Day 164: A Visit with Owen Daly

From time to time, I hop down to Salem, Oregon, an hour's drive from Tortuga Early Instruments Worldwide Headquarters in Vancouver, Washington, for a visit with Master Builder Owen Daly. Owen is a kind and generous mentor who always provides a ton of information for any questions I might have. This last weekend was no different. I headed down to see Owen with several questions in hand. My questions ranged from bridge making (yeah, I'm having another do-over party with the bridges) to soundboard thinning to string pinning.

Owen makes a small Italian instrument that sounds absolutely wonderful. Of course, his craftsmanship is also stunning, yet it's the warmth of tone that comes from one of his little harpsichords that is most impressive. And I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. This weekend, Owen was lining out the string speaking lengths between the nut and bridge (this one is a 2x8) using some thread and a couple of small weights.

In the photos above, Owen is hanging a spool of regular thread over the front of the instrument and then using it to track where the string should fall on the register as it makes its way to the distal/bridge end of the instrument. As with most of Owen's work, this is a brilliantly simple way to ensure complete line accuracy of string speaking length. I can't wait to use this method when pinning my own instrument.

Other questions led to more answers and I ended up stopping by Rockler on the way home to pick up a couple hundred solid brass escutcheons/nails/brads that I'll be chopping down for use as pins when the time comes. Another answer involved picking up some Melton wool at the Mill End Store in Milwaukie that I will be "felting" with "agitation and heat" in the near future. The felted wool will be use as jack rests on the distal ends of the keys as well as for an upper cushion on the jack rail. I like the milk chocolate brown.

Finally, Owen and I discussed at length a quick and easy way to bend and cut the bridges. As with most aspects of building I've spent considerable time and effort overthinking how to go about doing this. Owen showed me the way again by asking yet another simple question: "Why don't you just use your bentside lamination form to bend the bridges?" Once again, my answer was, "I don't know." After discussing it with Owen, I've decided to go ahead and follow his directions for steam bending, cutting and cleaning them up. There will definitely be more to come on this subject in the weeks ahead.

On a completely unrelated note, I've decided to sell the Laguna LT14x14 SUV band saw. I purchased this saw with the best of intentions. I wanted to create a cottage industry for myself resawing exotic and local woods for luthiers, but life and time are short and my focus needs to remain on building, not on cutting wood. So, out the door it goes. It's not a cheap item by any means, so it may take a while to leave, but I've learned to be patient about such things. It will sell. Someday.

I've also committed to purchasing a Carbide3D Shapeoko 3 XL CNC machine from Cool Craigslist Guy in Waldport, Oregon. This is a small unit that is easily extensible (to create more working space) and quite affordable. It comes with great design and operation software packages and Cool Craigslist Guy added necessary dust collection to it that I will be basically getting for free when considering his awesome purchase price. So, a road trip next weekend is in order. And then...a moderate learning curve as I figure out how to include this sort of automation into my building life.

Until next time...

Day 163: They Call Me Captain Hook

The bridges came off the bending form some time ago, but I've been busy with other things, as well as engaging in my annual Winter Maintenance work, so I'm just now getting around to finishing them up. One remark I received from one of the Master Builders on Facebook regarding soaking and bending the bridges was that he wouldn't like all the nails in his bridges. Of course he wouldn't, and neither do I, but it needed to get done and this is the method suggested by Mr. Miller in his eBook Most Excellent*.

The detritis in the photo above is composed of the remnant pieces of 1/4" plywood pads I used for cushions against the brad heads. Part of the reason I'm not crazy about the soaking method is due to nailing the bridges to the form while they were still wet. This resulted in the brads leaving dark stains on the bridges at each contact point - not my preferred level of quality. And, yeah, using stainless brads was probably the key here. My bad. If I build another Ruckers, I'll bend the bridges in a completely different manner (to be disclosed at a later date).

The 4' bridge is ready to glue up. The 8', on the other hand, requires a "hook" to be joined to its larger, "far end". This hook curls the string contact points away from the bend and requires me to cut one from a smaller piece of beech and then stitch it onto the bridge at the correct point. As you can see below, I traced the hook onto some parchment paper so I could draw it onto the smaller piece.

I then took it to the band saw, the table of which I set at a cool 30-degrees, and went to work - until the blade snapped. Granted it was a tiny blade, but it was still scary. I neglected to purchase a new blade last payday and the tiny blade was the sharpest in the shop. Suffice it to say, it made the work a lot more interesting.

I made it through most of the cut before the break.

I then mounted an older blade onto the saw and went to work, resulting in this:

It turns out the smell of burning beech is actually kinda pleasant. The burns notwithstanding, I pulled out the oscillating spindle sander and went to town cleaning things up.

As you can see, it cleaned up nicely, though I'll do some final polish with a spokeshave once I get the hook joined to the bridge. I'm planning on using a half-lap joint, which I've had some success with in the past. Before I can do this, I'll need to get another printout of the plan - I mangled it pretty badly getting the bridge templates onto the bending form. This is not a big deal because I'll have it printed at the local FedEx Office up the street for a few bucks. The lady there is now referring to me as "the harpsichord guy." I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing.

On a completely unrelated note, my wife and I travel to the Oregon Coast every Christmas season, sometimes staying there for Christmas day (a beach with 10 people is a good thing, even when it's chilly outside). This year, we found ourselves in Lincoln City where we stopped at an antique store and I discovered the Holy Grail of 6" rulers.

I've been looking for a 6-incher to keep stowed in my shop apron and this one is special because it's not only sturdy, it offers both U.S. and metric measurements, as well as decimal equivalents for numerous measurements on its reverse. This was definitely the best $5 we've spent in a very long while.

Until next time...

*Mr. Miller has significantly updated his eBook Most Excellent, the Harpsichord Project eBook 4.0. It now has more content with multiple ways of accomplishing several tasks, as well as upgrades to several of the sections. If you're looking to dive into building a harpsichord as a first-timer, I highly recommend this book - it's a bargain.

Day 162: Bending the Bridges

After soaking the bridges for 48 hours, I pulled them out of the soaking trough and nailed them to the templates on a piece of 3/4" plywood.

Now, they dry for a week (until next Monday) when I pull them off and work on the eight foot end hooks. In the meantime, I return to my work on the jacks. I have a surprise coming up and I must admit I'm going to have fun watching the heads spin around and explode. You've gotta find the fun where you can, right?

Until next time...

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...

Day 160: Crazy Chicken Lady and a Bigger Bath Tub

Last weekend, I decided to get the soundboard completed. This means I would need to mount the bridges and bracing and get the thing glued into the case. In order to get the bridges glued up, I would need to bend them first. I had tried steaming and it just didn't work. I suspect this is because they're made of European steamed beech and most of the lignin in them has been set. I don't know this for certain, but I do know steam bending resulted in an epic fail.

I then chatted with a few experienced builders and they just about uniformly agreed soaking them and getting them into a form of some kind overnight was the way to go. The only water receptacle I have in the house is the bathtub, so I checked it out and, as you can see below, the 8-foot bridge created another epic fail - it's just too long.

So, it's back to the drawing board - again. To be honest, I haven't checked how Mr. Miller accomplishes this task in his eBook Most Excellent. I'd be willing to bet he explains his method somewhere in there. I'm sure I've read about it, I just can't remember what he says to do. Guess I have a little research when I'm done here.

I did, though, make some progress with cleaning up the shop. This is a regular task I engage in during this time of year. I clean up and rearrange things a bit, as well as tune up the tools. As you probably know, I've admitted to having a bit of a walnut problem. A couple of years ago, I worked just up the hill from Goby Walnut and Western Hardwoods and found myself on my way home after work indulging in the free boxes they would set out from time to time.

If you've never partaken of a high quality wood supplier's free box, just imagine the energy of a Las Vegas buffet except you didn't pay a dime to elbow your way under the sneeze guards. It's really an irresistible enterprise, one I found myself succumbing to several times on the way home from work. Well, it turned out they had thrown most of the wood away for good reason. I don't engage in the noble pursuit of marquetry (wood inlay), so my needs run a bit larger than someone who does. After stepping over, around and under walnut for the better part of the last two years, I decided it was time to cull the herd.

It was pretty astonishing to discover that most of the wood I had captured was simply unusable. I ended up giving Crazy Chicken Lady (don't ask) three and a half of these boxes filled with stuff I simply could not use.

This was liberating in ways I can't even describe. And it was a good lesson. From now on, should I find myself passing by Goby and the free boxes are out, I shall divert my gaze and drive on by.

Until next time...

Day 159: Register Relief and Thinning

I've not been working on the instrument much over the past month based, once again, on other obligations. I'm back at it and expect to make some pretty good progress now. I have a lot to do to get this thing finished and I want it DONE.

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...

Day 158: Drilling a Hole Where the Rain Gets In

Yeah...no, the title of this post has precious little to do with the topic yet who doesn't like the Beatles, right? I actually ended up drilling several holes, but more about that later. First, I finished up the near-final thicknessing of the soundboard. I have some feathering left to do, but it's good to go for now at or near 3 mm.

I still need to work a bit on cleaning up the reverse, as well as getting the bridges bent and completed for mounting. More on that later.

I was able this past week to finally get the holes drilled for the tuning pins. This entailed making a couple of small sort-of-guides with 5-degree angles cut into them. One was necessarily thinner to accommodate the lack of space between the eight foot pin holes and the nameboard, but I really just ended up using it for both sets and, eventually, abandoning it altogether. Before drilling the holes, I tested an idea from Owen Daly of Owen Daly Early Keyboard Instruments that involved initially running the drill bit backward to prevent tear-out on the soft spruce that caps the pinblock.

Once I was satisfied with the results, I laid out the plan, tapped in starter dimples and scored the location of the nuts with a marking tool.

The IKEA lamp I use for close-up work messes with my phone camera - I didn't really do the work with the lights off and a flashlight shining on the plan. Once it was all dimpled up, I went to town drilling the 104 holes.

I'll be gluing the eight foot and four foot nuts up soon (I'm not really sure when as a couple of other urgent projects have caught my attention as of late).

On a completely unrelated note, I recently ordered some clavicembalo music written by Ferdinando de Medici and the envelope it came in identified me as Dr. Chief Sawdust Maker Darin Molnar. Yes. Yes, I am.

And...finally...The Tortuga!

Until next time...