Clavichord Day 6 - Soundboard and Bridge

The order of the day was to get as far as we could on the soundboard. This thin little piece of spruce is what vibrates the sound box. Without it, you couldn't even hear the strings vibrate. The first step was to trim it to size. We used the block plane to slice off one tiny ribbon at a time.


Then, we had to get the bridge onto the soundboard in just the right place. We placed the soundboard on the table, then placed the drawing over the soundboard. Finally, the bridge was matched up over the drawing, and temporary nails were run through the entire assembly. Thanks to those nail holes, we would later be able to put the bridge onto the soundboard again in exactly the correct spot.


While the sounboard was still under the drawing, it was convenient to mark the location of the tuning pins with the awl. Later on, the tuning pins will go here, through the soundboard and into the wrestplank underneath. This is where the strings will "start," and we will be able to tune each string from this location, using the tuning hammer.


The next endeavor was to mark the bridge for the location of each tiny bridge pin hole. Now, the soundboard was taken out, and the bridge was placed under the drawing, using those same nail holes as landmarks (a little tricky, because the bridge is 3-dimensional).


After marking each hole with the awl, it was time to drill for each pin hole with a small hobby-size drill bit.


Then, Kyla went above and beyond. Rather than have a boring looking bridge (see picture above), Kyla spent a good part of the evening carving a scroll design into the bass end of the bridge (see below).


With the bridge sanded and finished, it could now be glued to the soundboard, using clamping nails through our famous landmark nail holes.


The last step of the day was to hammer in the tiny bridge pins, one at a time.


At the end of the day the soundboard is looking good. Trimmed to size, sanded down, and a hand-carved bridge with a beautiful row of shiny gold bridge pins.