I have a good friend ,who is currently purchasing salvaged ivory from a guy who buys old pianos and decommisioned museum pieces. He is currently fashioning nuts and picks out of the ivory but also does gun grips and other stuff. He is doing really well with it and the quality of the finished product is outstanding. The picks never wear they just kind of polish themselves with use. I dont own one of the nuts yet but he told me they never stick. In this day and age you got to do what you have to do to survive just wanted to float the idea. Lots of talent on these forums maybe someone can run with this one.
By the way hes getting 50$ a pick

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BSG

i liked the idea until i saw the number

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Hi Floyd the number is good if your the seller. Plus the value is you never have to buy another pick. The raw cost of the product is not cheap and there is some scrap but I think the markup is about 1oo% which is common for retail. Its a niche market but its there.

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BSG

Please explain what salvaged ivory is.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrs6xsdG6c

what is the price in USD?

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Ah-ha! I liked the idea because I saw the number.

We have my grandmother's old upright piano. It was never great and is now in bad shape, and it turns out it would cost more to restore than to buy a new one of equal or better quality. Odd but true. So we're talking about dumping it, sad as that seems. Just haven't got round to it yet - have you ever tried shifting a piano up and down stairs...?

Now maybe I'll just demolish it on the spot - how many fifty dollar picks can I get out of one keyboard?

Gratz, as business ideas go this is unique - and thought provoking! Thank you!

Cheers - C

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$50 for a pick? oh helz no.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

There's a guy out in France who makes picks from various materials. The price of wooden ones seems to have dropped considerably.

He's charging a lot Gratz. You can buy Mammoth ivory in your country for $12 a nut blank. 10,000 years old. Real vintage.
I think it's Mammoth ivory going on my CS strat next. It will match the clay dots nicely.

DHD
Salvaged ivory is ivory harvested/farmed before the ban. Perfectly legal as the crime happened before criminalization. Whereas ivory harvested now is illegal whether the animal died of natural causes or not. The thinking being that a blanket ban is needed on new ivory to discourage poachers by lowering the desire for it. Nothing wrong at all with reclaimed/salvaged ivory.

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No no and no

i wonder if it would be worth going out here and digging up grandma's leg bones?

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

say, one of you guys could be the lucky one to have the worlds first
bone nut with arthritis. lol

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

The problem you get with ivory is the lack of stress it's put under whilst the animal is alive. Cow bone is taken from near the ankle. The cow has spent years with that bit of the leg bones taking all the weight. So it's dense.
You do get soft spots with ivory. Meaning you can cut the nut perfect, slot it superbly. Then one day all of a sudden, the string will drop in the slot.
Rare but it happens.

As for Grandma bone, yeah ok. After you've got all the fat off, degreased it, scraped the marrow out and bleached it. Bone prep is utterly disgusting. I still balk at the thought of it.

Did she weigh half a tonne for a good few years before she died?

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No no and no

You guys are beyond funny. Everybody at my work is staring at me and wondering why am I laughing at the code that I am writing (software)

dude granny was huge. every time her cell phone rang people got the hell out of the way cause they thought she was backing up.
i bought her a team jacket from one of my sponsors. it has a big "X" on the back of it.
i had to take it back cause everwhere she went helicopters kept trying to land on her back. oh yeah granny was a biggin alright.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Here's the site.
http://www.elephantivorytusks.com/mammothivory1.html

I assume from the user name that you play a Fender rosewood boarded Precision Bass.
If so, then Mammoth ivory can look a little darker than bone or Nelliephant ivory. A good match for clay dots on a rosewood board.

The prices have gone up a little since I last looked. Or I got mixed up on the dollar to pound thing and remembered £12 instead of $18.

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No no and no

As I said, you prep the bone and get it here, I'll gladly cut you a nut from it.

Then bury the rest of it, say 45 hail Mary's and 997 Our Farthers', go through a ritual excorsism and commit the rest of my days to a monastary. Where I will hide my dark secret behind a vow of silence.

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No no and no