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Blog Posts
- The Soundboard
- Adding the hook to the 8′ cherry Bridge
- 8′ cherry Bridge steamed, bent, clamped
- Bridges and Nuts
- Color/Paper samples for Harpsichord
- Soundboard joined and fitted
- Finally some new Harpsichord work
- Building a Flute & Whistle Library
- A Guitar Foot Stool
- A Neck Routing Jig
- A Greek Tzouras (Τζουράς) for my collection
- A sitar comes back to life
Pau Hana ‘Ukulele
Zen 'Ukulele
Boston Balalaika
Perestroika
Category Archives: Harpsichord
The Soundboard
The bulk of the soundboard work was completed over the past 2 weeks. This included fitting all of the bridges and underside bracing. The only thing to complete on the soundboard before actually installing it into the harpsichord is to … Continue reading
Posted in Harpsichord, Lutherie, Woodworking
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Adding the hook to the 8′ cherry Bridge
One of the more difficult tasks is making the ‘hook’ that goes at the end of the bridge because it is much too severe (and thick) to bend into shape. It must be cut at the same angles as the … Continue reading
Posted in Harpsichord, Woodworking
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Bridges and Nuts
After getting the soundboard fitted into the Harpsichord, it was time to create the bridges and nuts. The difficulty begins with the geometry, first cut a 30° bevel along the face, which is easy enough with either a full-sized table … Continue reading
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Color/Paper samples for Harpsichord
I’m working on some sample boards to show the paint scheme/harpsichord paper choices I’m considering. The color is now decided, called Rittenhouse Blue, a historical, oil color from Old Village paints in Pennsylvania. The papers were colored on the computer … Continue reading
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Soundboard joined and fitted
The thing I have been most dreading is jointing and joining the soundboard planks together. I was lucky enough to get ahold of a number of extra-wide, old Italian spruce soundboard planks from a friend. It only required 3 pieces … Continue reading
Posted in Harpsichord, Tools, Woodworking
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Finally some new Harpsichord work
As noted in a previous entry I thought I was getting the build back on track in 2017 (18 months ago!), but alas, I was wrong. Now I really am (getting back to it). I now have a lot more … Continue reading
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Getting Ready for Steam Bending
This week my wife gave me a Rockler steam bending kit (yes, she is awesome!) and I just completed building the steam box for it. Soon I will need to bend some bridges for my harpsichord project and want to … Continue reading
Posted in Harpsichord, Woodworking
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Carving and Casting
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
The Jack Rail installed
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
Posted in Harpsichord
Tagged harpsichord building, instrument making, musical instrument making
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Case Mouldings for a Harpsichord
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
Posted in Harpsichord
Tagged harpsichord building, instrument making, musical instrument making
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