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!
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