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- Dec 27, 2013
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A while back I ended up with a handful of shredded shards of titanium from a crashed SR71 Blackbird jet, which was famously made almost completely from titanium alloy. The strange old alloy wasn't what I'm looking for when making hardened ti blades, and eventually the bits of titanium skin were turned into guitar picks.
Good plectra or not, I didn't know what to expect. Of the handful that were made, half of them went to people who just wanted to hang it from a necklace or use it as a fob. Those who used them for music said they were great! A couple even said it was their new favorite pick to use!
Part of why they worked well is due to the alloy itself, heavily dosed with chromium and vanadium and a dash of aluminum, that gives a slick, greased feel. The picks were also given a polished parabolic circumference to smooth off any little sharp corners and angles.
Because of the good feedback, it was decided to make batches of Space Picks, made of the same alloy used to make the Blackbird.
These are made by hand from a thin sheet of brand new-old stock titanium alloy diverted from a long past NASA project, a relic of the Space Age, an obsolete ti alloy that was made during the roaring dawn of both the titanium alloy heyday and the space race, a symbiotic relationship in a short era that's since slipped by and been overwhelmed by the digital age, where composites and sintered materials rule materials advancement.
Thin, stiff, with a bit of flex, these Space Picks may lend a unique sound to a stringed instrument. The sheet stock is a mere 0.4064 mm in thickness, yet is remarkably strong. They should last forever, an odd little fruit from a unique historical tree.
The ti:
...and the first round! You could call them prototypes.
They're all a little different, and as more batches are made, the mark and other things will likely change a bit each time.
Good plectra or not, I didn't know what to expect. Of the handful that were made, half of them went to people who just wanted to hang it from a necklace or use it as a fob. Those who used them for music said they were great! A couple even said it was their new favorite pick to use!
Part of why they worked well is due to the alloy itself, heavily dosed with chromium and vanadium and a dash of aluminum, that gives a slick, greased feel. The picks were also given a polished parabolic circumference to smooth off any little sharp corners and angles.
Because of the good feedback, it was decided to make batches of Space Picks, made of the same alloy used to make the Blackbird.
These are made by hand from a thin sheet of brand new-old stock titanium alloy diverted from a long past NASA project, a relic of the Space Age, an obsolete ti alloy that was made during the roaring dawn of both the titanium alloy heyday and the space race, a symbiotic relationship in a short era that's since slipped by and been overwhelmed by the digital age, where composites and sintered materials rule materials advancement.
Thin, stiff, with a bit of flex, these Space Picks may lend a unique sound to a stringed instrument. The sheet stock is a mere 0.4064 mm in thickness, yet is remarkably strong. They should last forever, an odd little fruit from a unique historical tree.
The ti:
...and the first round! You could call them prototypes.
They're all a little different, and as more batches are made, the mark and other things will likely change a bit each time.