting the amp to a clean sound and recording in to your computer and using something like AMPLITUDE or OVERLOUD TH2 to get the distortion sound for recording.

Using reaper, you launch your guitar plugin on the channel you are using to record. So it's running inside reaper. Then you can adjust the sound as you go.

If you want to record the sound of your real amp, I'd suggest getting a microphone like a SHURE SM57 and putting it in front of your speaker cab. You would need an adapter to convert the micrphone cable to the little 1/8th inch input on your soundcard but those are very inexpensive.

Hope this helps!

Thanks Todd for your tips, I will consider it for a bit and see what is the best solution

You can download free versions of AMPLITUDE and GUITAR RIG to get you started Let us know if you need any help on further setup!

Been getting some questions on VONHOTCH picks so I thought I'd share this review. It has my signature octavious in it.

His website doesnt seem to work. Do you have a link where you can order from?

You used to be able to buy direct from his facebook page. The web site, I even helped him with it, was just a needless cost that he eventually let go. He mainly makes picks for friends and GMCers. We are a lucky few Outside of us, nobody has these picks on earth. It's their loss. These are rare indeed and very special IMHO.

I'll tell you what, I'll try to reach out to him and see what is going on, I know he was promoted at work and it got in the way of his luthier shop gig. But no matter what I will get you a Vonpick even if I just have to send you one of mine. He sent me his ENTIRE LAST BATCH when he stopped full production so I have more of them than any one on the planet and I'm duly grateful. They make playing guitar easy. It's hard to believe but it's true. I'll send you a couple of my personal picks that I've never taken out of the bags yet to get you started. I think it will cure many of the problems you face.

PM me with a mailing addresss and I'll just ship you a couple to see what you think. If you want to give one away to a fellow player, feel free He sent me a prototype and I fell in love with it and urged him to make them for other people as well and VonHotch Picks was born. But after his promotion at his job he had less time for it. It really is our loss. These are simply amazing picks and will improve your technique just by using them. They are MAGIC. IMHO. The pick is of my "SIgnature" Octavious Line, 3mm!!!! Beveled and rounded on the sides with a nice point. Makes string traverse a breeze. It's almost cheating but this aint poker so we don't have rules

Todd
Von Fan.

Wow Todd you are a kind guy:) I'll text you in PM.

Happy to Help

Todd

can I jump on the bandwagon here plz

Si