[meteorite-list] People Doing Stange Things to Meteorites

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Aug 9 01:43:42 2006
Message-ID: <009501c6bb76$b0b0f540$f940e146_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi, Dave,


    Actually, no. The metal-to-metal wear is
inconsequential compared to the rate of tone
degradation. Guitar strings degrade from
oxidation slowly and from the chemical interaction
from contact with icky human skin more rapidly.
The rate varies with the person considerably;
there are some individuals who can kill a set of
strings in 2-3 days or a week and others for
whom the same strings last for 2-3 months or
longer.
    Plastic flat picks are most common because
they can be gauged for any degree of flexibility.
Metal picks (of any kind) are among the very
least flexible. The user of a metal flatpick is
likely to be playing heavy strings, anyway.
    There are eBay sellers of flat picks made
out many exotic materials: sterling silver, ivory,
fossilized (mammoth) ivory, a long list. You
name it; you can probably get a flatpick made
out of it.
    (Digression: I have to confess to having some
guitars that have bridge saddles and nuts made
from the teeth of murdered elephants. I feel
bad they got murdered more than 34 years
ago but why should they go to waste? The
utilitarian philosopher Bentham had himself
mummified to demonstrate the importance
of continuing to be useful... I'd offer myself
up but my teeth are too small.)
    OK, meteorite flat picks may seem kinda
creepy, I grant you, but it's possible that one
might well last a lifetime (if you don't lose it),
and at $110 to $140 a piece, nobody's buying
them by the 100-box! As the owner of a herd
of guitars, I think decades of use as a flatpick
is as good a use as jewelry or even a "pocket"
meteorite, and possibly just as good as
"collecting" it, if you're a good enough
guitar player.
    A lot of us on the List confessed to having
a "pocket" meteorite that we just carried around,
just 'cause we're fond of meteorites. Guitar players
can get very attached to their favorite flat pick in
a similar way, keep it and use it for decades. I have
a box of old National (metal) finger picks I've used
(for playing the Dobro) for more than 40 years.
    All human uses of meteorites are just that:
human, pandering to the funny way humans feel
and think. We put extracting knowledge from
meteorites very high on the list of justifications,
yes, but collecting? I have a collection. Does it
serve any purpose beyond gratifying me? Pleases
me to look at it, no more than that, doesn't contribute
to any nobler purpose than that. Of course, WE
appreciate meteorites for what they are, in and of
themselves, but what's wrong with a little chunk
being useful? At best, all the collector can claim
is to be is a kind of purist.
    A good objection to "off-brand" uses of meteorites
is that they are liable to get lost, thrown away, or
otherwise disposed of because their identity as
meteorites has been lost, whereas anyone with
common sense would walk into the house of a
meteorite collector and would realize when they
see a big illuminated dehumidified display with
nothing in it but rocks, just big old ugly rocks,
that they must be some special kind of rock...


Sterling K. Webb
------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Carothers" <david.carothers_at_verizon.net>
To: <joseph_town_at_att.net>
Cc: "meteorite list" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 8:43 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] People Doing Stange Things to Meteorites


> That they do............... They can't be very practical either. Metal
> picks on metal strings means you're going to have to replace your strings
> 10-15 times faster than using a plastic pick.
>
> Regards,
>
> Dave
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <joseph_town_at_att.net>
> To: "Dave Carothers" <david.carothers_at_verizon.net>
> Cc: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 9:23 PM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] People Doing Stange Things to Meteorites
>
>
>> These guitar picks have to rank high among the basest uses of meteorites.
>>
>> http://starmediagroup.web.aplus.net/wwwmeteoriteguitarpickscom/index.html
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> -------------- Original message ----------------------
>> From: "Dave Carothers" <david.carothers_at_verizon.net>
>> > Good evening all,
>> >
>> > This is, without a doubt, the strangest thing I've seen done to a
> meteorite. Is
>> > this "art"? Personally, I want to cry when I see thingts like ths and
> I'd
>> > rather see it rust in oblivion.
>> >
>> >
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110015803472&ssPageName=ADME:
>> > B:EF:US:2
>> >
>> > Shall we have a contest to see who can find the strangest, most idiotic
> thing to
>> > do to a meteorite?
>> >
>> > Dave
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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Received on Wed 09 Aug 2006 01:43:06 AM PDT