INTERVIEW: RICK AND ANDREW CALHOUN OF HONEY PICKS
Brothers Andrew and Rick Calhoun, owners and sole operators of Honey Picks.
Nestled at the end of a long twisting road in Taylorsville, NC, Honey Picks is a surprisingly big operation that puts out exceptionally high quality and beautifully hand-crafted guitar picks. Ran by two brothers, Rick and Andrew Calhoun, Honey Picks has been going for about 6 years now and only shows signs of growing.
Their parents own and operate Alarm Electronics out of Taylorsville, a business started by Rick and Andrew’s Grandfather in the 70’s, who make advanced transmitters and receivers (precursor to Life-Alert) and the pick-making happens in this building.
An assortment of picks, set in a foam case like jewelry.
BLAME IT ON THE LASER-LIFE
(Rick and Andrew will be labeled R and A for the interview)
So when and how exactly did Honey Picks start?
R: ”It started in 2020 and things were slow everywhere because of covid. We were still working [at Alarm Electronics] but things were slow, like orders weren’t coming in. Andrew had a laser and we had acrylic. We had an idea like ‘hey we got the material, we got the laser… let’s just cut it out and see if we can make a pick.’ I drew the pick up on a CAD software, gave it to Andrew, and he cut it out with the laser. I took a Dremel tool and I butchered this thing to death.[both start laughing The first pick that I made was very ugly but I was proud of it. It was 4mm blue acrylic and we put the initials RC on it, I remember and uh…it was kind of a like custom shape.”
A: “Like a mix between honeybee and beehive or something back then?
R: “Like a classic fender teardrop but with a pointier tip. We made that pick and we decided to just keep making them because we knew we’d get better at it. We put it on Etsy and we started having people order that’s kinda how…it was just very organic that way”
The building is half Alarm Electronics and half Honey Picks.
One of their first pick designs, clear acrylic with the first ‘Honey’ logo.
I asked them about the first pick that they made then I realized that they said they just “had a laser” like it wasn’t a big deal.
A: “Basically we have these plastic transmitters and receivers we make [for Alarm Electronics] and I had to sit over there with a big heat-press and I’d stamp the numbers on here [holding a transmitter]. Well, I convinced our parents that, ya know, if we got a mini K40 laser, that we could use that and it would make things go way faster.”
R : “And look better.”
A: ”Well, we got that and because we had it we could cut the acrylic with it and I’ve made jigs and all kinds of stuff with it for making stuff for Honey Picks”
The first pick they ever sold was to one of their friends named Alex C. It was purchased by his mom after seeing Rick’s instagram post.
R: "I started posting all these picks that we started making and she noticed it on there. I think at that time we had just come up with ‘Honey Picks’ and she reached out to us and ordered like 5 picks from us, they were just clear acrylic 1.5mm picks I think. That was the first thing we sold.”
Rick and Andrew were talking about how the logo was different back then, just a lower-case wording of “Honey”. The whole process was completely different back then compared to now. They hand bevel everything and make it all smooth but prior to then, the picks were sanded to sharp points on all sides which they nick-named “Ninjy-Stars” because they were so sharp.
An older, sharper pick although not as sharp as a “Ninjy-Star.”
The first pick that Rick ever made.
“I took a Dremel tool and I butchered this thing to death! The first pick that I made was very ugly but I was proud of it. It was 4mm blue acrylic and we put the initials RC on it”
“What set your picks apart from regular picks you could get from the store?” I asked.
R: “Yeah, they were acrylic picks. At the time, V-Picks was first and then Gravity Picks, they were making acrylic picks..Those were the big guys. There were a few of us small pick makers kind of like, how there’s like…pedal makers, that are like, just out of their garage or whatever. There’s a few of those out there like that, pick makers, and we were in there with them and I was all about it-I was obsessed.”
A: “Yeah a bunch of us were all just starting at the same time it seemed like.”
R: “Because it was Covid, and everybody had the same idea.”
An assortment of current picks made by the Calhouns. They’ve come a long way from the simple, clear acrylic picks they started with.
What about the name ‘Honey Picks?’
R: “Well, Taylorsville is known for apple orchards, chicken houses, and bee keepers. We didn’t go with Galaxy Picks because it was too close to Gravity Picks and I wanted to be more separate. I wanted something more down to earth and more local to us…and because Rick’s Picks was really stupid! :laughs:
‘Calhoun Picks’ was like…I mean, no one knows ‘Calhoun’ so I thought..hey..we use Honey Picks and our first slogan was something like ‘Tone as Sweet as Honey’ and we wanted something we could use a theme around so honey gave us that.”
SUPER CALHOUN BROS.
A pile of Nintendo consoles sat on top of a shelf above where Andrew sands the picks. He says he collects all manner of older video games and enjoys modding the systems. We talked a bit about it and some of his history with electronics and schooling.
A: “I like to mod game systems and add LEDS and all kinds of fun stuff. I used to RC race until I was about 16. I went to school to work on cars, did Nascar tech, did all that, got my Ford certifications and everything. I tried to get a job at Ford places and nothing around here was hiring. Then, I talked to the school trying to find a job and they’re like ‘yeah we’ve got plenty of opportunities in Raleigh.’ But, I really like where I live so I just kept working here.”
R: Yeah, I handle all the business stuff and I’ll bevel the picks by hand and buff most of them. Andrew, when we get orders, he’ll put it on the software, get everything going and make sure everything’s right because we have a ton of options. He’s the one thats responsible for running the laser and the CNC..he set all that up. He’s very much mechanically minded and he’s very good at it.
A: “I watch YouTube.” he replies with a smirk.
R: :Laughs: “Yeah the funny thing is, I went to school for computers and everything I learned is way outdated now. He goes to school for mechanics and now he’s the computer genius!”
Andrew Calhoun
Andrew doesn’t play guitar but Rick does, so I had to ask him his favorite guitar right now.
R: “I got a nice Strat that I’m enjoying right now. It’s a ’57 reissue Custom Shop and its supposedly a limited edition or something, I don’t know.
“What got you interested in starting guitar? Young Rick…what motivated him to start?”
A: “Young Rick wanted girls..he thought he was cool playing guitar”
R: “…thats not right” He shakes his head and smiles “thats not right..”
A: “Yeah! ‘All the cool guys play guitar so I’m gonna be cool and get a girlfriend! I’m gonna annoy my brother in his room playing guitar all the time’” he teases.
R: “First thing I can remember is watching Marty McFly [Back to the Future] and that, to me, was awesome..seeing that. The other thing was: My mom and dad were watching PBS, I was probably 12 years old, this dude was singing and playing the blues and I was just enthralled with it…it was BB king. That was pretty awesome. Then, when I was 15, playing in the jazz band at school.. I was playing saxophone and I remember just thinking “the guitar is so much cooler than the sax, I’m gonna play guitar instead.”
Rick Calhoun
Currently, it’s just Rick and Andrew making all the picks. Their plans are to continue how it is for now until their parents retire. After that, they are going full time making picks with plans to have products in local stores, attend events and showcases, and appear on some podcasts.
Pick displays designed and 3D printed by Honey Picks for stores and events.
TONE AROUND THE GLOBE
I wanted to know some of the specific people that used their picks often and Rick brought up Andy Buslovich, a guitar player in New York that plays on Broadway plays among other projects. He just recently ordered some more custom picks, but my favorite were these glow-in-the-dark ones he had made for Wicked in 2021.
A: “Yeah, we’ve had a lot. Anything from custom shapes to like… a Chevy Logo. Random logos here and there, weird shapes.”
R: "The thickest pick we ever did was 12mm thick, sent to a guy in Greece, he wanted it with really big bevels and everything. It looked like a jewel when we were done, he loved it.”
Wicked picks made for Andy Buslovich, made from glow in the dark Kirinite. The shape is the original “Honey Jar” shape.
What are some of the most notable people that have used your picks?
R: “A lot of the guys that use our picks are like, session players. Andy Wood has used our picks, Chris Cathry, lead guitar from Trans-Siberian Orchestra played our picks. The Allman Betts Band, the sons of Dicky Betts and Gregg Allman, used them.”
A: “Somebody ordered and told us they gave them to Post Malone, but I haven’t heard anything back…”
R: “Sturgill Simpson! He’s probably one of the most recognized guys that’s used our picks before. Someone my wife works with, that’s friends with Sturgill, went to their house and I made some picks to give to him. Her friend said he liked them… but that’s all I know.”
Rick and Andrew estimate that they’ve made and shipped around 30,000 picks so far all over the world. Greece, Japan, Portugal, Australia, England..the list goes on.
THE BEEKEEPER’S STASH
Honey Picks are made out of premium materials. They started with acrylic but have expanded into using multiple high-end plastics, resins and even some more unique and rare concoctions. Their most popular is usually acrylic or delrin, the cheaper materials. Kirinite is another fan favorite, which is like a fancier acrylic thats more dense. It’s known for it’s durability, vibrant colors and quilted, almost metallic look. They also mention a secret blend called Beekeeper’s Stash.
R:Beekeeper’s stash is probably tied with kirinite. It's a blended plastic and I think that we’re the only ones using it from this supplier so we just haven’t said what it is.
A: “It’s the only ‘mystery material’ that we have and it’s very expensive”
R: “It’s pretty expensive, it’s not the easiest to work with, like we have to..baby it a little bit..but it makes a great pick.
Plaques made for an array of materials that are used by Honey Picks, used at events, festivals, and conventions.
What material has been the hardest the get ahold of? Or more rare?
A:”That would probably be the material nobody can get ahold of, Rick. the tortoise shell kirinite. You can’t get any of that! [It’s a specific color of kirinite]
R: “I’ll tell you what it is; Casein.”
A: “Ohhh yeah.”
R: “Casein would be the hardest thing. There’s only one distributor in the word that makes it.”
A: “It was basically a plastic substitute in the 50s. They used to use it for poker chips and buttons, decorative jewelry..all kinds of things.”
R: “Casein is a milk protein, right? You take that and mix it with formaldehyde and put dyes in it. Let it cure and it creates a plastic sheet. And when you cut it, it smells-It reeks!”
A: “Oh yeah that stuff smells like burnt fingernails and hair it’s awful
What about a ‘Hail Mary’ material? Like if you could make a pick out of anything what would it be?
A: “Well I’ve never made a gold pick, that would be pretty cool but ridiculously expensive.”
R: “First thing that came to my mind was like..an asteroid pick or something”
A: “Ahhh that would be really cool with that really cool metal look”
R: “Well hey…you know what we DO have? Mammoth molar!
He reaches into a cubby of materials and pulls out a small sheet of material striped with black, brown, gold, and gray.
Fossilized mammoth molar, dyed, stabilized and cast in resin.
R: “Now, this is a cool.. do you know what this is?
“I sure don’t” I reply as he shows me a block of streaky colors. Blacks, reds, whites, and yellows all mixed together in an oozy pattern.
R: “Some people call it Detroit agate, some people call it Fordite. Basically, at the car dealerships when they spray the car [with paint] what falls down…it just keeps making layers of paint. It’s just layers and layers and layers of automotive paint.
Detroit Agate, also known as “Fordite.”
“Working at a music store, I get a lot of people asking me about Blue Chip picks. Do you have anything close to what they use?”
R: ”We use Torlon. It’s very close.”
A: “Bluechip is made from Vespel which is a polyimide (PI). Torlon is a polyamide-imide (PAI) so it's slightly stronger.”
Both are extremely durable, high performance plastics. PI excels in heat resistance while PAI excels in durability. Just out of curiosity, I ask if I can try to break it and they let me try. I grabbed with both hands and tried to snap it as hard as I could. Nothing. Not even a bend.
A: “You can’t break that, you’re gonna hurt your hand!”
R: “Yeah, that stuff is NASA level, aerospace type of stuff. We buy sheets like that right there and its almost $400. Just for that little sheet.”
PICK ME! PICK ME!
WELL… LET’S MAKE A PICK.
I wanted to get a pick made with some Noisy City Media logos on it to document the process from beginning to end.
They first asked me what material I wanted and I curiously searched through some bins for something to jump out at me. I ended up picking this sparkly red piece of kirinite.
I emailed them a logo and Andrew got started on the computer, selecting the pick’s shape and fine-tuning the laser.
This is the logo I went with, Andrew noticed some lines that were a little close to be accurately cut so he fixed them in just seconds.
Awesome! The pick is cut out and the logo is there. They then clean it off with a brush and some regular tap water. The whole cutout process took about 1-2 minutes.
Next, they fill in the logo with pigmented resin. I chose a gold color with some glow-in-the-dark pigment mixed in.
While we wait on the pick to cure, Rick and Andrew wanted to show me their fiber laser. It’s a lot faster than the regular laser and can burn onto super tough materials that the regular laser can’t. So I picked out another pick shape to have a different logo burned onto. This one was premade and preshaped. I chose a triangular piece of Ultem that was already buffed and sanded and ready to go.
Their fiber laser that’s used for tougher materials or for a resin-free logo engraving.
The laser dances around the pick, dialing its position in.
This is a video showing the fiber laser at work. It’s so fun to watch!
Voilà! about 8 seconds later, I have a laser engraved pick!
OK, Lets get back to the first pick!
After curing, the first thing that has to be done is sanding off the excess resin to make the logo nice and smooth. Andrew puts on a respirator and gets to using the belt sander to file down whatever resin is sticking out from the surface.
Sanding down the resin for a smooth face.
This is such a cool thing to watch. These brothers have got pick making down to a science while maintaining the artistry that’s in the spirit of music. The combination of mechanical knowledge, computer prowess, artistic vision, and technical craftsmanship is an awesome thing to see unfold into a physical object. A guitar pick, a tool that’s often overlooked and is the primary component in interacting with a guitar, is elevated to the extraordinary at Honey Picks.
Rick and Andrew will be at Merlefest this year under their vendor tent.
Rick says his favorite store-bought guitar pick is a Jim Dunlop Primetone 1.5mm, without the grip.
Check out Honey Picks’ website below! Also, follow them on Instagram.
