Chapter 8: Playing catch up

It's been a while since my last post, but I have been working on the project. So here is a post that could have been published two weeks ago if I got my finger out and typed it!

As promised I have set about making the Tuning area of the Neck. Having never done one before and looked at the options provided by Sören Åhker, I went on the internet and found some pictures of other options aswell. This brought me to a point where I was surrounded by options and ideas because everyone seems to have done something different!

Time for a list of fixtures.

1. The Neck is 100mm wide and just over 230mm long after the Saddle.
2. There are four Playing Strings and twelve Sympathetic Strings side by side at the saddle.
3. I have four Tuning Pegs and two groups of Six Guitar Tuners.
4. The Tuning Pegs need to be centred at least 4cm apart for clearance.
5. The Saddle will be 40 - 42mm tall.
6. The Reinforcement Block needs to fit in here somewhere too.
7. The Guitar Tuners have the strings centred 23.5mm apart.
8. Each group of Guitar Tuners need a slot in the Neck 9mm wide and 9mm in from the edge.
9. The Tuning Pegs need to be about 25mm long above the Reinforcement Block, and about 10mm between their head and the Neck.
10. The Strings need a spacing of 4mm.
11. The Sympathetic Strings need a space of 2 - 3mm from the Tnagents.
12. The A String will be about 10mm from it's side of the Keychest to allow for it's Tangents.
13. The C and G Strings will be about 1 - 2mm from their Tangents at the Saddle.
14. The low C String needs about 3 -5mm space from it's side of the Keychest.

 And a list of options.

1. Keep the Neck sides straight or have them sloping in. I have seen one or two Nyckleharpa where the Neck almost comes to a point.
2. The Sympathetic Strings can be grouped 6-3-3, 5-4-3, or 4-4-4 around the Playing Strings and their Tangents.
3. The Tuning Pegs can go almost anywhere you can find a space, but it's best to keep them away from the edges.
4. Some makers have the Sympathetic Strings bent around the Tuning Pegs, Reinforcement Block, or the Neck on their way to their Guitar Tuners. Some makers prefer a clear run saying that less contact is less stress for the String.

I started by making my own drawings to see if I could get my head round this lot. I started by drawing in ink the Neck, Saddle and Reinforcement Block that I have as my limits. I made three plan views and three end views so I had one for each Sympathetic String option. I could then draw in the Tuning Pegs, Guitar Tuners, and Strings in pencil so I could rub them out and try a new idea. Early on I had a bit of trouble visulising my drawings as a finished product, so I built a trial version at full size so I can see what is going where.

Here you can see two of the plan view drawings with the relevant parts in the background. The left drawing still shows first 'final design' but the right drawing shows my final choice.

And here is my cheap and nasty trial version. The strings are just cotton wound around the wood. I used wooden dowl to stand in for the Guitar Tuners. The fake Saddle is much thicker than the real thing, but I'm only interested in the design of everything from the outer face anyway. This was my first 'final design', but having done it and tried making the Reinforcement block out of foam I decided that the two outer Tuning Pegs were too close to the edge. I then went for a stagered layout that means that each string will only touch the saddle and it's own tuner.

In the mean time, as I am getting painfully close to the need for it, I have also completed my new sanding block for getting the Body shaped ready for the fitting of the Top.

Here it is with nice rounded corners and a very smooth curved face for attaching sand paper to. Guess who recently aquired a motorised belt sander? That's going to come in very handy too soon.