Abstract Airbrush Soundboard Designs

Posted on September 29, 2015 by admin

This Gallery a0 has 51 images of abstract airbrush designs for the soundboard of the TSG(tm) 5th prototype experimental guitar (patent pending).  There are a few basic images with color variations.  As shown, the 10.5 by 14.25 inch, unshaped, rectangular soundboard (patent pending) has tracings for the neck cutout, the mounting screws, tailpiece and bridge.  Here are somethumbnail samples:

2015-09-21-c1i 2019-09-22-a1a 2019-09-22-b1f 2019-09-22-c1a 2019-09-24 c 2009 Mating Spigers-p 2019-09-24 c 2009 Sea of Jazz-a 2015-09-21-b1c

The gallery has an index on the left, and if you don’t like what you see, scroll down and click on something else.  The images change every 10 seconds.

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Periodic removal of Users

Posted on August 24, 2015 by admin

To avoid use and abuse of this site by spammers, Users who are not known to this administrator as real human beings may be periodically removed, unless they make at least one cogent, non-spam comment, and/or provide some background information that can be verified.  After all, how long would you expect a site to carry a User with an e-mail address like @onlinehackland.com or @freecontests.xyz?  Or some other site which does not provide a way to verify that User e-mail addresses actually exist?

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Fifth Prototype in Design Stages

Posted on August 17, 2015 by admin

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.

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Yahoo.com banned from user registrations

Posted on July 20, 2015 by admin

Due to many repeated registrations by spambots from Yahoo.com, registrations from Yahoo.com are now banned.

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5 Laminated Padauk Knobs

Posted on July 17, 2015 by admin

These knobs were made by gluing lighter-colored pieces of about 1/4 inch thickness and random lengths to a stick of Padauk about 3/4 x 3/4 x 5 inches, then cutting the whole into 5 pieces down the length.  The lighter woods were Rosewood (mostly pale sapwood), Oak, Marblewood, Olivewood and Angelique.  Padauk is an African wood, with fine grain, coarse pores and a deep red-orange color.  When polished, the end grain is a deep red; the side (or face) grain shows iridescent red-orange.  All the knobs were finished with 3 base coats of generic superglue, and 2-3 finish coats of Johnson’s Paste Wax.

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#0142  Padauk w/ Rosewood

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#0143  Padauk w/ Red Oak – The coarse grain and pores of the Oak tended to trap the sanding dust from the Padauk, tinting them red.  The Oak started out so light-colored that it looked like White Oak, then got darker with Padauk dust and finishing.

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#0144  Padauk w/ Olivewood & Angelique – the Olivewood shows branching veins of light brown on cream

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#0145 Padauk w/ Marblewood – Marblewood has a distinctive tri-color grain, chocolate, caramel and cream

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#0146 – Padauk w/ Red Oak – This piece of Padauk has a couple of twig-knots that show up as bright red-orange in the dark end grain.  Very unique.

 

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New page on custom wood knob profiles begun

Posted on June 29, 2015 by admin

A new page on the approximate cross-sections, called profiles, of custom-turned wood guitar knobs can be found here.

Example: prof0016 copy

More will be added as the images are processed.  Since the profiles come from pictures taken with a digital camera at the same distance from each knob, mounted on a 1/4-20 screw, they are all relatively proportional to each other, but may be larger or smaller than real size due to your screen size and resolution.

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9 Knobs: Bubinga & Redheart

Posted on June 23, 2015 by admin

Abbreviations: HG – horizontal grain;  VG – vertical grain;  D – knob diameter (inches);  H – knob height (inches);   SG – generic superglue;   JPW – Johnson’s Paste Wax, Original Formula (UPC 046500-002021)

Wood obtained from WoodCraft, Tulsa, OK.  Images follow descriptions.  They are adjusted as close to real colors as possible.  Because of differences in shooting them, the relative sizes between images do not necessarily match dimensions in descriptions.

The SG base is alternately applied and polished to two or three layers after polishing the wood.  JPW is then applied and buffed to two or three layers.  Using HG puts face grain (not end grain) on the top of the knob, which shows more iridescence, if any.

Although these knobs have smaller diameters than standard plastic guitar knobs, they are much wider and taller at the top, fat knobs.  The grooves and ridges around the tops also help fingers turn them easier.  Every knob is different by intention.  After 130 knobs, it’s hard to come up with a completely new shape every time, but sometimes a flaw in the wood , which needs to be removed, will suggest a new shape.  Lately, homemade carbide lathe tools do most of the cutting, by hand on a small wood lathe.

Knob 0133 – HG Bubinga, 17 June 2015, 0.900D x 0.735H, SG base, JPW finish.  Sometimes known as African Rosewood.  Has reddish-tan color with darker stripes of reddish-purple, with iridescence in face grain.

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Knob 0134 – HG Bubinga, 21 June 15, 0.913D x 0.712H, SG base, JPW finish.

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Knob 0135 – HG Bubinga, 21 June 15, 0.916D x 0.722H, SG base, JPW finish.

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Knob 0136 – HG Redheart, 21 June 15, 0.874D x 0.602H, SG base, JPW finish.  Color runs from dark red to orange, more bright and saturated than other woods, with significant iridescence in face grain.

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Knob 0137 – HG Redheart, 22 June 15, 0.897D x 0.612H, SG base, JPW finish.

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Knob 0138 – HG Redheart, 22 June 15, 0.902D x 0.605H, SG base, JPW finish.

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Knob 0139 – HG Redheart, 22 June 15, 0.931D x 0.623H, SG base, JPW finish.  This one has some dark brown grain, more like rosewood, which shows on the top of the knob.

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Knob 0140 – HG Redheart, 22 June 15, 0.884D x 0.610H, SG base, JPW finish.

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Knob 0141, HG Redheart, 23 June 15, 0.900D x 0.585H, SG base, JPW finish.

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Opt-in E-mail Page and Post Notifications

Posted on June 18, 2015 by admin

As of June 18, 2015, this site has the capability to inform subscribers of new or changed pages and posts via e-mail.  It is not automatic upon registration on this site.  To opt in, the subscriber must either send an e-mail to axe1-aT-TulsaSoundGuitars-dT-com, with the subject line “Opt-in e-mail notifications”, or place a statement in his or her “bio” upon registering.  An e-mail is less likely to be overlooked.

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16 Knobs: Lahti, Lacewood & Wenge

Posted on June 18, 2015 by admin

Abbreviations: HG – horizontal grain;  VG – vertical grain;  D – knob diameter (inches);  H – knob height (inches);   SG – generic superglue;   JPW – Johnson’s Paste Wax, Original Formula (UPC 046500-002021)

Wood obtained from WoodCraft, Tulsa, OK.  Images follow descriptions.

knob 0117 – VG Lahti, 5 June 2015, 0.860D x 0.658H, SG finish.  Sanded off and finished with JPW.  Lahti has jagged cream and caramel grain, somewhat like Marblewood, but cuts a bit finer.  It has little or no iridescence.

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knob 0118 – VG Lahti, 7 June 15, 0.856D x 0.652H, finished with combined SG & Liquitex Acrylic Gloss Gel Medium finish.  The acrylic gel was an experimental grain filler, for which it works well.  But gel darkens wood and blurs grain more than SG alone.  Knobs 117 and 118 were sanded down and refinished with JPW.

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knob 0119 – VG Lahti, 7 June 15, 0.872D x 0.652H, JPW finish.

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knob 0120 – VG Lahti, 10 June 15, 0.856D x 0.659H, JPW finish.

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knob 0121 – HG Lacewood, 11 June 15, 0.837D x 0.588H, JPW finish. Lacewood has some iridescence.  It has rays that show up as strips or spots when the grain is slightly inclined to the direction of the cut.  These knobs have been cut so that these rays show on top.

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knob 0122 – HG Lacewood base with HG Osage Orange cap, 11 June 15, 0.875D x 0.684H, JPW finish.  Osage Orange is highly iridescent.

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knob 0123 – HG Lacewood base with HG Osage Orange cap, 11 June 15, 0.867D x 0.810H, JPW finish.

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knob 0124 – HG Lacewood, 12 June 15, 0.879D x 0.583H, SG base w/ JPW finish.

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knob 0125 – HG Lacewood, 12 june 15, 0.899D x 0.602H, SG base w/ JPW finish.

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knob 0126 – HG Lacewood, 13 June 15, 0.864D x 0.593H, SG base w/ JPJ finish.

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knob 0127 HG Wenge, 14 June 15, 0.871D x 0.558H, no finish.  Wenge has tiger-striped grain with some open pores, dark brown-black and lighter gray-chocolate.  The dark grain is harder and polishes well, but the light grain is softer, rougher, more reflective and can be sanded or abraded below the level of the dark grain.  When finish is applied, both grains darken to nearly black, losing the tiger-stripe appearance.  No finish has been applied to this set, to keep the striping.  One might expect the grain to darken with time, as it collects oils from hand and fingers.  As with many woods, denatured alcohol will leach natural dyes out of the wood, but in this case did not change the contrast of the grains much with a short dunking.  Overall, Wenge polishes nicely, but has a somewhat roughened surface appearance, a bit like weathered wood.

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knob 0128 – HG Wenge, 14 june 15, 0.898D x 0.556H, no finish.

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knob 0129 – HG Wenge, 15 June 15, 0.846D x 0.600H, no finish.

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knob 0130 – HG Wenge, 16 June 15, 0.870D x 0.612H, no finish.

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knob 0131 – HG Wenge, 16 June 15, 0.850D x 0.601H, no finish.

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knob 0132 – HG Wenge, 16 June 15, 0.842D x 0.574H, no finish.

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© June 18, 2015

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24 New Knobs: Padauk, Wenge, Osage Orange, Redheart, Lahti, Olivewood & Dalamata,

Posted on May 29, 2015 by admin

This post adds images of 24 new knobs, one layered-wood knob and 23 single-wood knobs, made in January and February of 2015, but not photographed until May 29th.  This set tries out a new system for shooting photos and videos, with a rotating mount in a blue box, shown below.

knob-mountThe videos didn’t work out, and the bottom ring of the mount shows under the knobs in the photos.

All the knobs have polyurethane finishes, applied over superglue, which was applied after polishing the wood to a high gloss.  The knobs were positioned in the lights to emphasize iridescence and grain contrast.  The photos have been adjusted to remove some of the exaggeration of brightness and color saturation inherent in some digital photography.  The resulting tones are not exactly the same as real life, but are as close as one can get.  In many of the knobs, glass beads have been added to cover the dimples in the center due to the lathe tailstock, and to provide rotation pointers.

Knobs 0093 – 0094: Padauk, with horizontal grain.  A deep red with coarse grain.  Shows iridescence.

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Knob 0096: vertical grain Redheart sandwiched between horizontal grain Bubinga.  Iridescence in both woods.

knob0096Knobs 0097 & 0098: horizontal grain Osage Orange on top of vertical grain Wenge.  Only the Osage Orange shows iridescence.  Wenge is a blackish-brown wood with very coarse pores in its grain.

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Knobs 0099 & 0100: horizontal grain Redheart over vertical grain Wenge.  The Redheart shows iridescence.

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Knobs 0101 – 0106: horizontal grain Lahti.  Contrasting caramel and cream grain, coarser and more jagged than Marblewood, which shows some depth without much iridescence.

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Knobs 0107 – 0110: horizontal grain Olivewood.  Tan and brown streaks, with contrast depending on the angle at which the wood is cut.  Some iridescence in the lighter tones.

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Knobs 0111 – 0116: horizontal grain Dalmata.  Cut from a different piece of wood than previous knobs, with more contrasting grain.  Deep brown with iridescent light brown to tan streaks.

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