TSG(tm) is currently designing and constructing the 5th prototype of the patent-pending guitar, using Poplar for the initial mock-up, and a Golden Gate S-96FV neck with a hardwood nut (yet to be made). A Padauk nut on the 4th prototype worked well, but something harder and denser may be used next.
When it is ready to string, round-wound steel strings of about 50 thousands diameter will used in all six positions, adding two at at time symmetrically, to see where it may bend or break under excessive tension. Poplar is a light, but not particularly strong wood. It warped under normal tension in the lighter 1st prototype. It should indicate where reinforcement is necessary. Pickups may be added to see how they fit, but the poplar model will not have an electronics compartment or output jack.
Router templates from the mock-up will allow the next iteration to be made from a stronger and harder wood, possibly ash. If six heavy strings cannot break that model, an electronics compartment may be attached. TSG intends and expects the 5th prototype to be lighter, better-looking, more physically versatile, and smaller in the body than the 4th prototype. And constructed from ordinary shop tools, for ease of manufacture, with possible plan and kit models for initial products in a Kickstarter campaign.
An issued patent is expected around the first of next year, at which time more details may be forthcoming.