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!

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.