Music
So I've been reading Ardie's book and making my plans and collecting parts...
September 7, 2006.
All the wood except pin block caps is here (but I have some good advice that they can be dispensed with -- keep reading). The mahogany soundboard looks great!
A snag in the building plans: I tried to touch base with Ardie to confirm availability of some parts. Email bounces (box full). Since the e-commerce features of his website are tied to the same address, I have no confidence that orders I place there will actually be filled. I've written twice, got a bounce twice. I wrote to Ardie at his web business early this morning and have not heard anything back.
So I tried my neighbor James Jones in Radford, Virginia.
James answered my questions about strings and pins in an hour or two. He expressed concern about the wisdom of 3-string courses. Compared to his 2-string courses, these would place extra stress on the instrument and require more tuning. Noted, but tuning seems to me to be a sport in itself, and controlling the extra stress means I need to build carefully and be prepared to drop back to 2-string bass courses (as on Don's instrument) if there's any sign of trouble. I really like the richness of those 3-string treble courses (like I know what I am talking about). In deference to this concern, I dropped plans for an optional 4th course (I was notionous about this). It threatened to complicate the bridges and measurements anyway. I'll leave room, maybe, but I won't build the extra pins in.
I sent James a condensed, collated version of Ardie's string list, asked for looped strings of the approximate lengths, some spares, and asked for 90 hitch and tuning pins. And a tuning wrench. He got back to me with a quote and I sent the money tonight, along with an unasked-for 3% to cover Paypal's fees.
James wrote that he has been building hammered dulcimers for 26 years and had never felt the need for laminated tops on the pin blocks. I told him I would happily take that advice, especially since I was sure I had ignored too much good advice already. The parts will be sent out Monday; I should have them on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Bridge caps: 1/16-inch brass rods for the treble and side bridges are enroute (shipped 9/08 from Wisconsin). They are 2/3 the diameter of the Delrin rods Ardie calls for, and so (it occured to me too late) they may put excess strain on the wood of the bridges. I also have 5/32 brass tubing already in hand, which is similarly too large. I wonder if the strings would crush the tube? Today I seem pre-occupied with the stresses on the instrument. I think not: the vector pushing down on the bridges is small compared to the one pulling the pinblocks together. Right now I'm thinking 1/16 brass on side bridges, 5/32 brass on the treble bridge.
September 12. Rather than inlay complementary wood in the treble and bass bridges to mark the beginnings of available scales, why not blacken the bridge caps and polish sections back to bright metal to mark the start of each scale? The bass bridge isn't generally built with a brass cap, but that's just because strings aren't played to the right of that bridge. No harm in capping it, is there? Blacking the brass will certainly be easier than inlaying contrasting wood. I'm thinking dark cherry for the bass and treble bridges topped by bright and black brass. Side bridges could be either cherry or maple. Read up on these and look at some pictures.
UPS handed me the Resorcinol glue and the strings, pins, and tuning wrench from James Jones today. Brass rods for the bridge caps arrived yesterday. Enough stuff is in hand that I need to get organized and get my mind right to get started. Some still-life "before" shots need to be added to the right column here. This morning I ordered some gun bluing (selenium dioxide) to blacken the brass. It comes from an outdoor store in Greenville, SC, so it shouldn't take long. (Delivered, 9/14.)
Still to find: clamps, dowels, assorted screws, stain(?), wax(?)...
