This ain't your momma's regular ol' Vespel, folks. No sirree Bob.
 
Introducing The Gauntlet Series, a worldwide exclusive material from Charmed Life Guitar Picks.
 
This is SO cool.
 
Charmed Life Gauntlet picks are made from a newer, vastly superior version of Vespel called SCP-5000. It's just astounding material. Imagine a Vespel pick 30% lighter and 40% more rigid than the one you're currently playing. Yowza.
 
Read Gauntlet Customer Reviews
 
Here's the deal. DuPont Vespel SCP-5000 is without a doubt THE highest-performance aerospace polymer in the world, period. No other material even comes close. And the unparalleled mechanical poperties of this polymer (Vespel was designed to replace metals in aircraft -- think titanium and aluminum) translates into a perfect guitar pick. Play one and see if you don't agree. 
 
Charmed Life Picks is the ONLY company in the pick industry crazy enough to make picks from this stuff. Hey, you only live once. Wrap me up in a white jacket with extra long sleeves and cart me away, but let me make a few picks first before you shove me into the paddy wagon.
 
A couple of more things.
 
$100 is an absurd price for a guitar pick. When I tell you the wholesale cost of this stuff, however, perhaps you'll understand. If anyone thinks we're getting rich making these picks, think again. 
 
We bought the smallest piece possible of this stuff for our little experiment -- a rod measuring 9.50" length and 1.50" in diameter. It cost us $2100, PLUS SHIPPING.  That's a real number, folks; I am not making that up. Vespel SCP-5000 is almost three times the price of SP-1.
 
So if someone says we're getting rich off these picks, have them contact me and I'll send them a copy of the invoice from our DuPont distributor. No one making Vespel picks is driving a Ferrari. When I picked up the SCP package up from the post office, I plunked it into the trunk of my 25-year-old Camry. I'm poor, but happy. 
 
Read Gauntlet Customer Reviews
 
One more thing about making Vespel picks -- something most people don't realize. You can only buy finished shapes from DuPont; there's no injection-molding or forming or any of that other nonsense here. You buy the stuff, you machine it.
 
And then you deal with this. Every time you slice the rod, you lose at least a millimeter of material on the cut. Every cut. This is known as kerf loss -- the path of the blade passing through the material. The price of your blank just doubled, and you haven't even begun to shape it, sand it, bevel it, polish it, then package and ship it. Do the math. Depending on the thickness of the desired finished product, the cost of each raw blank runs about $40 to $50 per pick. Argh. Double Argh. 
 
Read Gauntlet Customer Reviews
 
One last  thing. There's been a nasty little rumor floating out there for years that manufacturers of boutique guitar picks are making a killing, that we fly to Martinique on our private jets, drink rum till all hours and dance with the local senorities under the Caribbean moon. Not true. We do it for the love -- we do it for the craft -- we do it for the music -- we do it for the challenge. We don't do it for the money. None of us.
 
Truth be told, I could have put my money in a Vanguard index fund ten years ago and come out much farther ahead. But then I wouldn't have met any of YOU. 
 
I ain't complaining. It's been one helluva ride, and continues to be.  
 
Thanks for reading if you've read this far.
 
Please allow at least four weeks on your Gauntlet order. The exorbitant price of this material necessitates. very delicate surgery with an uncertain outcome. We want to make sure the patient survives the procedure.
 
Peace Be With You,
Scott, Rhonda & The CLP Gang