Clavichord Day 8 - Tuning Pin Holes and Soundboard Moulding

After a bit of a hiatus, we got back to work today.
The first thing was to drill holes through the soundboard and into the wrestplank underneath. These holes will later have the tuning pins around which the strings will be wound. The usual masking tape was used as a depth gauge, and each hole was slightly tilted toward the case side, against the eventual pull of th strings.
Here's a look at the holes all lined up and cleaned.

That done, it was time to do the thin molding that goes along the soundboard, in order to cover the nails holding it down. There were many lengths to be cut, each with a miter at the corners. The small miter box and saw came in handy.

After cutting, we decided it would add a little more visual appeal to stain the moulding in an English Chestnut color.
We glued in the stained moulding onto the soundboard last. Here's a look at the soundboard, which is just about finished now.
The molding and tuning pin holes are all done, and the only steps left on this part of the instrument are the varnishing and decorative painting. But that will come later...

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 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.