Attaching the Balance Rail

Back to our regularly scheduled program...

Today I was able to snag a few minutes to attach the balance rail. When I did the last dry run, I drew a pencil line on the inside of the case bottom along both sides of the balance rail to mark its permanent home. The rail was a hair short - too slight to need a shim - so I inserted some shiny cardstock I had handy. After removing all the pieces from the dry run, I marked five screw holes (being careful to avoid any balance pin holes) and drilled through the bottom of the case to accommodate the 1-1/4" screws provided. I used the countersink on the bottom exterior of the case so the screws would go in flush. I squeezed three dots of glue on the bottom of the balance rail, set it in place inside the lines, added my little cardboard shim, and allowed the glue to set for 30 minutes. At that point, I took a smaller drill bit and drilled up through the previously-drilled holes and into the rail. The trick here is to keep the drill bit perpendicular so that when you screw the rail down, it doesn't shift off position because your pilot holes are off. I did my best. I knocked the rail off the case, scraped off the glue, and then reapplied a layer of glue to the bottom of the rail and the two ends that would attach to the hitchpin rail and wrestplank, set the rail in, and drove the screws home. It's drying as I type.

As If I Don't Have Enough to Do

Since I'm baking a lot of cookies for the holidays, I decided to start a cookie recipe blog at http://www.yummycookierecipes.blogspot.com/ and share the results of my baking adventures - good, bad, and otherwise. Many (but not all) of the recipes are from my grandmother's collection. She gathered recipes from friends, her sisters, and The Chicago Tribune. Since she died in 1972, many of the recipes I'll be sharing may qualify as "vintage." Give it a look now and again if you like cookie recipes. I promise to post more about my progress on the clavichord construction soon.

Why am I not surprised?

Just a quick update on my little battle with Zuckermann. I opened a case with the Better Business Bureau on Nov. 24, 2010. After review, they assigned a case number and sent a copy of the complaint to Zuckermann with a request for a response by Dec. 9. On Monday, Dec. 13, the BBB contacted me and asked if I had heard from Zuckermann since they have heard nothing from them. Of course, the silence has been deafening. Lends credence to my complaint. A reminder of the dispute has been sent by the BBB.

It is a pity that a company which caters to a niche market has so little regard for its customers. I guess this third instrument kit will be my last one because I can't afford to be "taken" like this again.

But do stay tuned (sic) for updates on my progress with the building of the clavichord. While I can't recommend the company, I can still enjoy the journey with the instrument.

Moving right along...

Located in Roca, Nebraska (which is more of a broad geographic area rather than a town), along Highway 77 between Beatrice, Nebraska, and Lincoln, Nebraska, is Hinrich's Fine Woods. http://hinrichsfinewoods.com/ They specialize in custom cabinetry, recreation of missing parts, and antique furniture restoration. They have been accredited by the Better Business Bureau and have a rating of A+. I stopped in with the clavichord's rack, and the gentleman in charge quickly and easily zipped off 1/16". The cost was $5.00. I spoke with him about my stand dilemma, and he seemed quite interested in helping me recreate the missing pieces. As long as he has a picture to go by, he should be able to come up with replacement parts.

And on the subject of the BBB, the branch that handles businesses in Stonington, Connecticut, received my official complaint today. Unlike Hinrichs in Roca, Nebraska, Zuckermann is not accredited by the BBB. The site states, "BBB has requested basic information from this company but has not received a response." Ha. Get in line. Zuckermann has had 10 business days to respond to my last email, and once again, they have failed to do so.

Stayed tuned...

Dry Run

Today was filled with stained glass work in preparation for an upcoming show, so I could only spare a little time for the clavichord. However, I still made good progress. I needed to set everything in place as it will eventually be so I could check the keyboard clearance. After sanding the front liner, everything fit into place very nicely. I put a balance pin in the bass and treble ends of the balance rail and placed the lowest and highest keys from the keyboard onto those pins.

I inserted a folded piece of thin cardboard into both the kerfs in the tails of the keys and their corresponding kerfs in the rack.

There is supposed to be a 1/16" space between the key tail and the rack. As you might be able to see in the pictures, I don't have that much clearance, so the rack needs to be planed or sanded down. And not by me, I suspect. I'm no good with a plane, and I lack the type of sanding equipment needed to do this correctly. Being new in town, I don't have local friends to call upon, so I will most likely seek out a local professional woodworker. Since the gap is virtually nonexistent, I suppose all I have to do is tell him (or, less likely, her) I want 1/16" taken off - and not a hair more. I'll let you know how that goes, but there's no telling how long this will take. Stay tuned...

Chamfers and Kerfs and Other Weird Words

Last evening, I spread glue on the back, bottom, and wide end of the backrail. In my picture, you might be able to see how the wide end is to the left, and how the backrail tapers on the right side.

I love clamps. Actually, I love a tight instrument, so I use a lot of clamps to make sure everything is as snug as a bug in a rug. I swear I took a picture of the clamps on the backrail, but for some reason, it isn't in the camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it. I used four clamps - two to hold the backrail to the spine and two to hold it tight to the bottom of the instrument. After the glue dried, and I removed the clamps, I did a quick dry run, just to make sure parts hadn't magically disappeared.

Since Zuckermann has accused me of throwing away large pieces of finely finished and rather expensive walnut designed for a stand (the entire apron, actually), I thought I'd check my sanity and make sure more parts hadn't disappeared into the ether. As you can see, the guts of the clavichord are still in my possession, just as they were when I first opened the box upon delivery. The parts that were missing when I opened the box are still missing. Nice try, Zuckermann! Perhaps the ghost of the King of Sweden sneaked in when I wasn't looking and took them. See earlier posts for additional rants on that subject. And be sure to tune in for future rants because I blessed the company with one more email last night in an attempt to get them to make good on my purchase. They made a veiled promise of resolution when they asked me to "be patient." That was three years ago. I've been plenty patient. But, I digress...

In this picture of my second (and partial) dry run, you can better see that the treble hitchpin rail is placed atop the backrail. The kerfs, which in everyday common language are also called notches or slits, cut in the wood are facing outward rather than upward, which is logical since they will be used in tandem with the kerfs in the back end of the keys to line up the keyboard properly.

I also checked the treble hitchpin rail against the blueprint, and the piece matches up nicely, although a hair too long, so it was treated to a little sanding on the bass end. To the right and along the back of the instrument is the little rear belly rail which sits at a right angle to the treble hitchpin rail. Then, to the right of that is the rear liner which, as you can see in the first dry run photo, is a tad bit too long, so today I sanded it as well. In the picture above, it fits nicely along the spine. On the left front of the rear liner, I cut a chamfer. For the uninitiated (such as myself), a chamfer is a flat surface that you create when you cut off the edge of a block of wood. In other words, a bevel edge. Thank you, Merriam-Webster. The manual suggested I use a knife or a chisel. I once had an ex-husband who cut off a chunk of his index finger with an exacto knife while trying to replace a bathroom window, so I didn't care to risk that particular sharp object. And I prefer to use chisels on chunkier pieces of wood, simply because I don't use chisels with any frequency and therefore lack the control or skill I think I should possess. The rear liner is only 1/2" thick and doesn't need anything huge to create that bevel, so I pulled out my favorite tool - my handy dandy Dremel. In mere minutes, a nice little sanding barrel of an attachment safely created my chamfer, the purpose of which is to allow a little more vibrating area in the treble end of the soundboard. The manual said the chamfer didn't have to be fancy, which I took to mean pretty, but mine is. It won't ever show, but I'll secretly know it's nice.

The next step will be to do another full dry run much like the first, only this time with the addition of balance pins, a couple of keys, and a few other parts to make sure everything is lining up properly and the keys are going to fit. I'll be sure to report my findings.

Slowly Progressing

With the holiday season heating up, I've been busy building stained glass stock for my upcoming shows. The clavichord has been on a back burner for a while. However, I devoted some time this evening to a little instrument building.

What you are looking at here is a nicely planed and sanded bottom where it joins the spine. I'm not an expert with the tool, and I had to have my husband hold on to the case while I worked, but I got the job done. I then went over it with sandpaper to get a perfect finish on the back. I'm happy with it. Hopefully, I'll be able to work on it some more in the near future. Keep checking back for updates.

Back at it again

After taking a short break due to a minor snafu with my Black and Decker cordless drill, I'm back to work. I didn't get as much accomplished as I had hoped, but I did get the ball rolling again. Having previously clamped the bottom to the case rim and marked the places to drill for the bottom screws, I managed this evening to drill all the screw holes in the bottom. I then unclamped the bottom to backdrill the holes.

The manual does not specifically state what size drill bit to use for the backdrilling, but with a little Yankee ingenuity, I decided on an 11/64" bit. Perfect! When I removed the bottom, I happily discovered that my placement of the bottom and insistence on using a little muscle (yes, my husband thinks I'm being a royal pain when I insist on having it my way) to square the case rim resulted in all the pilot holes in the rim being perfectly centered. What more could I ask for? Damn, I'm good.

One picture is worth a thousand words

If memory serves, when I built my two harpsichords, the first thing I built was called the "horse." It was the business end of the instrument just above where the keyboard sat. Its centerpiece was the oak wrestplank (also sometimes referred to as the pinblock), which was the heaviest piece of wood in the entire harpsichord. Of course, the instrument was strung north/south, so it made sense that it would be up front. It was into that very solid piece of wood that I drilled holes for the tuning pins. With the clavichord, the rim of the instrument (its framework, so to speak) comes first with the small, lightweight (by comparison) wrestplank and hitchpin block being inserted on the sides for an east/west stringing. When the rim is done, it comes time to attach the bottom of the instrument.

On my old harpsichord, the bottom was an unattractive piece of plywood. On the fretted clavichord, it is a lovely piece of wood that is constructed, it would appear, from long pieces of spruce or fir, 13/16" x 3/4", that are glued together in a northwest by southeast pattern. It is the heaviest piece of wood in the clavichord simply by virtue of its size and thickness.

Again, the instructions are a bit confusing: set it up, flip it over, it should go in this direction, etc. All right..... Is that direction before or after you flip it? Not too clear, but fortunately, the writer explains that the "slanted" construction follows the direction the strings will take in order to counteract their pull. Consulting the photos included with the manual was helpful, although I did need to look closely because the various "strips" of wood do not vary in color nearly as much as mine below does.

The picture says it all.

Once I had this clear in my mind, I flipped the rim and bottom over and marked the spots where I will drill for the screws.

And then America's Got Talent came on, and it was time to stop. So I did.

Fretted Clavichord Construction for Dummies

Moving to a new town coupled with a sudden influx of stained glass wedding invitation orders temporarily sidelined clavichord construction for a while, but today, Labor Day 2010, I ran out of excuses.

This project is from a Zuckermann King of Sweden kit. My plan is to document the progress as well as the problems I encounter. Should any fellow builders happen to find this blog, I hope you'll share any insights or comments.

Let me begin by saying that I really miss David J. Way, or D. Jacque Way as he later came to call himself. He was the designer of the two Flemish instruments I built and the person who purchased Zuckermann Harpsichords from Wolfgang Joachim Zuckermann in 1969. David was a real character and a pottie-mouth who didn't care who was within earshot, but all in all, he was a decent enough guy with a passion for the instruments. He also knew how to write a great instruction manual. He was also pretty fair-minded, and if something was wrong as a result of the company's failure, he made it right. The current owners charged me full price for a clavichord stand, but only sent half of it. They have refused to make good on it, so this will definitely be the last kit I ever buy from them.

Although I have built two Flemish harpsichords, I am a rank amateur when it comes to clavichords; hence the title of this post. My husband is helping out with this kit, so I want to take a moment to publicly thank him for putting up with me. Mainly he's a sounding board because glue is involved with this very expensive kit, and I need him to keep me thinking clearly.

The first thing we did was sand the case front cutouts.

A tack cloth was really handy at this stage. We sanded the insides of the case parts and laid the bottom of the case on the table, assembled the four sides and placed the four included clamping blocks at each of the corners.

We added the rope to the corners as directed, checking frequently for square.

You'll notice in the above pix that there is a piece of wood inside the case rim. How did I know to add that? Well, it certainly wasn't because the manual told me to do it! It came about as the result of a lot of head-scratching. The manual says, "Spread glue on the sides only of the blocks..." Well, that's dumb because the only blocks mentioned so far are the corner clamping blocks, and they are not a part of the kit; they're just tools to help the case stay together during this early stage of construction. After some time, I went back to the beginning of the section which is entitled, Building the Case. The subtitle reads, The case rim, the wrestplank, the hitchpin block, and the bottom. Hmmm.... What the writer neglected to mention is that one must take the wrestplank and the hitchpin block and place them inside the rim. In fact, those parts aren't mentioned at all until several paragraphs later following the instruction to remove the "clamping blocks." (Well, if you've just glued them to the rim, how are you going to do that? Don't worry. I knew something was missing in the instructions and I didn't even unwrap the bottle of glue until I had it figured out.) It is well past this part of the construction that the writer begins to actually refer to the wrestplank and the hitchpin block. Ah. Light bulb moment. Suddenly, "the blocks" now refers to the hitchpin block and the wrestplank, not the clamping blocks. Normally, I'd just chalk it up to inexperience, but the writer goes to great lengths at the beginning to tell the reader that he has written the manual at a level intended for the "handy but inexperienced woodworker." Hah. Apparently, he's never met the likes of me, the person for whom the whole series of Dummies books was written.

I think that part of the manual could use a revision because I really hate it when terms for various parts are used interchangeably, but I digress...

We applied the glue to the ends of "the blocks," which in reality are the sides of the wrestplank and hitchpin block that attach to the sides of the rim. We then clamped them to their respective sides.

After they had set up sufficiently, we disassembled, cleaned up the squeezed out glue and added glue on the corners of the entire rim. We reassembled, added the clamping blocks, ran the rope around the entire rim and tightened it up using barnwood scraps at the corners and screwdrivers to twist the rope tighter.

With that, we called it a day. It was only mildly stressful for a brief time.

I keep reminding myself that this day's task was huge for a couple of reasons. First, this is the framework for the rest of the instrument; it's important to get it right. Second, it's been a while, and I've got to get my mind wrapped around the whole process again.

I'm optimistic.