Chapter 14: I think you'll all agree...

... that shtuff just went sideways in the most colossal way.

I haven't even finished it and it already needs repairs!

I sat down to do some more work and noticed that the seam between the top and side had separated. As I gave it what I though was a gentle poke the back corner gave way and split the top. As a result I have spent some time sulking and deciding what to do next.

In the mean time it has given me the opportunity to show off the Bass Bar that I managed to completely miss out of the blog during the build earlier.

The Bass Bar runs at a slight angle to one side of the centre line so the it runs under one side of the Bridge. The clue in the title is that it runs under the lower tuned strings. The other side of the Bridge is supported by the Sound Post.

The good news for the blog is that I have chosen to order a new top and carry on. Obviously this has all been another excuse for why it's taking so long, but I think we're getting used to that.

The new top has already had it's bath and been bent to the curve as before.

I hope to have it cut, Bass Bar attached, and glued down by the end of the week. But we know how that goes.

Chapter 13: There will now be a short intermission.

"SHORT?! It's been eight months! Two thirds of a year!"

Um. Yeah. A busy summer, an engine rebuild rushed through on a tight deadline, followed by a very busy winter at work, all conspired to make my spare time wosh by.

But, by popular demand (I know, I'm shocked too!), here is an update on progress.

I have drawn pleasing notes from a Nyckelharpa with a bow as intended!

All right. There was some cheating involved. More about that later.

Following on from last time I have been working on the next row of keys.
The first job was to fetch my father's electric jig saw as just the thought of cutting all those bits of wood down to Key shape by hand made my shoulder go out on strike.
I cut the lengths of wood supplied into pieces a little longer then each Key.

Here they are. On the left ten blanks for C string Keys, on the right twenty A string blanks. Three of the As are fatter than the rest because the body will be in line with the rest of the As, but the head will be down at the level of the Cs. They're designed that way because as you move along the string towards the bridge the notes get closer together and it starts getting very crowded up there with all those Keys! As my plan of attack is to make the Cs then the straight As and finally the three bent As, it's going to be a while before I get to show what I mean. I need the other keys made to give me a target to aim for when cutting them down as the wood provided is more than thick enough to reach the Cs so I will have to shape them in three dimensions.

I drew out the shape of the C Keys on the underside of each of the blanks and then cut the rough oversize outline with the jigsaw. As it is designed more for freehand working there is no easy way of making highly precise cuts. I have a miniature table top buzz saw that I used to cut the narrower Keys down to the correct width.

Here are the Cs with half rough cut and half drawn ready to be cut. I have marked the centre lines on the Keys to help me keep them symetrical when I start the fine shaping work. The table in the background is a list of the critical dimensions for each Key to help me while I was drawing them. The dimensions were measured from my Nyckelharpa instead of being taken from the drawings so that the Keys are made to fit it.

And here we have the complete set of ten rough cuts of the C Keys. Sadly that brings us up to date with the construction process. In two weeks time I have a week off work, as always there are other chores that need attention, but I would like to see out that week with some more progress made. Famous last words!

"If that's as far as you've got how did you get notes out of it?"

Oh yes, the cheating bit...

This Saturday evening I went to Halsway Manor to see Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer play a concert. It was part of the Nyckelharpa begginers weekend organised by Vicki that I couldn't get time off work for, but it still provided me with the opportunity to meet a few people. During an entertaining concert that I recomend seeing Vicki played a Nyckelharpa made by Sören Åhker himself. Afterwards she introduced me to Ian McMaster who has built several Nyckelharpa from the same plans I am using. He had brought two of them along for the weekend as loaners. After a chat and some helpful hints about construction methods, and Bow choices I was able to briefly borrow one and give it a go. Now I must get on with building my harpa to see how it compares with the others!

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.

Chapter 11: I'm back!

As promised a little bit of normal life and a whole lot of my other big hobby have got in the way of progress here and have now pushed me past my originally hoped for completion date. Hey-ho. Keep going.

After much carefull measuring and placement I positioned and clamped the Top on to the Body and drilled a hole at each end to peg them together similarly to the way the Back was attached.

While the two were clamped together I laid a pencil on the side of the Body so the point was a few millimeters out on the Top and traced it all the way round. I also measured out 400mm from the Saddle on to the Top to marck where the Bridge will sit. This also allowed me to trace in the locations of the 'f' holes and the Bass bar. In the mean time I also marked the sugested loctaion of the sound post on the back. Best case scenario this is where I will put the base of the Sound Post and all will be fine, worst case it will give me a frame of referance for adjustments.

I drilled a hole though the end of each 'f' hole and then took out my best (read 'only') coping saw, replaced the blade, and cut out the curves between them. Makes it sound almost easy! Alright by comparison that bit was.

I wizzed around the outline with my bandsaw and made a trial of the final fit. There was some adjustment needed to the tops of the Sides to make sure the Top sat flat without the need of clamps.

I couldn't resist a trial fit of the parts to see how the layout looks.

Don't ask me why this picture is upside down! It's the right way round on my computer and phone, it only uploads that way here.

While you're standing on your head to look at it you will see this picture shows the homemade clamps I used to hold everything together while gluing the Top and Reinforcement Plate on.

Sadly I seem to have lost the photos of the carved Reinforcement Plate before gluing. It took some time with the bandsaw, then a razor saw, and finally files and sandpaper to create the shape.

Also I don't have a photo of the Bass Bar in place. The Bass Bar was supplied pre-shaped in the kit but I sanded the free edge to a smoother curve as that is how the drawings show it. It takes some force to clamp it to the Top during gluing as it has a slight reverse curve to it but still needs to lay flat against the underside of the Top. The Bass Bar provides support to one side of the Top where the Bridge sits, the other side has the Sound Post near by.

I started work on the Bridge by laying it on my belt sander and leaning on one end until the top was about 3mm thick and the bottom was about 6mm. Then I cut the curve across the top and the curves down the sides. The holes were drilled through and the coping saw made the pretty little curves. The photo shows how I sanded the bottom of the Bridge to match the top of the instrument. Simply tape the sandpaper to your Nyckelharpa and get the rhythm going!

 As it's getting late here I will finish off with this photo of the current state of work. I have made up the Keyguides and made the blanks of the first row of keys. Actually there are a few more keys started but they don't fit yet. Next time I will get some photos of the Keygides and show how they came together. Then I will have to get back to the project and make some more  progress before I can write the post after that!

Chapter 10: Just a quick one

So much effort for so little to look at!

I have now shaped the top edges of the Body so I can start work on fitting the Top.

I marked the centre line on my curved sanding block, stuck a sheet of coarse sandpaper to it, and started sanding down the top edges of the sides. An hour later I got bored. I set the angle of my sanding disk to match the required angle of the outer edges and made a centimetre of wood dissappear. I then carried on with my sanding block carving the End Block and the base of the Neck on and off for a week until the Neck had a one millimetre step down at the centre line. It doesn't sound like much, but it is the highest point of the curve so a lot of sanding is required to get down there. At the edges of the Neck the step is four millimetres. This Swedish Spruce eats sandpaper, I thought the sandpaper was supposed to eat the wood! I did a final touch on the belt sander just to make sure the edges were straight, and I do mean just a touch! It has been by far the most tedious job of the build and I am glad it is over.

Having done that I cut down the Attachment Plates for the two Keyguides to match their space on the Neck.

I have cut off the split edge of the Top so I don't make that mistake when trying to fit it and cut the Neck end straight. Also I have now drilled out and screwed the Saddle to the Reinforcement Block. I will remove the Saddle while I stain and varnish everything later so it can be removed or replaced easily later in life.

The bolts that can be seen in the Reinforcement Block are used to keep it aligned with the Neck during work. I have started working towards cutting the block down to it's final shape. Alright, I have drawn some usefull lines on the sides of the block that will help decide where to cut.

As I said, loads of work for not much to look at. Hopefully my next post will be a bit more exciting!

Chapter 9: At last, it really looks like progress.

I've made some good progress over the last week.

Firstly, as promised, I have cut the Peghead of the Neck. I started by copying my Tuning plan on to the back of the Neck and then clamped the Reinforcement Block in place on top. I then drilled holes for the four Tuning Pegs through both parts, and then drilled four holes that are the ends of the two Guitar Tuner slots. After separating the Neck and Reinforcement Block, I cut the slots out of the neck using my newly aquired Japanese razor saw. I also cut the neck down to it's new length with some nice curves using the band saw. I then drilled all the holes for the two Guitar Tuners. Each has seven small holes for the fixing screws, and six 6mm holes for the Tuners to pass into the Neck. Yes, my pillar drill has earned it's keep!

I also started work on the two Keychest sides so I could glue the parts together at the same time as the body.
Both sides have two Keyguides, one for the upper row of keys and one for the middle and lower keys, a Top Cover to hold the upper keys in, Reinforcements, and an Attachment Plate. The left side also has a side cover as well.
I cut the Saddle and Left Side Cover to match the height of the Right Keyguides on their Attachment Plate. The right side only has one Reinforcement that I cut down to length. The left side has two Reinforcments that were supplied to me as one piece of wood with the cuts roughly marked out. I measured the Left Keyguides and redrew and cut the wood to the new shapes. One is just a rectangle and goes at the Saddle end of the Keychest, the other is a shape made from two steps that matches the space without keys.

The glue I'm using is hide glue from The Viloin Company and was prepared following their instructions. One part glue granules to four parts fresh water, stired at room temperature for 15 minutes in a small glass. I put hot water in a cheap small slow cooker on full heat to keep the temperature at 90C and stood the glue glass in the hot water for 45 minutes. The glue should then be ready to use and a little goes a long way. The instructions suggest working in a warm, draft free room, and keeping the wood warm too. I used a cheap brush to paint the glue on to the joints.

I started by glueing the two Body Sides to the End Block working in a flat surface to make sure the two joints lined up and were square before clamping them tight together. I promise you that was a lot easier to type than to do! I then glued the Neck into the space at the other end of the Body Sides, this time with the added fun of keeping the top of the Neck in line with the End Block.

The first job then was to take it back to the bandsaw and cut off the clamp blocks from the ends of the Body Sides, and then tidy up the joints. I laid the Body on the Back and made sure that the two are in good contact all the way round. I then worked out where to put the joining pegs and drilled the one hole in the End Block and a corrisponding hole in the Back. I put a peg through the back and the End Block to line them up while I drilled the holes for the two pegs in the Neck.

With the Back and Body in fixed alignment I drew the outline of the Body on the Back, and then it was the Back's turn to visit the bandsaw. I was then ready to glue these two together. While I had the glue mixed I glued the Reinforcement to the side of the Right Lower Keyguide, then the two Reinforcements and the Left Lower Keyguide. Finaly I glued the Left Upper Keyguide onto the Lower Keyguide. Then I could take a 24 hour break while the glue set.

Here's the clamp I built up to join the Body and Back. It didn't work as easily as I hoped, but it did do the job. I think the wooden dowl I used to make the clamp heads wasn't big enough.

This shows the Keychest, Saddle, and Reinforcement Block laid out on the table as they will sit on the Neck. I still haven't started carving the Reinforcement Block yet, but I have drilled out and screwed together the two Keyguides now. The left side just has small screws attaching the the Top Cover to the Upper Keyguide. The right side is more fun as there are longer screws attaching the Top Cover through the Upper Keyguide to the Lower Keyguide.

This is the reverse view with the Side Cover laid down showing the Keyguide Reinforcements.

Next job: Carve and sand down the top of the Body to fit the Top. Sounds fun.... not!

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.