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!
