Chapter 12: I'm Back! ... I think.

Stupid work stuff getting in the way this time! The trouble is I need the money to pay for little things like food so I can't see the stupid work stuff going away anytime soon.

Where were we?

Keyguides!

If you can remember the dim and distant past when I started this project and the photo of the supplied materials you may remember that the Keyguides came ready cut to shape. On the one hand it feels like a bit of a cheat but it does save a lot of measureing, cutting, and chiseling, so I'm happy to live with that! I've just given them a light sanding to clean up the edges.

Here is a photo of the complete Right Keyguide. It came in five parts and five screws.
At the bottom is the first three parts glued together. There is the Attachment Plate with the two screws that fix it to the Neck, the Lower Right Keyguide that has slots for both the bottom and middle rows of Keys, and running along the inside of the Keyguide is a Reinforcement piece.
The Upper Right Keyguide and the Right Top Cover Plate (see, it says so on it!) are attched to the lower keyguide with three screws so they can be easily removed to take the Keys out for maintainance and repair.
To be fair, with the slots pre-cut, there's not much to say about the construction here. Some care is needed drilling the screw holes as there isn't much room for error, and the Keyguides are very flexible until the Reinforcements are added, so take care to keep them straight.

Now a comparrison of the two sides on the Nyckelharpa with the Left Top Cover Plate removed. The Left Keyguide came in six parts with five screws.
The Upper and Lower Left Keyguides are glued together this time so the three screws only attach the Top Cover Plate. The Reinforcement piece was cut in two to provide the post at the Saddle end of  the Keyguide and the stepped part that runs towards the bridge end. The Attachment Plate is just visible in the bottom with it's two screws. The extra piece of wood is the Side Cover Plate that is glued to the outside edge of the Reinforcments. This covers the ends of the Keys and the slot can be filled with a piece of foam rubber to provide a return spring to the Keys.
The top of the Left Keyguide is about 4mm lower than the top of the Right Keyguide as the lower C string runs above the top of it. The Side Cover Plate is at the full height to hide this part of the asymmetry,

I have started making Keys! The top row has twenty Keys, the middle has ten, and the bottom seven, for a grand total of thirty-seven Keys to be made. As shown in the photo I have the blanks for the seven G string Keys carefully cut and sanded to size. Each Key is made to fit it's own individual pair of slots in the Keyguides so they are labeled G1 to G7 on the hidden end which I have also chamfered the edges of to make it easier to push the Keys through. The Keys must not be too loose in the guides or they will move around too much and the notes played will be out of tune, but they must not be too tight either as they must be free to release when you let go of them. Sören Åhker suggests a space of 0.3mm is an ideal starting point for the bare wood as the stain and humidity will change the wood later.

And here are the first seven Keys in their natural habitat. They still need a hole drilled for their Tangents and some shaping on the outer ends but it's a start. The first Key is about the right length I want for it but the other Keys will come out in a curve as you get closer to the Body so I have left them as they are for now. When I have all the Keys at this stage I will start on making that curve in all three rows before working on the tangents.