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!
