Inspired in part by Led Zeppelin’s pick-playing multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones, Connecticut and New York-based musicians Mark Labbe and Michael DePietro crafted their own variation of that band’s “The Lemon Song” — they simply made lemonade out of the deficiencies they found in standard flat picks by creating their new Acoustik Attak brand of revolutionary 3D guitar and bass “piks.”

Chief Product & Technology Officer Labbe, a fingerstyle bassist with a background in physics and engineering, came up with the idea after experimenting with a pick to achieve different tones. Not different enough, as it turned out.

“I wanted to get a bit more crunch and distortion on my bass,” Labbe says. “I wondered about creating piks with ridges, and therefore causing multiple strikes on the strings. A flat pick can’t do that.”

Using a 3D printer to create the visual he had in mind, Labbe crafted his first design in October of 2019. “I printed my first pick the day after that,” he says, “and it worked, but wasn’t as complex as the later ones have become.” That fact is the direct result of Acoustik Attak’s subsequent sophisticated injection molding process, which was required to produce quality plectrums featuring such technological advances. Through early trial and error and exhaustive research by Labbe and DePietro, plus a clinical team of musicians and sound engineers, things came to fruition relatively quickly.

The current series includes the “Attak”, “Ambush” and “Blade” models, each designed to achieve similar effects to electronic pedals or equalizers at a fraction of the cost. Unlike standard plectrums, Attak Piks have raised formations on their front and/or rear surfaces, including ridges, bumps, or other mathematically-derived protruding elements. These raised formations, located on the tip of the pick, cause a pattern of multiple strikes of a string in a single pluck, generating multiple different pulse waves that propagate along the string with different frequencies and amplitudes and at different times. This produces greater complexity in the superposition of waves compared to a simple standing wave produced by traditional flat-tipped picks which, in turn, leads to sound enhancements such as desirous harmonics, frequency enhancements, and percussive effects.

“It’s a new path for sound enhancement and effect production,” says Chairman & CEO DePietro. “We are attempting to do this through scientific engineering with the given components and tools of guitars and basses, rather than adding electronics to modify and enhance their sound.”

ACOUSTIK ATTAK PRODUCT LINE-UP

Attak

· Brings out 12-string harmonics on your 6-string acoustic guitar

· Open chords become more compressed together with each note still clear

· Adds a somewhat percussive effect to your tone

· Cuts through reverb on electric guitars while evening out chord extensions

· Brightens bass guitars without losing the low end

Ambush

· Harmonically enhances midrange frequencies, which is where clarity and punch sit for guitars

· Semi-flex structure allows the player to maintain their ability to sweep and tremolo pick

· Pairs well with distorted and overdriven effects cutting through the mix to provide more clarity

· Produces a compressed sound when picking individual notes, and can produce a “wah effect” when overdriven

· Mitigates some of the muddiness of excess string resonance at lower range frequencies

Blade

· Harmonically enhances midrange frequencies, which is where clarity and punch sit for guitars

· Semi-flex structure allows the player to maintain their ability to sweep and tremolo pick

· Pairs well with distorted and overdriven effects cutting through the mix to provide more clarity

· Produces a compressed sound when picking individual notes, and can produce a “wah effect” when overdriven

· Mitigates some of the muddiness of excess string resonance at lower range frequencies

For More Visit: Acoustik Attak