I'm baaack!!!

After a lengthy break which involved hunting for a new house, jumping through all the new hoops to get a mortgage, moving into said house, and trying to find some sort of part-time musical employment, life has settled down, and I actually put in a little work on the clavichord.  I'll admit to procrasination and for good reason.  Tiny parts involved, and I felt like all thumbs.  But, a simple procedure, really.  First, in order to make them true butt hinges, I had to whack the little brass darlings that hold the fallboard to the case with a hammer.  Next, I located where to place the hinges by using the blueprint.  Using an Exacto knife, I carved out a little niche on the case and the fallboard in which to nestle the hinges so they would be flush with the wood.


The manual said to use a sharp chisel which "demands care," but let's get real.  I'm not a skilled woodworker.  I have to work small and slow, and a chisel is just asking for trouble.  The little knife did just fine, thank you very much.  I then drilled pilot holes with my Dremel and the #57 bit and screwed four tiny little screws through the hinges and into the pilot holes.  I did a couple of these very successfully, but what a test of patience!  I called in my husband to help hold things steady, and while four hands and a flashlight directed under the hinge so I could see what I was doing did make it easier, it was still tricky.  When I was certain everything lined up and looked just right, I removed the hinges and put them away.  Can't slop Minwax all over the brass now can we...  Anyway, here are a couple more shots of my work.

The Stand

Just a quick post to show the clavichord atop the stand.  Ain't it purdy???

The next steps will lead to completion of the case as well as putting my artistic talents to work in creating some art work to identify me as the builder.  I'm looking forward to that!

Stand Assembly

Ah, yes.  The stand for which I fought long and hard.  It was a piece of cake to assemble! The legs, front and back aprons, and side aprons are held together with glue and mortise and tenon joinery.  After sanding the legs and apron with a fine sanding sponge, I did a quick dry run, then applied glue into the mortises (slots carved into the legs and apron) and inserted the loose tenons (little blocks of grooved wood).  When the legs and aprons are all joined up tight, those little tenons don't show.  Not being a woodworker, I'm totally unfamiliar with all these terms and methods of joinery, so I found it all very fascinating and rather gratifying to end up with a neatly finished stand where the wood pieces that contribute to its solidity are completely hidden. Very cool.  Although the manual didn't mention it, I pulled out the clamping blocks and rope that I used to make the case rim. This sucked all the pieces together very nicely.  Here is a picture of the stand with clamping blocks and rope in "dead bug" position while the glue dries.

I ran out of the Titebond glue halfway through, so I pulled out Aleene's original (and trusty) Tacky Glue which I have found to be one of the best glues on the market.  Why I ran out of the Titebond is a bit of a mystery because I had glue to spare when I built my harpsichords.  Although this bottle is much smaller than that supplied with my harpsichord kits, I am theorizing that the winter atmosphere here in Nebraska is so dry, I used more glue because it was setting up so fast!  Quite different from July in Chicago. Nevertheless, I am forging ahead with Aleene's.  I am incredibly happy that Zuckermann came through and finally sent me a complete stand after four years of patient effort.  Thank you, Steve. I am not mad at you anymore!

The Stand Arrived

Just a quick update here.  It only took four years, umpteen emails to Zuckermann, one anonymous phone call to see if their email was working, and about four months of effort from the Better Business Bureau, but I finally received a complete clavichord stand.  I did an immediate dry run to see if everything was there (oh please, dear Lord, let it all be there because I can't take much more of this), and I am happy to report that I finally have everything I need to construct a very expensive clavichord stand.  I am a happy camper.

A Good Shellacking!

Since the shellac needed to dissolve for at least 12 hours in denatured alcohol, I decided to skip ahead while the alcohol did its thing.  Sooo....

Now comes the case molding.  I don't use miter boxes on a daily basis, nor am I handy with a saw.  But considering my very limited skills, I think I did a decent enough job.  Here's an example of how my mitered corners came out using my fine-toothed Exacut saw.

I plan to fill the tiny little crack with some Famowood #1 Professional Wood Filler in red oak.  I've filled larger gaps and you couldn't tell.  In fact, I've repaired huge chunks and then filed and sanded the molding lines to match perfectly.  This was, of course, on a painted surface, but when the paint went on, not a soul knew, and I sure wasn't telling. The holes left by the nails I used to hold the molding to the case while the glue dried will be steamed shut when I can grab some time.

Then came the "dressing" of the soundboard.  That's fancy talk for wiping on the shellac. After a quick sanding with a super fine sanding sponge block, I took a piece of cheese cloth, dipped it in the shellac, and quickly wiped it on the soundboard.  It just glided on.  

I let it dry for over two hours and then drilled for the hitchpins, slanting the holes against the eventual pull of the strings.  The manual warns to not make the slant too severe so as to pop through the side, so of course I had to do the first one exactly like that.  Oops.  All the others went without a "hitch."  (That's a little clavichord humor.)  I didn't find that job nearly as boring as drilling the tuning pin holes, but of course, the bit was 1/16", and something that small zips through the wood easily.  And I don't believe I was drilling into oak, either! 

Then it was back to the soundboard which was given a second light sanding and a second coat of shellac.  Here's where the clavichord stands as of tonight.

No Chorus Line Here!

Tonight I finished drilling the tuning pin holes.  All I can say is they are not lined up like the Rockettes.  I'm telling myself that it lends "character" to my soundboard.  

I spread this drilling out over three evenings because I found it to be the most boring job yet.  Ugh.  I did not force the bit into that rock-hard oak, but used the weight of my Dremel to sink the bit into the wood 1-5/16" deep.  I went low tech and attached a little masking tape flag to my bit to tell me when I had reached the desired depth. The holes were drilled with an ever-so-slight lean toward the right case wall.  I found I had to do a lot of vacuuming along the way as the drilling generated an unbelievable amount of sawdust. After finishing that ordeal, I pulled out my Swiss Exacut, attached the fine-toothed saw, got my husband's little plastic miter box out and measured and cut the thin soundboard molding.  Easy peasy.  The manual makes a big deal out of how to spread the glue, but I found that a small (craft size) paintbrush worked perfectly to apply the glue along the right angle where the bottom and back of the molding meet.  I used just enough glue to spread out when I pressed the molding into place, holding them briefly while the glue set up. Voila!  Done.

Gluing in the Ribs and Soundboard

The ribs are glued to the underside of the soundboard and positioned by using the blueprint and carbon paper in various ways to eventually end up with rib outlines drawn on the bottom of the soundboard.  At that point, it's a matter of gluing the ribs into position and placing some flat weight on top of them while the glue sets.  I elected to use a square box of stained glass sample pieces and scraps as well as a couple kiln shelves and two five-pound weights.  The box was almost the exact size of the soundboard, so this worked perfectly.  The next evening, I scooped out the ends of all the ribs so they were down to approximately 1/16 of an inch.  My trusty Dremel with a sanding barrel zipped through those ends and made beautiful chamfers - not that anyone is going to see them.  But here are a couple of nice pictures of them.

My husband and I signed the underside of the soundboard and proceeded to glue it in place.  There is a huge difference between gluing in a large harpsichord soundboard in hot and humid Chicago and a small clavichord soundboard in the dead of winter.  Glue sets up fast when the board and the air are dry, so we had to work fast!

To shield the soundboard from being marred by the clamps, I took a wooden paint stick, cut it into four pieces, and used them to pad the surface.  Glue was spread all over the wrestplank, around the liners, and across the bellyrail.  I used spring/pinch clamps (newly purchased just for this application) in the mouse hole, and I used my c-clamps on the wrestplank.  

Along the other edges, I used 1/2x20 nails every three inches or so to hold the soundboard down on the liners.  These were placed close to the edge of the soundboard so that the decorative molding to come would cover them.  I handled the pinch clamps, and my husband handled the c-clamps as well as the nails (I was just no good with them), using our handy-dandy nail set.


All is drying now, and I plan to give it a good 24 hours before attempting to drill the tuning pin holes.