Clavichord Day 4 - Balance Rail and Cheeks

The beginning of the day was a real chore. We had to assemble a dry run of the rest of the case, and test the highest and lowest keys on the keyboard to make sure that everything would line up ok. The idea was to find the exact location for the balance rail, which will be glued and screwed into the bottom.

The balance rail will have all the pins on which the keys balance, each one like a little see-saw.

After sanding off a bit here, and gluing a shim there, we were finally able to make a pencil marking for the balance rail and mark for the screws.



The next step was to drill through the bottom with the tapered bit.



Then, the balance rail was temporarily glued in place, so we could flip it all over and drill through the same holes into the rail. Finally, we turned it back over, re-glued, and fed in the screws through both pieces from the bottom up.



The balance rail, glued in (before cleanup).



Now that all the adjustments had been made, the cheeks went in square and easy with glue and clamps. These cheeks will create the side walls of the keywell, where the keyboard will ultimately lie.



End of Day 4--balance rail and cheeks added to our case.