Amboyna and Olive

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Todd in PA

Todd in PA

Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2021
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731
Location
Port Matilda, PA
Berea had a 50% off sale and so I stockpiled Atrax kits for $5 and $6. I really like the Atrax design and they are quite nice for a "low-end" kit. I batched out 15 for an upcoming show and then made this one as a gift for a friend.
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The woods are Amboyna and Olive wood. I used black celluloid guitar picks for the spacers. The recipient has a band, so there's the hook. I'm not in love with these two woods together. It's hard for anything to hold interest next to Amboyna.

If I did it again (and I might), I'd just put Amboyna in between the spacers and just have black lines on a solid blank.

Thanks for looking. Critiques welcomed.
 

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Todd, that's lovely.

As a long time guitar player, I wouldn't have thought of using picks as spacers. I had a couple hundred in a bag. Not sure where they are now.
 
Todd in PA said:
Berea had a 50% off sale and so I stockpiled Atrax kits for $5 and $6. I really like the Atrax design and they are quite nice for a "low-end" kit. I batched out 15 for an upcoming show and then made this one as a gift for a friend.
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The woods are Amboyna and Olive wood. I used black celluloid guitar picks for the spacers. The recipient has a band, so there's the hook. I'm not in love with these two woods together. It's hard for anything to hold interest next to Amboyna.

If I did it again (and I might), I'd just put Amboyna in between the spacers and just have black lines on a solid blank.

Thanks for looking. Critiques welcomed.
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Beautiful!! Well done! Finish is GluBoost, I assume?

I agree, Amboyna goes well with just about everything. Amazing wood.

Personally I think of the Atrax as at least a midrange kit. At $5-6 its certainly low-end pricing, but the kit is very nice, IMO.

Only critique I can offer, based on what I see, is the critique I make of myself on just about every pen: It looks like there is some slight non-concentricity or other misalignment with some of the fittings. I understand the challenge of working that out, not easy. Its one of those things I'm constantly working on. Yours is slight, but might be the only area for improvement, based on what I can see! :)
 
Darios said:
What a finish. And on-point photography too
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I take my photos outside using natural light. I use these white corrugated plastic panels to create the reflections you see in the finish, and to reflect light under the pen to reduce shadows.

I deliberately put blue tape on one of the boards, hopping to put a dark stripe down the middle of the white reflection. I don't know what a real photographer would think. 🤪 I'll share in case you think it's interesting.
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I love your finish! The choice of timbers I also find good - I have no issue with the pairing. Well done and thanks for sharing.
 
jrista said:
It looks like there is some slight non-concentricity or other misalignment with some of the fittings. I understand the challenge of working that out, not easy. Its one of those things I'm constantly working on. Yours is slight, but might be the only area for improvement, based on what I can see! :)
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Thanks Jon. To my eye and touch it looked good, but I see what you see in the photos. I got out the loop to take a closer look. I'm definitely not perfect in my fit on this pen. Some overs and unders both. But I don't see any OOR to speak of. The fit seemed equal the whole way around.
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That's gorgeous! I think the olive works great on that one also. A darker contrasting wood would also work, but not as much with the black spacers.

derekdd said:
Todd, that's lovely.

As a long time guitar player, I wouldn't have thought of using picks as spacers. I had a couple hundred in a bag. Not sure where they are now.
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I bought some of that specifically to use just for separator material. They have those "hole punch" things in the shape of a guitar pick and sell small sheets of it as a make your own pick thing.
 
Todd in PA said:
I take my photos outside using natural light. I use these white corrugated plastic panels to create the reflections you see in the finish, and to reflect light under the pen to reduce shadows.

I deliberately put blue tape on one of the boards, hopping to put a dark stripe down the middle of the white reflection. I don't know what a real photographer would think. 🤪 I'll share in case you think it's interesting.
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"Real" photographer. ;)

This is a lot of what they do. I've watched dozens of videos of what real photographer's do for their still photography. Its all kinds of stuff, including stuff like this. You should see what some "real" photographer's do to control light. Their setups are often incredibly complex, with multiple panels, lights, reflectors, black panels to absorb light, plexiglass plates painted one color or another underneath, etc. etc.

Only thing I would change with your setup, would be to actually use BLACK tape. I think it would work better for your goal.
 
Todd in PA said:
Thanks Jon. To my eye and touch it looked good, but I see what you see in the photos. I got out the loop to take a closer look. I'm definitely not perfect in my fit on this pen. Some overs and unders both. But I don't see any OOR to speak of. The fit seemed equal the whole way around.
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Yeah, this is what I saw. I don't actually get OOR really, I get non-concentricity (where its very slightly overturned one side, underturned on another, for the same blank). It is actually "round"...its just not concentric with the centerline of the fittings.

I sometimes get a bit of general over or underturning as well. I think now that I'm using GluBoost, overturning is something I'll be able to fix. So the main issue I have is the non-concentricity, and figuring out why the heck its happening.
 
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