Day 161: Making the Soaking Trough

I've spent the better part of the last three months agonizing over how to bend the bridges. The bridges are long strips of wood that get mounted to the soundboard. You can think of them as terminus points for the strings that run between them and the nuts near the keyboard. The distance between the nuts and bridges is the string length that results in the tuned note played for that particular string. It's similar to a guitar in that the nut and bridge on that instrument perform the same function.

As you may recall, I tried to steam bend them a few months back, and it did not go well. After speaking with several people about the steaming process, most of them helped me come to the conclusion that I had not left the bridges in the steam long enough. I then chatted with several instrument makers and the consensus seemed to be centered on soaking them in water for the bend. So, I decided to steam them again.

Then, I broke down and went back to Mr. Miller's eBook Most Excellent and jumped ahead a bit. For whatever reason, he decided to split the details about completing the soundboard into two parts, so I jumped ahead and discovered that he recommends making a trough from 4" PVC pipe by splitting and capping it for soaking the bridges a couple of days before bending. In the end, I used 3" PVC, capped each end with the lid from a Talenti Gelato container and cut the stands from a discarded IKEA cutting board (the old ones were made of joined beech and tended to warp themselves out of usefulness; now, they're making them from bamboo and they're awesome).

Putting a straight line on a cylindrical object is always fun. In this case, I clamped the pipe to the bench and used some scrap lumber as a guide.

I then cut it in half on the band saw and used Gorilla Glue to secure the end caps. I used Gorilla Glue because it's good for plastics and is waterproof once cured. I also cut the stands at this time.

I may or may not have exhibited irrational exuberance with the glue that is gorilla.

I let it dry for about four hours and proceeded with the soaking. This was on Saturday, so I'll take the bridges out on Monday night for bending.

I scavenged the basalt rocks from the front driveway to completely submerge the parts.

Part of this method requires me to drill holes for tiny, little brad nails I'll be using to secure the bridges to the templated form. I also needed to make pads from 1/4" plywood that will protect the parts from the nails once I commence the clamping process.

Now, we wait until Monday to remove the bridges from the trough and get them settled for bending. Time to go after another squirrel.

Until next time...