The Nichols Pick Boxes

 

Through the years, I’ve noticed that most banjo pickers carry their picks around either in their pocket where they are destined to get bent or in some little container. I’ve seen them use an Altoids container, pill bottles, a container for ear plugs, and different things. I decided to make some little boxes for banjo and guitar players to carry their picks in.

I wanted to make these boxes large enough to hold 3 banjo picks without bending them up and small enough to go in a pocket without being too bulky. This pretty much determined the size. I’ve seen folks carry these boxes in their pockets and in their instrument cases. As you may know, I like curly maple and this seemed like the ideal wood for these boxes.

The first ones I made had a little dowel in them that fit into a groove. The top twisted on this dowel and secured it in place.

I enjoy turning on a wood lathe and I decided to make a jig to cut threads on these little boxes. There is a commercial version of this thread making device available but it is expensive, and I enjoy the process of building jigs and tools. I spent about three weeks making and refining this jig to cut the threads for these boxes. I made several of these little boxes and gave some away to friends. I think I listed some for sale on Ebay several years ago.

I decided to list them for sale on a popular banjo website online. I listed them there and sold a few. One day I went on this site and read the comments that were left about these boxes. These banjo pickers said that they used their mother’s pill boxes. One fellow said he carried his picks in a dried frog skin. They made it clear to me that they didn’t intend to spend their money on any such product.

It became apparent to me that this product was too sophisticated for a lot of banjo pickers. So, I took them off this site and gave the ones I had away to my wife and some close friends.

I still have some blanks that I made up and, occasionally, I’ll dig one out and finish it and give it away or sell it.

I also designed and made some which opened on a little hinge and were held shut by two rare earth magnets.

These little boxes are well suited for small jewelry and such items as well as for banjo picks. My wife really likes her pick boxes. She doesn’t put banjo picks in them, though.