Chapter 21: It Is Done!

Yes! You read that right! It is finished!

At the end of my last post all that was required to do was make 37 Tangents.

Reality has proven that to be not quite the truth, but more on that later.

The wood for Tangents was supplied as four long strips of wood, one each for the G and C Tangents and two for the A Tangents. As it turned out I would only have needed the one length for the As if I hadn't broken one and my belt-sander launched a second into the murky depths of my garage never to be seen again.

The strips were first cut down to Tangent sized blocks.
G = 6.5mm x 9mm x 45mm
C = 5.5mm x 8.5mm x 33mm
A = 4.5mm x 7mm x 21mm

Here is a picture of the stages I went through making a G Tangent.
1. The blank block cut from the strip.
2. Cut the notch out at the bottom end.
3. Carve the bottom end to start making the pivot that goes in the hole in the Key.
4. Sand and press the pivot in to shape.
5. A trip to the belt-sander rounds off the back corners and tapers the front to the String contact face.

I made this tool to help with the process. It is 2mm stainless steel with three holes drilled, one for each Tangent size. When I was getting close to getting the pivot down to the right size I forced it through the hole in the metal to compress the wood to the right size. The idea is that the wood will naturally try to return to it's original shape and get a good grip on the Key.

The next task is to 'simply' push the Tangents into holes drilled in the Keys. With the idea being that they are a tight fit it's not quite as easy as it sounds. Some force is required to do this and I found that the Keyguides were flexing under the strain at the higher A Keys, so I removed those Keys and leant on the table instead. I'm sure there is potential to break something if you don't. The Keyguides are more sturdy when you get down to the area with A, C and G Keys so it was fine to leave them in. You will see that the Tangents from the G and C Keys pass through the holes in the Keys from the rows above. I have found that some of the Tangents needed a bit of extra material removed to prevent them clashing with the other Keys. It's all a bit of trial and error as you fit and tune them. For that reason I fitted one Tangent and tuned it, and tested it before moving on to the next one. This game is further complicated for the G and C Tangents as they have a Sympathetic String running behind them so that needs to be checked for each Tangent as well to make sure it is free to move when the Tangent is at rest.

Tuning a Tangent is easy. Check the String is correctly tuned first, then try the Key that needs tuning. If the Key is flat turn the Tangent towards the Bridge, if it's sharp turn it towards the Saddle.

And this is were the initial excitement of finishing my Nyckelharpa vanished.

I found that my A Tangents were near spot on, but my Cs and Gs were not. The C Tangents were all turned near as far as they would go towards the bridge and just about in tune, but the G Tangents were similarly as far as they would go but still not in tune.

After a search of the internet, an email from Sören Åhker and a photo from Vicki Swan a solution was found.  I'm told that sometimes a modification is required on the Saddle to adjust the String free length.

Here is the original unmolested Saddle.

Just under the G and C Strings I have carved out a small hole thinning down the width of the Saddle and extending the gap between the first Tangent and the Saddle. It is a bit more trial and error, take a bit off and try it, take a bit more off and try again.

And then I stained and varnished the cuts to blend in with the rest of the Saddle.

After the modification I have now been able to get my Nyckelharpa tuned much better, but I think it still needs a little more fine tuning and a bit more bow practice to get it spot on. At least it's time to put the wood-working tools down now!

So it all started in September 2016 looking like this. It feels so long ago and was only planned to take about six or eight months, but that was more the fault of other projects than this one except for the minor disaster with the original Top. Sören Åhker's kit provided everything needed apart from a bow, glue, stain, and varnish, but you do need his book and plans to go with the kit. The only specialist tools required are the cello peg reamer used to open the tapered holes in the Neck, and the cello peg shaver I didn't buy because I found it was cheaper to buy ready made pegs than the tool to make my own. A bandsaw, scrollsaw and belt-sander have proved very handy at speeding up the process in some places, along with the Japanese razor saw. The only other tools used were regular sharp knives and chisels. This has definately not been a project for the faint-hearted, or a first time working in wood. The originally imagined cost benifits of building my own Nyckelharpa instead of buying one are not that great because of the tools I have purchased, but I have learned a lot during this project. I'm not going to be rushing out to build another one anytime soon, but I am very happy with what I have achieved.

And here it is! The finished product! Now I've just got to learn how to play it.

Chapter 20: Almost there, almost there!

It's been a busy two months since my last post but plenty of progress has been made.

To start with I finished off the Tailpiece, but sadly, in my haste, I forgot to take pictures! I will try my best to explain and hope the finished picture will shed light on it all.

I first marked out where I wanted to drill the holes through for the twelve Sypathetic Strings. Three between the A and C strings, three between the C and G strings, and the last six between the G and low C string. For the two groups of three I placed them in a triangle formation with one forward of the other two. With the six strings I made three pairs and put one pair forward of the other two again. I then made a wedge of wood with a 30° angle to use as a guide for my hand drill. This allowed me to drill down through the Tailpiece and out the bottom of it so that the Sympathetic Strings pass between the Fine Tuners for the Playing Strings. Using a round file I carved two grooves across the top of the Tailpiece at the ends of these holes so that the bead on the end of each string sits in the groove.

This picture shows the finished Tailpiece with all the Strings in place. During my lesson with Vicki Swan one lady said that every Nyckelharpa she had seen had at least one heart cut or marked on it somewhere and I realised that this was something missing from mine. The open space below the Strings on the Tailpiece was just perfect for a heart-shaped artwork. I found a Celtic-knot heart design on the internet, printed it out, and stuck it on. I then used an engraving tool to carve through the paper into the wood.

All of a sudden construction work on the Body of the Nyckelharpa is finished!

To prepare for staining and varnishing it is necessary to sand everything smooth. I filled a bowl with warm water from the tap and used a sponge to wipe down every surface, then allowed it to dry as suggested by Sören Åhker. I then used a fine grade sanding sponge on every surface and found that the results were amazing.

I bought a water based stain and shellac varnish from Mylands simply because I couldn't get any sensible answers from anyone else. I chose Dark Oak for the stain and bought shellac flakes and methylated spirits to make the varnish. I brushed the stain on to each surface along the grain of the wood and 25 minutes later wiped the excess off with a cotton cloth. This left a chocolate brown colour with the grain still visible. The stain is very watery so it runs a drips very easily but the runs are immediate and cleaned up with the brush. Due to the water content of the stain it is best to leave it to dry out for a few days, but that gives time to mix the varnish so it's all good! The stain seemed to make the surface of the wood a bit furry or something like that so after it had dried I gave everything another quick wipe with the sanding sponge. If you go too hard you will find out how deep the stain penetrated so be gentle!

I mixed 25g of shellac flakes with 250ml of methylated spirits and left it for a day so the flakes could dissolve fully. There will be some bits of debris from the shellac flakes that settle to the bottom of the jar so don't disturb the mixture too much, or filter it if you have the facilities which I didn't. To apply the varnish I just used a brush along the grain of the wood again and kept the brush moving. It only takes about 15 minutes for the varnish to be dry to the touch. I left the first coat for an hour or so before sanding it back with a fine grade sanding sponge. I then allied to more coats before a quick sanding, and another two coats, another sanding, and a last two coats.

I am very pleased with the finish this gave. The varnish gives a golden sparkle in the light that compliments the dark oak stain very nicely.

With the Body stained and varnished I wanted to get the Stings on so that I could get them tuned and used to being on the Nyckelharpa. The Strings stretch a bit during their first week or two so I thought they could get through that time while I was making the keys and tangents.

So next comes the 37 Keys. I already had them cut roughly to shape and fitted to match the Keyguides but now I needed to make the outer ends all nice and neat.

First comes the seven G Keys. I drew a line across the ends and cut them to length that gave a straight line across the ends. Then we made a visit to the belt sander that provided the curved profile to the ends. Once the Keys were installed I used a setsquare to mark the space between the strings so I could drill a 5mm hole in each for the Tangent to sit in.

I then went through the same process with the ten C Keys. This time though the straight line at the ends now starts to curve outward to match the Body's curve from the Neck, and the Tangent hole is 4mm diameter.

Then repeat with the twenty A Keys. This time the Tangent hole is 3mm. There are also the three 'Bent Keys' whose ends were cut in line with the C Keys. Actually I cut mine about 1.5mm further out so there is a slight step to help identify them by touch.

Now this picture shows the 'Bent Keys' and why they are needed very well. At that end of the A row things are getting very crowded!

Now we need to provide access to the lower Keys for the Tangents to sit in. Here are the three Keys from position 4. At the bottom is the G Key with it's Tangent hole on the right. In the middle is the C Key with it Tangent hole in the middle and the big hole on the right for the G Tangent to poke throough. Then, at the top, we have the A Key with it's Tangent hole on the left and the two larger holes that still need to be opened up to make one hole for both the C and G Tangents to poke through.

Here are all 37 Keys cut and ready for stain and varnish.

And after stain and varnish.

I then colour coded the tips of the keys to help identify the notes they relate to and fitted them all.

So there we have it! My finished Nyckelharpa! Oh no... Wait... There's something missing...

Tangents! Thirty seven of the things! Hey ho. We're almost there!

Chapter 19: It speaks!

Yes, you read that right! I have had two out of tune notes out of my Nyckelharpa!

I haven't got as far as properly fitting the strings yet, but it is getting close.

The first job was to clean up the nasty looking underside of the Tailpiece so I spent about an hour gently dapping various bits of it against my belt sander and then another few hours of sanding by hand. I'm not sure what wood it is (maple, beech, and rosewood are Sören Åhker's suggestions) but it is definately a very tough wood.

The next job was to get the hook cut out and matched up. I did some guesswork by holding the Tailpiece along side it's intended destination and cut most of the spare wood away from the Body so I could sit the Tailpiece in place. Much carefull grinding with a file and sandpaper on a metal plate followed until I got to a point that looked roughly correct.

Before putting tension across the Bridge extra support is required for the Top, so the Soundpost is now required. The Soundpost is a 9mm diameter wooden dowl that fits between the Bottom and Top of the Body near where the Bridge sits on top.

I started by finding one of the formers I used to bend the Top. I spent a great deal of time measuring out where the Soundpost would sit and drilled a hole through the former in that spot.

I measured the required height for the Soundpost, pushed it into the former up to the mark and then used my Japanese flush cutting saw to cut the end off. This left the end of the Soundpost curved to match the Top. It doesn't show in the photo but the wood grain of the Soundpost must run across the Nyckelharpa.

I marked the shorter side of the Soundpost with a line so I could use it as a marker for positioning. Before I glued the Body together I drew a cross on the Bottom that marked the sugested starting point from the plans. I then used my bent-nosed spring-loaded tweezers to position the Soudpost and was very happy to find it sits in place all by itself as I am told it should. At this point there shouldn't be any need to force the Soundpost into place as the pressure will be applied when the Strings are fitted and push down on the Bridge.

Then came the great moment when I fitted the A String and Lower C String! The Bridge must be positioned 400mm from the Saddle as the Keychest is designed for the Keys to be in the correct locations for this length. The Strings have a metal bead at one end to hook into the grove in the Fine Tuners. This was only a tempory fit to put the correct angle of tension on the Tailpiece to help with adjusting the fit of the hook, but I couldn't resist plucking the Strings to see what it sounded like.

Now I know where the Tailpiece wants to sit.

Somewhere in all that jolity I found time to fit the G Keys with their locking pegs. The A and C Keys are held in by shoulders against the Keyguides, but the G Keys don't have these. Instead I marked the Key with the position of the inside of the Keyguide at rest, then drilled a 4mm hole all the way through the Key. I then drilled a 6mm hole two thirds of the way through for the 6mm dowl I have cut for the pegs. The peg has been cut to match the line on the Key and fits in the hole. The peg won't ever fall out the bottom because of the step, and they won't be able to go up because the C Keys will be in the way. The small hole in the bottom means that if the top of the peg gets snapped off I can still push the remains out of the Key.

I have also cut the grooves in the Saddle for the Strings to sit in. The Strings are 4mm apart from each other and the larger spaces leave room between the Strings for the Tangents from the Keys. And this photo also shows the first G Key with it's peg in place in the bottome right corner.

Using the Saddle as a guide I have also cut the grooves for the Strings in the Bridge. The four Playing Strings just get a little groove while the Sympathetic Strings are cut about 3mm deeper so that the Bow will only touch the Playing Strings.

Well there we are again. It's getting so close to finishing now.
I still need to think of a way of drilling out the holes in the Tailpiece for the Sympathetic Strings, before stain and varnish can be applied to the Body. And then it just needs the Keys trimed and shaped, and their tangents made to be fully finished. There is a minor possibilty that I might be able to practise open string Bowing by the end of the year!

Chapter 18: Nyckelharpa goes for a ride.

It's been two months since the last blog entry. The first of my two deadlines has passed unsuccessfully. But progress is being made!

Having already got the seventeen straight A Keys roughly cut to shape I went to work on the three 'Bent A Keys'. These are keys 11, 13, and 16.

This photo shows the three keys at different stages of cutting along with a straight key. The top key has not been cut yet but is drawn out ready to go. The second key has been cut down to it's widest width where it sits inside the Keychest and the excess height has been cut away. The third key has been fully cut down to roughly the correct shape similar to the state of the rest of the A Keys. The outer button of the key still needs cutting to the required 'S' shape curve.

All three Keys after their rough cutting were drawn up for the 'S' curve...

and then cut to shape. Again they are shown with a straight key for comparison. The curve is required because there isn't enough space in the row for a usefull sized button face because the keys are too close together. The curve means that the face of these Keys is at the same level as the C Keys on the row below.

This shows the C Keys all in, the three Bent A Keys, and one straight A Key sat in place to demonstrate.

Then followed the long tedious task of going through each of the twenty A Keys and carving and sanding the contact areas down so they fit in their slots and move freely. Take a little off at a time, try fitting the Key, see where it binds, and try again. The Keys are now fully fitted at the front, but the back is 2mm shorter than the front so there is a lot of work to do that end yet.

There will now be a short intermission.

With a beginner's lesson planned with Vicki Swan and a request for the appearance of my Nyckelharpa I realised that a safe means of transport was required.
Having looked around on the internet I found two possibilities readily available:
Bass Bags make a Nyckelharpa bag that I saw several people using at the Nyckelharpa weekends in Halsway.
Pelli Storm make a case that is the appropriate size and Vicki Swan has a Youtube video where she demonstrated using it for airline travel. I have found you can get it cheaper on eBay.

For me I feel that I need something a bit more durable than the Bass Bag as I want to be able to put it on the back seat of my car and put other lugage around or on it. Sadly the Pelli is too long to go on the back seat of my car.

I got out my roll of lining paper from B&Q that I use for drawing larger designs and started work on my own box. I measured the back seat of my car to get a maximum external length and width for the box, about 110cm by 45cm. I allowed for a 2cm wall and 2cm of foam, and placed my Nyckelharpa on the drawing in one corner. I was then able to draw in space for Bows, a Strap, Rosin, and I have a corner set aside for a small toolbox aswell. The drawing also allowed me to reduce the size of the box to try a save some weight and space.

I then set about various lengths of wood with the acursed band saw and then dowled them together. Hinges were fitted to the back of the box to attach the lid. So far I have glued the arched lid parts together but that's it, time caught up with me again!

Here is the box as it stands externally. It was held together by the dowls and a ratchet strap for it's maiden voyage, and the interior was a bit of a bodge with a sheet of foam cut to hold my Nyckelharpa in place. At the moment it will go on the back burner again while I continue work on the Nyckelharpa, but it is included in the March deadline to keep things interesting.

I had a very enjoyable day with Vicki at my beginner's lesson. She started with her introduction to the instrument and showed us how to hold / carry a Nyckelharpa and Bow. Through the rest of the day we were given three songs to learn.
Perry The Partridge
The Jingling Keys
The Bluebell Line
Sadly I had done a stupid amount of time at work in the previous week and was so tired I wasn't able to concentrate as much as I would like to be able to learn to play a song. The good news is that I have learnt a few things about playing a Nyckelharpa, and I need to do some exercises with my left hand as my fingers aren't used to that idea yet. On the whole it was a good fun day that I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn this instrument.

Intermission over, back to work...

With a week off work I wanted to concentrate on getting the Tailpiece progressed.
Having already cut it to the required outline I started by taking it out to see my belt sander so I could get the top rounded off to the correct curve. I then had to make a block to guide the drill through at the correct angle to make the 5mm holes to fit the Fine Tuners.

I marked where the holes sould go with a punch. I drew a line across the face of the Tailpiece to show the angle I wanted the hole to be, and drew a line back to the centre of the hole. The block met the drill press to get a verticle hole drilled through it and similar lines were drawn on it. I put the drill bit through the block and found the punch hole in the Tailpiece. The block's position was adjusted until the lines all made one straight line as shown in the photo and then I drilled through. This was done eight times in all as I did the first four holes with a 2mm drill bit to make sure I was on target before opening them up with the 5mm bit.

Here we are with the four holes done. I trial fitted the Fine Tuners and found that the Tailpiece was too deep at the holes so we had to go back to the beltsander to loose some weight.

The result wasn't quite as pretty as I would like so a bit of sawing and carving followed.

Much better. I'm still not quite sure how I want to work the transition from the neck to the head of the Tailpiece but the currently important area is ready for a trial fit of the Fine Tuners.

First off this is a pair of Fine Tuners as they come. You get a tuner, a nut, and an adjuster for each as shown on the right. On the left is all three put together with the adjuster at full reach. The tuner is designed to fit through a 1cm thikness of wood with 6mm of thread above for the nut to screw on to.

And here is the Tailpiece with all fout Fine Tuners in place. Three are at their slackest position, with the bottom / left one at it's tightest position. Well it's all looking good so far! And we're up to date.

The Tailpiece still needs holes drilling for the Sympathetic Strings, that under side made more pretty, and the 'hook' properly shaped. The Nyckelharpa Body needs it's tail shaped to match the Tailpiece. The Keys still need more carving to make them look better. Then it just needs sanding, staining, varnish, and strings! The list is getting shorter! Yay!

Chapter 17: Happy birthday!

Ouch. Today is the second anniversary of this build blog. And I wanted to be done in eight months!

It has been a reasonably productive week.

First I have done the first pass of work on the 17 straight 'A' Keys. That way I can start doing the quiet work of fitting them in the evenings. Next job is the Tailpiece.

There needs to be at least a 96mm length between the Bridge and the Fine Tuner mounting points to allow for the Strings windings, so some carefull measuring has to be done. Also there needs to be a hook at the bottom of the Nyckelharpa's body.

An hour of setting up the band saw cutting an inch, resetting the band saw, cutting another inch, putting the blade back on the band saw and cutting some more followed. This is tough wood and my band saw would appear to be unequal to the challenge, or I need better instructions on how to set it up!

 Now I have cut the side profile on the band saw you can see what I mean about the hook.

After the second trip to the band saw it now looks much more like a Tailpiece. There is still a lot of shaping to do but at least I don't need to fight the band saw again!

The sacry thing here is the size of that hook. I'm told that each of the sixteen Strings is going to have a tension of about 10kg on them. 16 x 10kg = 160kg. That's the weight of two household washing machines! So, theoretically speaking, I need to be able to dangle two washing machines off that hook!


In honor of the second anniversary I thought I'd make a comparison.

This is how we began two years ago! All those bits of wood laid out so nicely.

And the comparison view today. There's just the three remaining 'A' keys, the Tangents, and the Sound Post to cut down (I can get two out of the supplied piece of wood), and the Strings to fit.

That's it for this time. I'm off to carry on the celebrations and we'll see how things go over the next few weeks!

Chapter 16: Where did I leave my keys?

As I am now getting ready to think about transporting my Nyckelharpa I have started working towards getting the outlines marked out.

The first move was to use a cello peg reamer to open out the straight drilled peg holes in the Neck and Reinforcement Plate. One small note for future plans: I had the holes drilled out to 8mm, but it would have saved me half an evening if I drilled them out to 10mm first. Hey-ho.

Ok, so I cheated. I bought ready made Cello Tuning Pegs because it was a lot cheaper than buying the tools to shape the wood blocks I have. I have also push fitted the two rows of Guitar Tuners for the Sympathetic Strings. This means I can now start working out what size transport case I need.

I have found my Keys! I took the Left Keyguide (top in the picture) off and worked my way along the one end of each of the ten 'C' Keys. The Keys were roughly cut down to shape on the Dremel saw and then I cut and sanded them down to fit the slots. They need to be loose enough to slide freely and account for any humidity that might cause them to swell and get stuck.

Then I started the same process at the other end. Exciting isn't it! Alright - maybe not. Once I had the first key done I had to test fit it properly of course!

In just a week I was able to get all ten 'C' keys fitted at the other end too. The finger ends need some tidying up especially 8 and 9 that are almost touching each other. It is traditional to make pretty shapes out of these and I'm not planning on skipping that although I might not get too over the top with it.

Now I have to start the whole process again with the twenty 'A' Keys, three of which present their own special challenge of crossing the two layers of keys. That said, I think I'm going to be concentrating on the Tailpiece for the next week and then I'll face the 'A's.

In other news; Last weekend I went to Halsway Manor again where Vicki Swan was hosting a Nyckelharpa Festival Weekend. This provided an oppertunity to meet like minded people and see a concert by the very talented Josefina Paulson and Torbjörn Näsbom. I think it might a while before I reach their level!

Speaking of which... Having played two notes on a Nyckelharpa in March, I now have a first lesson booked for 18th November, and I'm booked in for Vicki's Beginner's Weekend at Halsway Manor in March.

In the mean time let's see what the next week brings.