Topic: Sugakji by Custom Thumb Rings

I would have liked for a long time to try a sugakji, but these are not so easy to find. Horn ones from Korea are relatively expensive, and I´m too lazy to make one myself. Fortunately there is now a new design available by CTR:

https://www.customthumbrings.com/shop/tr13

Interesting one, not quite traditional IMHO, the "beak" is quite long. Reminds me of a toucan  smile ... I had some email contacts with the manufacturer a short while ago, mentioned I´d like to see this type on their list, they wrote back they are already working on it. Great to see this is now on the market. I´ll definitely get one, after I´ve recieved my present order for Chinese Spur set, and know then better what is the exact size for me.

Maybe there is a thing called TRAS (thumb ring acquisition syndrome)? I might well develop one... Lots of fascinating historic and modern designs available, many of them by CTR. (No NFI on my part, actually quite on the contrary, this may prove to be expensive...)  Years ago I liked to get many different types of mandolin picks, in the vain hope SOME of them would make me a better player. On the other hand, a friend of mine said this was certainly very much cheaper than his addiction for new handmade flamenco guitars...  big_smile

Arto

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2 (edited by Moose 2018-03-16 01:13:23)

Re: Sugakji by Custom Thumb Rings

Armin of malta archery just did a video of it if youd like to see it in action.
https://youtu.be/iaF0wAAnmL4

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Re: Sugakji by Custom Thumb Rings

Ha! Thank you for the post.

To answer your question about beak length, one of our vendors who originally requested the design actually provided us with a technical diagram as a starting point. Much of the body:beak ratio came from that. Sculpting and tweaking the design from there was just a process of trial and error on the range. Because we'll adjust the size of the entire ring, we wanted to provide enough room for a a reasonable sized nock that'd fit a traditional (fat) string as well as a full index finger. The angle at which is it photographed on our website makes it look even larger, but really it is just about long enough for a nock and a good purchase with the index finger. Some of this, I should note, is due to string placement. If the string can be placed all the way up against the thumb (as in the ring has a flat top) there is much more room for the index finger and a shorter beak can be used. We opted for a slight lip to make the ring easier to use, but this increases the beak length.

There is a huge amount of variability in this design, really all around, but it was an interesting and fun project. I hear you on TRAS, I think we're all sufferers too. tongue

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