Clavichord Day 20 - Sharps and Hitchpins

Today, we started by checking out the sharps. These are the little dark keys on the keyboard, and they are eventually glued onto some of the key levers we have already worked with. First, they each needed to be dulled a bit with the file and sandpaper, to get all the tool marks off of them and to dull all those sharp edges which would otherwise hurt the player's hands.


Keeping in with the decorative concept we began earlier, we decided to stain each of the sharps for more contrast on the keyboard.



While those dried, we picked up our handy nail set and tapped in the small hitchpins, each into its hole in the hitchpin rail.


Those that didn't have enough of a backward lean, against the eventual pull of the strings, were tapped from the side with a block of wood and hammer to get the right tilt.

A look at the hitchpins in place.


A bit of a short day. More work on the keyboard to come.

Clavichord Day 7 - Soundboard Barring and Gluing, and Hitchpin Drilling

We didn't work too hard today, but some important things got done.
The first thing on the agenda was getting the ribs onto the underside of the soundboard. To do that, we had to transfer the outline of the ribs to the back side of the drawing, so that we could have a drawing of the reverse side of the soundboard. Then we pricked through the corners of each rib with the awl.


The drawing was then placed over the back of the soundboard, and we put a pencil dot through each of those awl holes. After playing 'connect the dots' with those marks, we had a perfect drawing of the rib placement on the back of the soundboard.


The ribs were solidly glued onto the template. As a final step, the two ends of each rib had to be chamfered with the knife into a scoop in order to flatten out these ends.

The completed underside of the soundboard with chamfered ribs glued in tight, and the builders' signatures fitting between.

With the soundboard complete, it was time to glue it in. Clamps held the soundboard in tight over the wrestplank on the right and belly rail on the left. The mouse hole in the belly rail came in handy for the clamping job. The other sides of the board were held tight to the liners with small nails near the edge. These will later be covered by moulding.


The final soundboard glued into the case.


Remember the hitchpin rails? See Day 5. We earlier marked the holes for them through the drawing with the awl. Well, now was time to actually drill the holes. Those in the short bass rail were drilled through the hitchpin block underneath, and the holes on the long treble rail went down into the guide rack. Tape was used on the drill bit as a depth gauge, so that we wouldn't go too far down.


All the hitchpin holes completed.


The clavichord at the end of Day 7. Soundboard installed! And those important hitchpin holes drilled.

Clavichord Day 5 - Guide Rack, Belly Rail, Cheek Liner, Tool Box Back and Hitchpin Rails

Today was a long day, and the basic case construction is now complete! So, how did we get here?

First, we had to trim and adjust the guide to fit. The guide rack goes right on top of the backrail, and has slots carved into it. These will keep the keys moving up and down, but not side to side.

Here, the guide rack is clamped in place.


A look at the whole case, with the guide rack glued in on top of the back rail. Notice the vertical slots carved in.


Next, the belly rails and cheek liner were glued in. These pieces, forming an angled and multi-sided face, will eventually make the left-most ledge for the soundboard to rest on. Here's a look at the cheek liner clamped to the right cheek, with the standing belly rail (with mouse hole) already glued to the bottom.


What's a day without some glue cleanup?


A look at the right side of the case. The front, rear and cheek liners, the wrestplank, and belly rails--all making the trapezoidal ledge for the soundboard to sit on later.


Next, the small detail of the little piece of cherry glued to the balance rail and hitchpin block, forming the rear wall of the "tool box." One day, there will be the tuning hammer inside and a fancy lid on top!


The last big project was to get the hitchpin rails done (both treble and bass rails). This meant trimming to size, marking for the pin holes, and gluing them into place.
After trimming, we had to get the rails underneath the plan drawing so we could mark for each little pin hole (later to have hitch pins inside). After securing the rail under the drawing, we had to dimple the wood on each little X, using the awl to gouge through the drawing and into the rail.

Here's a look at the short bass rail after all the pin holes were marked.


Finally, gluing in the rails. First the bass rail, right on the hitchpin block.


Then the longer treble rail, perpendicular to the bass rail, and glued onto the guide rack.


At last! Here is the instrument at the end of Day 5. The major case work has been completed, and everything is fitting just right so far. Next comes the soundboard!