Ty Thompson (SUNY Albany, Sr.) is a long time supporter and customer of Chillax Customs. Chillax Customs has been on a hiatus recently, but Nick Coyne is making some noise again with this Maverik Metrik head that he dyed and strung for Ty. This Metrik is dyed inspired by the Great Danes school colors and a has an added touch of small yet bold designs inside the head. I spoke to Nick to find out how this relationship and creative process started.
“So, I've been communicating with Ty for a little less than a year now, and overtime have created a pretty cool friendship. We got in contact last box season, when he played for the kahnawake Mohawks, and he had ordered a few pieces of mesh from me. Since then, we will chat every once in a while to catch up, talk over cool ideas and such, and he finally came to the conclusion that he wanted me to dye a head for him. One that wasn't too flashy, but one that still looked unique and intricate.”
“He wanted a marble dye and I, of course knew the color scheme. He told me to do my thing! So, that's exactly what I did, I hit it with a purple to golden yellow marble fade, with the top having hints of yellow, and some ghosted out purple spots.. I really wanted to take it to the next level with the "marble" technique, so I got a little funky with it, which wound up working in my favor (usually does).” “And, while most of it seems self-explanatory, he wanted something to represent himself and his nation. We had to go with the flag as the center piece, and it really stands out!”
“He got the Great Dane in one corner of the scoop, to represent UAlbany, his number in the other corner, and he wanted me to slap the C2 logo somewhere on there, to represent my artwork, so I tossed it on the throat! Overall, I was happy with the end result, and was even more honored to have him want to try my stringing out! It was a fun project, and I look forward to more with him in the future!”
“For Ty's string-job, I told him to originally send me a picture of his current stick, so I could see what kind of pocket he was working with, by looking at what knots he used, and where he placed them. From our live pocket talk, I knew he liked a deep mid to mid-high pocket with no whip, with a fairly nice channel.”
“The mission with this string-job wasn't to replicate his work, but to try and see if I could replicate it in my own way by using different knots. He also requested my infamous top-string too! So, I hooked him up with some exclusive mesh that I got from stringers shack, they let me test out their Magnum mesh, but left it "raw" so that I could coat it with my magical potion. I personally love the feel of it, it's even lighter than their ultra light 15mm too?! That, combined with my style of stringing, adds one lethal combo for a single head! I like to keep things tight and from avoiding shifting, to keep the most consistency as possible all around.”
Will we see this on the field this year or will Ty keep it in his trophy case? Keep an eye out for this Maverik Metrik on Sunday, February 16th when the Great Danes travel to the Dome to take on the Syracuse Orange. To see more of Nick’s work, check out www.chillaxcustoms.com