$35/pair may seem like a high price to pay for a set of picks, until you consider the reasons why they are so costly. Stainless steel is a more expensive material and its much greater density makes it more difficult to machine and shape than the brass or nickel/silver alloy more common for fingerpicks. They are hand shaped and finished, and this sort of careful quality control ensures the very finest product we can offer, but at a higher per unit cost - and in somewhat limited supply.

The wider bands are seen as far more comfortable to most players, as the picks are seated farther back on the finger, beyond or nearly beyond the cuticles on most pickers' hands. Being situated farther back on the finger also helps the picks feel more stable. Players regualrly report that they can wear these picks for many hours on end without discomfort.

The great benefits of stainless steel to the player are threefold:

More rigidity at a lighter weight - the metal we use for these picks is only .0175'' thick when finished, which would be considered a very thin - and even flimsy - pick by most standards. A nickel/silver or brass pick of this thickness would have a lot of give in it, and most players prefer heavier picks for a better tone and to get a better feel for the string. The more rigid Shelor picks offer the same resistance to the string at a finished thickness of .0175 as a nickel/silver pick nearly twice that thickness. They feel lighter on your fingers, but bring a lot of mass to bear on the strings with each stroke.

Won't wear/lasts forever - OK... maybe forever is a stretch, but the stainless steel is nearly impervious to the sort of tip wear that requires banjo pickers to replace their picks every few years. This fact alone justifies the higher cost of the Shelor picks, comfort and tone aside. They also hold their shape quite well.

Won't react with your fingers, or the strings - most players have experienced the greenish stain that is left on your fingers after prolonged pick use, and the Shelors won't do this, even after many hours of wearing them. Perhaps most valuably, the picks will not develop that annoying black gunk or grit that can build up on a pick blade. New converts will often cite this one simple fact as the primary reason they will never go back to nickel or brass fingerpicks!