
My Sonic Quest: Adventures in DSP
In 2016, I created an audio DSP library called Q. It was, in a sense, my audio DSP playground. Having been involved in open-source C++
My Sonic Quest: Adventures in DSP
In 2016, I created an audio DSP library called Q. It was, in a sense, my audio DSP playground. Having been involved in open-source C++
Manufacturing Thor: Cycfi Guitar Case
The Cycfi Guitar Case is a premium custom hand-made guitar case with 30 mm multi-layer foam surround padding, a sturdy neck support system, plush interior, and extra thick 50 mm base reinforcement with end-pin support.
Manufacturing Thor: Perfect Frets Without Leveling
No more fret leveling and crowning with Thor Mark II! Intrigued? Keep reading… The key is precision… < p style=”padding-left: 40px;”>For those who have just
I owe a great deal of gratitude to the owners of the first Thor batch for their patience and support for the project. There has been radio silence since my last Thor-related post in January 2023, but this is not due to inactivity. Rather, we have been working nonstop to complete the project. In terms of instrument construction, this is the final version that I am happy with. I am calling this Thor Mark-2. It is a milestone!
The Internal Breakout has been redesigned. Now at version 2.6. Follow the link to see what’s new.
This is really surprising! I never would have imagined! I originally intended the Nu pickup to be used as a per-string guitar pickup when I designed it. However, as time passed, it ended up being used in a variety of other applications, but who would have thought it could be used for drums?
Trey Gunn: Progressive Rock Innovator with Touch Guitars and Cycfi Pickups
Trey Gunn is a prominent musician and composer in the experimental and progressive rock genres. He rose to prominence as a member of King Crimson. He is known for his innovative and imaginative musical style, which has earned him a devoted following. Trey Gunn is adding to his musical arsenal a custom Touch Guitars T8 with Cycfi Research pickups.
We conducted a drop test to determine the durability of the XR-Spectra pickup. The pickup is dropped twice onto hard tiles at a height of one meter (video below). After being dropped, the pickup should continue to function normally with no degradation in sound quality.
White XR Spectra Pickups, anyone? These are white XR Spectra 82mm pickups that are currently custom ordered. I’m thinking we can make this a standard if there is enough interest.
Manufacturing Thor: Pearl On Carbon
I find the iridescence of mother-of-pearl simply irresistible. That shimmering effect of mother-of-pearl, together with the way carbon fiber reflects light, is simply majestic!
It took us a long time, but I’m finally happy to announce that we are now manufacturing a fresh batch of XR Spectras. The XR
A brief diversion from the Manufacturing Thor series. Here are some photos of Ferdinand Liedtke’s Nu-equipped Cello. The Nu modular pickups are used in all sorts of instruments! Ferdinand says he’ll share some sound clips soon.
Here’s how our fret cutting tool works. A laser-cut acrylic template with fret position slots aligns with a 3mm pin. The fret slots are cut on a small rotary saw with a titanium coated circular saw blade with a cutting width of 0.5mm.
After posting Manufacturing about Thor’s Compound Radius Fretboard, I was pointed to an article by Mottola stating that compound radius fretboards are not worth the extra effort and that cylindrical fretboards and normal fret dressing techniques yield the same results. I went on to analyze this claim.
Thor’s fretboard has a compound radius, with a nut radius of 304 mm (12′′) and a 24th fret radius of 456 mm (18′′). Compound radius fretboards have a conical surface that allows for low action and no string buzz.
Manufacturing Thor Part 5: The Neck Duplicator: How do you quickly produce repeatably precise necks without using a CNC? We made our own wood carving duplicator for just this purpose. It works like a charm. It enables us to copy a master pattern in amazing detail using a compact router on one side and a stylus on the other.
Part 4: The Nut: OK, So… Your frets are metal. Your tuning machines are metal. Your bridge is metal. And your nut is… eh… plastic? Bone? Or some kind of synthetic material resembling bone? The nut we use for Thor is made of laser-cut stainless steel, buffed to perfection. It matches the sonic and mechanical properties of Thor’s stainless-steel frets.
Part 3: Manufacturing The Middle Section Previously, I wrote about the design of the Thor’s middle section. This time, we’ll look at how the middle section is
Part 2: Designing The Middle Section This post describes the design of Thor’s body’s middle section. The design incorporates both traditional and innovative design elements.
I promised to keep you all updated on Thor while we are producing the first batch. There’s just so much on my plate these days that