Thoughts on Dueling

[NaasadTal]

So I am a costumer, I have 2 Star Wars costumes & working on my 3rd that will be a saber jockey & as such I need a saber that looks & sounds great, but I have recently been wanting to get into dueling as well. I have done a lot of research into both aspects of saber smithing & I know it is generally thought best to have a stunt saber (lights, no sound) for dueling & save the "show saber" (saber wth all the bells & whistles) for costuming.

My problem is that I need something that will do both. I don't have a ton of money so having 12 hilts just isn't going to be in my budget, in fact I doubt that I'll be able to do more than the 1 hilt I'm currently building (hence the need for a dual purpose hilt), I know that some of the mainstream sabersmiths have some pretty cheap sabers that would work for dueling purposes, but the group here that does dueling also put on shows occasionally so I want something that would look good doing that as well. So my question is this, is it possible to build a show saber that is strong enough to handle dueling as well?

Thanx in advance for your input on this!

[Silver Serpent]

Absolutely. The important part is to ensure that your delicate saber electronics are properly secured inside the hilt. The Nano Biscotte sound board is a great board that won't break the bank. It'll give you sound and light effects, and is easily secured in your saber hilt.

[NaasadTal]

I kinda figured that as long as your electronics (my plan for now is the NB btw) are properly secured it should be ok...that's part of the reason why I settled on a chassis for my internals

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

Assuming you are building a MHS based saber the TCSS MHS chassis disk system is really excellent and will secure your internals quite well for dueling. Another option is to use 1.25" O.D. PVC conduit which will fit nicely inside a MHS hilt and has been used by some well known sabersmiths to secure their electronics. The other factor to consider while planning your chassis layout than just preventing physical impact damage to electronic components is how to prevent them from contacting the hilt walls in order to electrically isolate them from any possibility of shorting so at the very least one should use the TCSS electronics guard tube but a full chassis is much better.

[NaasadTal]

The MHS chassis parts is exactly what I had planned to use

Because of the design of my hilt, I also needed to consider space & the chassis seemed to be the best way to do that, but it also adds a certain aesthetic flair to saber hilts that I love (the devil is in the details afterall) & now it seems that I unwittingly also stumbled on the best way to keep my electronics protected...BONUS!

Thanx for the input so far guys! I really can't wait to show off my build progress once the parts start showing back up in the store!

[JediCarpet]

I've had more problems with things that shouldn't break breaking than the stuff you'd think would happen from impact. One time I had the power extender burn out (that was more bad soldering because I didn't clean the tip of the soldering iron). I had a wire disconnect from the LED star and start grounding against the side (it just shut off, in case you're wondering) after I had left it in the back of my car for a week or so. A speaker blew when I was using it like a flashlight one time... And this is the one that has the actual chassis parts. My other one (old Kenner toy board) that's literally held together inside with hockey tape and glue gun glue seems to be indestructible in comparison.

Just be sure your connections are well soldered and your internals are well secured with the appropriate chassis parts and you'll be fine. Hopefully yours won't act like you've got a bleepin' poltergeist in it like mine does.

[Tom Starkiller]

It should only really be necessary to use a stunt for duelling if you're doing filming work, and that's only so that there's a clean audio track to work with for dialogue etc. For live duelling, you should be fine using sound unless the club you're with has specific rules.

If you want a sabre that can do sound and mute, you could maybe load up a soundfont that has no audio, or just make the speaker easy to plug/unplug. I'm not all that up to date on the boards, but I think some of the newer ones actually have a mute feature.

[rlobrecht]

the newer ones actually have a mute feature.

I know the new Pico Crumble has this feature (not available in the store, yet). I'm not sure about the higher end boards.

[Cire Yeldarb]

I know the new Pico Crumble has this feature (not available in the store, yet). I'm not sure about the higher end boards.

Everything above the NB has a mute feature IIRC. though if you really needed to mute the NB, you can just install a latching switch in line with one of the speaker wires

[CET]

My primary saber is both great for display and dueling. It has sound and even an exposed crystal chamber. IMHO, the single most important thing is to have a great solid chassis that will hold everything in place. TCSS chassis parts are what I prefer to use. I've gone the way of 3d printed and custom PVC, but I always come back to TCSS chassis parts.

Since the NB has 2 banks for sound fonts, you can just load up a "silent" sound font. I think that would be the easiest solution.