Kulesh centrifugally spun tone rings are created by a process where molten metal is spun in a rotation barrel mechanism. It is hollow on the inside and spinning and there are orifices on the end to pour the molten metal into. (It is sealed off except for a small opening.)

What happens in the centrifugal process is, the metal is spun to the outside of the barrel-shaped thing. There is a liner to the appropriate size of what you want in diameter, and you regulate the thickness of the metal by how much you pour into the mechanism. These things are spun. Once it has stopped spinning and cooled down, it comes out like a piece of pipe.

However, all the impurities and the gases in the metal have been forced to the inside by the sheer weight of the metal being forced to the outside. So you wind up with a product in which the ingredients in the metal have been mixed much better than they would be in a sand casting. You wind up with a much purer alloy with a denser molecular structure, and more gas- and impurity-free, because this object then has to be machined out and all the impurities on the inside turn into garbage or waste products.

We know today that banjos like high quality metal. When we started, we didn't know if they wanted just metal, good metal or whatever, because we were after a tonal quality, not a strength-quality, or some other thing. We wanted a sound. Hence, we found out that they like this. It's also the most expensive casting method you can utilize.

As a result of the effort, materials and process they undergo, these rings have been, and remain, very successful. At this time Kulesh Musical Components offers five versions each of two centrifugally spun tone ring editions:

• Kulesh 10 Hole
• Kulesh Big Ten

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