After speaking with Owen Daly and reviewing Grant O'Brien's Ruckers book, I realized some additional thinning of the soundboard was in order, especially around the tail and cheek edges. I went to work and got things down to where I think they should be - at least according to Mr. O'Brien's book (p. 101).
Once that was done, I could turn my attention to another task I'd been putting off for quite some time: cutting tongue relief notches into the upper registers. First, I lined out one side in order to position the 1/4" chisel for the cuts.
Then, I cut away.
It was fairly quick work and I needed to be sure to keep the register snug against the scrap plywood and make sure the chisel stayed straight; otherwise, I was in danger of taking big, ugly chunks out of the underside (this may or may not have happened). I completed the 4' register last night. Tonight, the 8' shall be completed.
I was able to make a pilgrimage last Friday down to Salem to meet up with Owen Daly and see his latest Italian instrument. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Owen's work is just wonderful. It's cosmetically beautiful, which is important, but it's the sound he's able to produce from oddly-shaped wood boxes that is just amazing.
As you can see, the instrument is sublime. It still has a few more weeks to "settle in," yet it's almost there and sounds just lovely.
I was also visited today by Jack Peters and his protoge, Mike. Jack said he was making his annual "Oregon instrument maker trip" and called me up to see if he could stop by. It was a pleasure and an honor to have him in the shop and he gave me a couple of suggestions, especially about lightening up the business end of the keys, that I took to heart. It really was great to meet the man I had heard so much about.
Until next time...
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