Talking Titanium

First of all, what is ‘billet’ titanium?  Billet material is ‘bulk’ material that is forged at the mill.  It is forged in large sizes, then drawn into various shapes and sizes for use.  Billet material is free from impurities.  But most importantly, it has a consistent grain structure that is closely aligned and densely formed.

When metals are cast, a few things happen: First, as the material is poured into the mold, it entraps air.  This reaction with the atmosphere creates impurities.  It also creates porosity - a spongelike structure.  Also, the grain of the material is not uniform.

The interior of castings have definite voids and holes.

At 1mm scale the random array casting material is clear.

When billet material is machined, material is removed but the grain structure is preserved. The structural integrity and ability to transfer acoustic energy is maintained.

Even at 20um magnification, Titanium still shows its uniform grain.

As you can see in this picture, titanium has a definite grain even at 200x greater magnification as the cast material shown above.

This grain structure is why Titanium has superior properties in musical instruments.  More string energy is transferred into the body of the instrument.

This provides the greater sustain and clarity that is the trademark of TiSonix products.

TiSonix: Simply Superior Sound!

Between January 15 and 18 in Anaheim, CA the largest music industry trade show is held.  NAMM attracts manufacturers, artists and other music industry people from around the world.  This provided a great venue for TiSonix to introduce several new products:

• Vintage ‘Ash-Tray’ bridges for tele-style guitars.  These have the same appearance ans other ‘Ash-Trays’, but they are machined from billet titanium for superior performance.  They provide a solid, stable support for either barrels or individual saddles.  TiSonix offers them in a 3 or 4-hole mount.
• Compensated Barrels.  Historically, Tele-style barrels have been unable to intonate all six strings accurately.  Getting it ‘close-enough’ has been part of the traditional Tele- headaches.   Now, TiSonix offers a Compensated Barrel that will accurately intonate all six strings and deliver that TiSonix titanium difference!  Unique to TiSonix is their compound-bias groove.  This provdes a groove over the slanted barrel the maintains a stright string path.  This prevents string breakage associated with other compensated barrels and does not provide unusual string coloration due to a crooked string path.
• Titanium Sustain Blocks for Tremolos.  Guitar players havelong known that titanium trem blocks provide greater sustain and purer tones.  However, they have been extremely expensive.   The modern manufacturing techniques of Tisonix brings a precision, oversized block at a lower price point that is affordable to more players.  It comes in the proper sizes to fit Floyd Rose and other popular trem systems.
• String Insert Blocks for Floyd Rose.  Players have been plagued with string insert problems for many years.  Original string inserts are prone to crack or ‘mushroom’ under tension.  Once deformed they may be extremely difficult to remove.  TiSonix solves these traditional problems by offering am Insert Block machined for heat-treated billet titanium.  These String Insert Blocks are guaranteed never to crack, break or deform - ever!  Not only does TiSonix provide an unbreakable part, you also get the superior sound results from using TiSonix titanium.

These new componets received a great deal of attention from luthiers, custom-builders and players.  You cna look for TiSonix titanium components to begin showing up as standard equipment on severl custom guitar builders finest instruments.

Premier Guitar Magazine came by the booth to check out the action.  You can see their video report here:

Premier Guitar magazine features TiSonix

To see some more of the action at NAMM, check out our additional reports.