D'Andrea Picks - D'Andrea Today

D'Andrea Today

D'Andrea manufactures twelve D'Andrea brand pick lines, private label picks for many prominent guitar makers, custom imprinted picks for thousands of music retailers worldwide, and most of the veteran and contemporary artists. Among the many endorsees are Al Di Meola, Lee Ritenour, Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi, Slayer, and The Ventures — representatives of a variety of musical styles. There are over 50,000 imprint dies in the D'Andrea archives.

After 85 years of producing, developing and innovating, picks are now made from five plastics including celluloid. When Luigi’s son, Anthony, took over the business in the '40s, it was expanded into cases and other guitar accessories. Today, his grandson Tony, operates the family business, along with his brother-in-law, Charles Lusso as general Mgr. In 2002, they expanded by purchasing the Snarling Dogs line of signature wah pedals and amp emulators, and the rights to the Snarling Dogs Brain Pick. In 2003, D'Andrea began distributing products from other manufacturers.

Today, celluloid has very few uses other than guitar picks, pickguards, other guitar related parts, ping pong balls and accordion shells. Large commercial sources of it have vanished except for one in Italy. There is new hope as, thankfully, mainland China has taken on the task of keeping celluloid alive and is now a viable and fairly abundant resource of the substance. It is produced from cotton cellulose (nitrocellulose) and camphor, in huge vats which take months to cure. The lead time is anywhere from four to six months for production alone. It is then made into 300 lb. blocks, skived into sheets and shipped from overseas—a costly and time consuming process in the era of overnight delivery.