Shortly after beginning his apprenticeship, Gershwin was given a list of tools he had to purchase at a specialty hardware store on Queen Street in Toronto. While Mr. Swift wasn’t that particular regarding the make and model and of most of the tools on the list, when it came to the pick kit, he had explicit instructions, not only about the make of each specific instrument—the torsion wrench and slagel pick had to be made by Multiform, the decoder pick had to be made by Ebon and Goldmark, the hook pick and half-diamond pick had to be made by the Schoenberg Brothers and the rake pick and ball pick had to made by Christianson—but he also told Gershwin what not to buy, which was any type of pick g*n, whether manual or electric, which he referred to as a “crutch for hacks.”
MultiformEbon and Go
