Chapter 17: Happy birthday!

Ouch. Today is the second anniversary of this build blog. And I wanted to be done in eight months!

It has been a reasonably productive week.

First I have done the first pass of work on the 17 straight 'A' Keys. That way I can start doing the quiet work of fitting them in the evenings. Next job is the Tailpiece.

There needs to be at least a 96mm length between the Bridge and the Fine Tuner mounting points to allow for the Strings windings, so some carefull measuring has to be done. Also there needs to be a hook at the bottom of the Nyckelharpa's body.

An hour of setting up the band saw cutting an inch, resetting the band saw, cutting another inch, putting the blade back on the band saw and cutting some more followed. This is tough wood and my band saw would appear to be unequal to the challenge, or I need better instructions on how to set it up!

 Now I have cut the side profile on the band saw you can see what I mean about the hook.

After the second trip to the band saw it now looks much more like a Tailpiece. There is still a lot of shaping to do but at least I don't need to fight the band saw again!

The sacry thing here is the size of that hook. I'm told that each of the sixteen Strings is going to have a tension of about 10kg on them. 16 x 10kg = 160kg. That's the weight of two household washing machines! So, theoretically speaking, I need to be able to dangle two washing machines off that hook!


In honor of the second anniversary I thought I'd make a comparison.

This is how we began two years ago! All those bits of wood laid out so nicely.

And the comparison view today. There's just the three remaining 'A' keys, the Tangents, and the Sound Post to cut down (I can get two out of the supplied piece of wood), and the Strings to fit.

That's it for this time. I'm off to carry on the celebrations and we'll see how things go over the next few weeks!

Chapter 16: Where did I leave my keys?

As I am now getting ready to think about transporting my Nyckelharpa I have started working towards getting the outlines marked out.

The first move was to use a cello peg reamer to open out the straight drilled peg holes in the Neck and Reinforcement Plate. One small note for future plans: I had the holes drilled out to 8mm, but it would have saved me half an evening if I drilled them out to 10mm first. Hey-ho.

Ok, so I cheated. I bought ready made Cello Tuning Pegs because it was a lot cheaper than buying the tools to shape the wood blocks I have. I have also push fitted the two rows of Guitar Tuners for the Sympathetic Strings. This means I can now start working out what size transport case I need.

I have found my Keys! I took the Left Keyguide (top in the picture) off and worked my way along the one end of each of the ten 'C' Keys. The Keys were roughly cut down to shape on the Dremel saw and then I cut and sanded them down to fit the slots. They need to be loose enough to slide freely and account for any humidity that might cause them to swell and get stuck.

Then I started the same process at the other end. Exciting isn't it! Alright - maybe not. Once I had the first key done I had to test fit it properly of course!

In just a week I was able to get all ten 'C' keys fitted at the other end too. The finger ends need some tidying up especially 8 and 9 that are almost touching each other. It is traditional to make pretty shapes out of these and I'm not planning on skipping that although I might not get too over the top with it.

Now I have to start the whole process again with the twenty 'A' Keys, three of which present their own special challenge of crossing the two layers of keys. That said, I think I'm going to be concentrating on the Tailpiece for the next week and then I'll face the 'A's.

In other news; Last weekend I went to Halsway Manor again where Vicki Swan was hosting a Nyckelharpa Festival Weekend. This provided an oppertunity to meet like minded people and see a concert by the very talented Josefina Paulson and Torbjörn Näsbom. I think it might a while before I reach their level!

Speaking of which... Having played two notes on a Nyckelharpa in March, I now have a first lesson booked for 18th November, and I'm booked in for Vicki's Beginner's Weekend at Halsway Manor in March.

In the mean time let's see what the next week brings.

Chapter 15: Shock and awe

I know it's a bit scary having another entry in the this blog so soon after the last one but that's not all, it's good news too!
I have found the time to get the new Top and Bass Bar all glued up, and we're back on course to carry on from where I left off in... March!? Hell... It's been five months again!?

Here's a giggle for you all: I'm setting two new deadlines for me to miss. Having got so good at missing my deadlines on this project I thought I'd get some more practice in. I know it's weird having two deadlines for one project but the first is a bit tight so it needs a backup plan!
Deadline One: 18th November (assuming my holiday request is allowed). That gives me three months to finish making the Keys, carve the Tailpiece, and stain, decorate, and varnish the whole thing.
Deadline Two: 22nd March (holiday request granted but not signed off yet). That gives me seven months.
Place your bets.

Meanwhile back at the workbench:

Making a new top to replace the old was actually quite easy. Partly the whole 'been there, done that before' aspect, but also I just laid the old top over the new one and traced everything. First I drilled out the holes.

Then I used my Dremel to cut the pretty shapes.

I drew in the line to mark where the Bass Bar sits...

and introduced it to it's new home. If your eyesight is better than mine you will notice that the ends of the Bass Bar don't sit right down on the underside of the Top. This is intentional. I believe it creates extra upward pressure against the Top where the Bridge rests above.

The Bass Bar is then persuaded to stay put while the glue sets. I used the same glue as before because it worked very well at holding the Bass Bar down last time. This was left for two days just to be sure that it was going to have plenty of time to set properly.

Well there's a surprise... it worked!

After taking a lot of care (almost a day's worth!) to make sure the fit between the Top and Body was right this time they where glued together. The edges of the new Top need a bit of tidying up, but I think we are getting there. (If you know where 'there' is let me know!)

And finally I have refitted the Keyguides after making sure they fit over the Top.

So there we are. A bit more sanding to make the edges look better and the accident has been repaired!

Now where did I put those Keys?

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!