Author Archives: npcarey

About npcarey

Amateur Luthier, woodworker, music enthusiast, software enthusiast

Neapolitan Mandolin – back to life

Posted on July 15, 2017

Back in 2011 I did a project to rebuild a circa 1900 Neapolitan mandolin. This was my 2nd mandolin project. The first was to restore another Neapolitan for a friend with whom I worked. Perhaps in another post . . . … Continue reading →

Posted in Lutherie, mandolin | Leave a comment

Update long overdue . . . a new workshop

Posted on July 10, 2017

It has been quite a while since I posted. I have been working on a few projects over the past 18 months (more about that later). But over the past few months I have been completely redefining and updating my … Continue reading →

Posted in Lutherie | 1 Comment

Learning to write an Icon

Posted on December 4, 2015

Enders Island and the Prosopon School I recently had the pleasure of attending a week-long workshop at a Retreat Center off the coast of Connecticut called Enders Island. The course was taught by Tatiana Berestova and Dmitrii Berestov, professional iconographers … Continue reading →

Posted in iconography | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Icon Writer’s Prayer

Posted on December 4, 2015

Priest: Blessed is our God, always now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Leader: Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us. All: Amen. Glory to Thee, O Lord, … Continue reading →

Posted in iconography | 1 Comment

A little Tool work

Posted on October 10, 2015

For my birthday last year my wife gave me a set of antique planes (Hollow & Rounds, Nos. 2-18 Even), which I proceeded to clean, polish, sharpen and otherwise restore to working order. I then went on to find and … Continue reading →

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Carving and Casting

Posted on November 3, 2014

One of the details for the bench is a rosette that is placed in the corners above the legs. The plan calls for eight of them in total. Carving one out of basswood took a few hours and was then … Continue reading →

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The Jack Rail installed

Posted on November 3, 2014

The Jack Rail (aka Jackrail, aka Upper Rail) is the piece that fits in front of the music desk and controls how high the jacks will ascend when a key is pressed and the string is plucked. Consider this diagram, where … Continue reading →

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Case Mouldings for a Harpsichord

Posted on November 1, 2014

I’ve been working on the Harpsichord’s case mouldings for the past two weeks. At 1/4 x 1/2 inch they are rather small and delicate, and all have to be routed. The routed profile is only ~ 9/32 of an inch, … Continue reading →

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It’s about time…

Posted on September 10, 2014

Well, I’ve finally gotten something accomplished in the workshop. Just completed this flamenco style ‘ukulele based on the famous 1951 Barbero Flamenco, Ex Sabicas (plans from The Big Red Book, Vol. 5 or from GAL Plan). While not an exact … Continue reading →

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Ready to sit down!

Posted on June 7, 2014

The bench, for all intents and purposes is now complete! All told, I think it was about 16 1/2 hours of work to build this bench. This was quite satisfying to finish. I hadn’t gotten much accomplished over the past … Continue reading →

Posted in Harpsichord | Tagged , | 1 Comment