Schuyler, nice article. With the enormous variety of picks to choose from (or wonder about

) this is a refreshing overview on the more useful ones. I'm sure it'll give many people a good
general idea for choosing the appropriate tool for the job than they previously had - "enee, menee, minee, mo.. which pick should I put in the ho?"
Also, I agree with you on the Deforest picks. This is usually one of the first picks to be pulled out of my slimline set. I prefer the offset 1/2 ball though over the diamond. The hook on these picks are not too deep, but not too shallow, giving you a happy medium and making it very versatile.
The key to these is the shallow angle they used to make the hook, which allows it to move about the lock while still having the ability to set those high pins.
The nice thing about this pick is that I'm able to, very quickly and efficiently, find the next pin to be set. I like to gently glide over the pins (back to front) and the pick will "hang up" on the binding pin.