An "Aha" Moment

At 3:30 in the morning, as I lay in bed fretting about frets, it occurred to me that I might have misunderstood what the manual was trying to communicate. Tapping "toward the bass" could mean one of two things:

• the bass of the instrument, which would be to the left/west 
• the bass of the bridge, which would be to the south.

As I was visualizing the strung instrument, I was trying to figure out how in the heck pins would prevent the strings from riding up if they were bent toward the bass end of the instrument. In addition, by tapping in that direction, I was tapping along the grain of the wood and encouraging that crack.

If my musings were correct, instead of left-leaning pins, I should have been trying to create southbound pins, thus tapping against the grain and not encouraging the cracking. After all, the instrument is strung east-west, not north-south like a harpsichord! Doh! I should realize that if I can't make sense of something, it's probably because it's wrong.

A response from the manual's author confirmed all my suspicions.  So now I'll try tapping the pins again, this time in the correct direction and, hopefully, with better success.

The Bridge and Its Pins

This morning I glued the bridge to the soundboard, and it couldn't have gone any more smoothly.  That should have tipped me off on what was to come!  Every winter, we experience the shock of static electricity in the dry air almost every day.  But that's not enough to convince me that my soundboard is dry enough.  Having built my first harpsichord in the humid summer air of Chicago and seeing what a dry winter in Albuquerque's desert climes could do to it, I was taking no chances.  I parked my little soundboard in front of my oven door while I prepared to glue the bridge to it.  I have to say, I got the perfect amount of glue on the bridge, and the little guide holes with their padded nails went right into position without a single slip or misstep.  I nailed the bridge securely to the soundboard, using the bottom of the case as my sturdy work surface and observed the exact amount of glue squeeze I expected to see.  After allowing it to dry to a gummy state, I neatly scraped up the squeeze.  No problemo!  Looks like a million bucks!  

After allowing the bridge to dry about six hours, I tapped in the pins and ran my file across the tops of them to even them up a bit more.  Then the fun began.  The manual says to put a nail set or screwdriver against each pin and give it a tap toward the bass to create a 5-degree bend in each pin.  Huh?  Five degrees is barely a blip on the radar, so how on earth am I to know if I've been successful?  Plus, when I got to the mid-range of the pins, I saw the bridge threatening a hairline crack.  Well, crap.  I took some glue and worked it over the bridge between the pins where I saw trouble brewing.

I set the board aside and proceeded to scour the Internet for a close-up shot of a clavichord bridge.  Nothing helpful showed itself, so I googled the manual's author and dashed off a quick email to him.  I asked for clarification on where and how this bend is supposed to be.  I hope he answers.  

On the next run, I would suggest a decent picture of the bridge with its pins bent appropriately instead of one of the distant shots of a finished instrument where little of any use is seen.  Even a picture of a bridge pin all by itself with its little bend in it would be good.  I am a visual person.  

Tomorrow, I'll forge on ahead with the soundboard ribs.

Why be boring when you can have pizazz?

Happy Valentine's Day!  After the obligatory evening celebrations, complete with flowers, wine, and a little Cherry Garcia,  we settled into a comfortable evening at home.  Such is the cozy life of two people who have loved each other for over 25 years.  Since Harry's Law was the only thing I felt deserved my attention on the television, I concentrated on carving a little curve on the base end of the bridge in the hours leading up to the show.  The little flourish on the bridge was accomplished with the aid of some diamond drill bits from Harbor Freight, my Dremel, and an X-Acto knife.  First, I drew the intended shape with a pencil on the side of the bridge.  Next, I whittled a little dip in the wood, and when I had removed a sufficient amount, I used various diamond drill bits to get down to the intended shape.  Having never carved wood before, I approached this task with more than a little trepidation, but after thoughtfully gazing at the bridge from time to time throughout the day, I finally felt ready to give it the old college try.  The nice thing about the diamond bits and the Dremel is that one does not have to worry about aggressive action from the tools. They are gentle.  Nevertheless, in no time, the feat was accomplished.

I sanded the entire bridge with a fine sandpaper sponge and pronounced it finished.  I won't earn any awards for creativity in design, but I'm a simple girl, and this simple curve suits me just fine.

The Bridge

What a pain in the neck this is!  Well, part of it.  For starters, I positioned the soundboard under the blueprint, and made little cuts in the paper at the four corners so I could line everything up properly.  I then positioned the bridge on top of the blueprint as accurately as possible and drilled five holes with my #57 drill bit in my Dremel.  I drilled through the bridge, the blueprint, and the soundboard clear through to my work surface, taking care to avoid places where the future bridge pin holes would be drilled.  I managed to do well with two of them.  Three of them are pretty close to where bridge pins would go, so they will get filled later and then drilled to accommodate the bridge pins.  I drove five 3/4x18 nails through the holes. This would allow me to reposition the bridge in the exact same place, sans blueprint, later on.  I then took it all apart and, after placing a layer of Scotch tape across the blueprint where the bridge is drawn, placed the blueprint on top of the bridge and used the nail holes to hold the paper down.  My husband and I smoothed the drawing down, creasing it along the sides of the bridge.  Making a little tap with a nail, I marked the 56 places where I would drill holes for the bridge pins. This is the part of the task that's a pain.  The marks on the blueprint are small, the paper is large and cumbersome and not three dimensional like the bridge, and the area being marked is very narrow.  Tedious is a word that comes to mind.  After that was done, we rigged up the Dremel's drill press so I could drill 56 perfectly straight holes into the bridge at the precise depth needed.  I was doubly careful and also marked the bit with a little strip of masking tape. 

 

Yeah, overkill.  But I don't like to leave anything to chance.  When that was done I called it a day.

Trimming the Soundboard

Assuming "the soundboard will have to be trimmed" means "do it now," I set out to trim it down to size.  The instruction manual does not offer any hints on how one might accomplish that, so, taking no chances, I elected to use a cardboard template, an X-Acto knife, an Exacut with the wheel cutter attachment, and sandpaper.  The first thing I did was trace the shape of the soundboard onto a piece of cardboard and cut it out.  At that point I was able to slowly trim the straight "north" and "east" sides of the cardboard until it fit the case perfectly.  I then laid the cardboard template on the spruce soundboard and drew lines where the soundboard needed to be trimmed.  Laying a long metal straightedge along the line on the right ("east") side of the board, I cut a scoring line with the X-Acto knife. 

This cut went across the grain, so after cutting a good deep score, I switched to my Exacut with the wheel cutter attached to it and deepened the cut until it went through to the bottom.  Perfect!  I repeated the routine on the top, or "north" end of the board.  Since I was cutting with the grain, this took a fraction of the time.  The board was still (purposely) a hair too large, so I sanded the two edges until it fit perfectly.

Confession time.  When I glued the long hitchpin rail, I didn't notice that it was a fraction too long.  Two possible remedies:  try to trim/sand it or cut a small notch in the soundboard to accommodate it.  I chose the latter, and it looks fabulous!

The BBB rocks!

You've got to wonder if the Better Business Bureau's suggestion that I seek legal counsel had an effect.  Suddenly, three months after they were last contacted by me (four years since initial contact) and two months after they were first contacted by the BBB, Zuckermann decided to respond. They are claiming I never answered their emails and that their policy clearly states how missing or incorrect parts are handled.  They apparently are awaiting return of the parts I do have for inspection and replacement.  So, I merrily shipped them off today to Stonington, Connecticut.

Ya know what?  I'm just so happy that I finally got some action on this, I'm not going to play the blame game.  If they want to put the onus on me, I'll be magnanimous and let them.  How did Phil Collins sing it?  "I don't care anymore."  Just send me my blasted stand!  If it ever arrives, my whoop will be heard for miles!

The case is finished!

Well, except for decorative molding.  The final step was to mark the hitchpin rails and glue them into place.  The manual describes a rather silly (to me, at least) way of marking these rails by placing the blueprint over the pieces and then "feeling" them into proper position.  My word, not theirs.  I simply cut out the rails from the blueprint, thus creating a template to lay neatly and cleanly over the wood.  If Zuckermann were smart, they would include separate templates for this purpose.  It would cost them less than 10 cents.  I marked the rails with a pointed tool, 

and then I taped the cutouts back into the blueprint.  Actually, before I began the project, I went to our city hall and had them run a copy of the blueprint on one of their big machines designed to do just that.  Eventually, I hope to have enough money to have it professionally framed or mounted because it would make a cool piece of wall art.

Following the manual's directions, I took my #57 drill bit, a skinny little hair of a bit, and drilled through three of the holes in the bass hitchpin rail and six of the holes in the longer hitchpin rail.  I made up some padded 3/4" nails with the provided cardboard squares, two per nail, applied glue to the bass rail put it into place and used the padded nails to clamp the rail down.  I did the same with the long rail.  The manual didn't point out that one should not center the nails on the pads because the holes on the long rail are not centered. The cardboard will actually push the rail away from the spine, even if it hangs over as little as 1/64", so that little tidbit, as obvious as it may seem, is worth a mention. The holes in the long rail are so close to the spine, it's a real challenge to drive the nails in, even using a nail set to get your hammer above the rim of the case. Nevertheless, I gave it my best. Here is the result.

When the glue is dry, I'll cut off the cardboard, remove the nails and move to the next task which will be fitting the soundboard.

Promised Pictures

The majority of the case joinery is done.  All that is left is marking the hitchpin rails (made from cherry wood) and then gluing them down.  The following pictures may resemble several of my dry run pictures (as you would expect), but the difference is that all of the "guts" are now glued permanently into place.  Here's the whole magilla:

This is the pesky middle belly rail that had me a bit concerned.  Further down the road, we'll see if my worries were for naught.  This picture is shot from the bass end toward the treble.

This picture shows the right cheek with its liner and the middle bellyrail, this time shot from the treble end and looking toward the bass end.  That little piece of wood to the right of the bellyrail is the back bellyrail.  If you look closely, you can see the chamfer I carved in the rear liner.

Below is a shot of the tool box.  The lid fits very snugly indeed, so I may end up sanding it a tiny bit.  For now, it is sitting off to the side.

And finally, here is a picture of a bead of glue I ran down the seam between the belly rail and the cheek - just because.  It will dry nearly invisible.

So there you have it.  Dare I think I could have the entire instrument finished by summer?

Progress!

This evening involved a lot of gluing and clamping.  The back soundboard liner and rear bellyrail were glued into place as well as the front soundboard liner (although the manual neglects to tell you to do this) and the right cheek liner.  The only glitch, which is mildly concerning at the moment, is an ill-fitting middle bellyrail.  I had to sand the rear bellyrail down a bit (where it meets the spine) to get the middle bellyrail to fit at the correct angle.  I did not want to mess with sanding an angled surface.  It is entirely possible that the balance rail shifted a 16th of an inch when we were gluing and drilling, thus throwing the fit of the middle bellyrail off just enough to not fit properly.  It is the only piece that is not yet glued into place due to the fact that everything else needs to set up and dry before I tackle that.  I am hoping that a few taps with the rubber-tipped side of my stained glass hammer will be enough to bring it into line.  If not, I dunno...  At any rate, the light at the end of the tunnel known as Building the Case is within sight.  As soon as I get the middle bellyrail in place, I'll post a picture.

My Ever-Expanding Vocabulary

The next step in my clavichord project is to glue the cheeks into place.  In reading the manual, I ran across a few words in this section that are not in this musician's everyday vocabulary.  Hemidemisemiquaver I understand; arris, not so much.  I offer definitions here in the event anyone reading might also benefit from a little enlightenment.

Dado:  a slot or trench cut into wood.

Lap joint:  This is formed when you overlap pieces of wood and fasten them together so they are flush and the surface is smooth and continuous.  This assumes, I would think, the presence of a dado matching the width of the second piece of wood.  I may be incorrect, but I'm trying to make practical sense of the new words (practical, as in, use it in a sentence).  If you google lap joint, you will see many images that I believe confirm my assumption. 

Arris:  This is an architectural term that describes the sharp edge formed by the intersection of two surfaces.  I actually have an entertainment center constructed in Arts and Crafts style.  The side panel and front panel are joined by a solid leg of oak.  The 90-degree corner of that leg forms an arris, a sharp edge, into which a chamfer is carved, much like what I carved into the rear liner a while back, albeit a bit fancier.  And wouldn't you know it?  The manual suggests a chamfer be made on the inside arris of the rack to eliminate any glue bumps so as to ensure a tight fit when everything is glued into place.  I've been pretty darn neat with my gluing, so this additional chamfer may not be necessary.  We'll see.  I'm off to glue my cheeks.  That didn't come out right, but it is what I'm about to do.

Zuckermann and the Better Business Bureau

I received an email from the Better Business Bureau updating me on my complaint against Zuckermann.  They report contacting the company on multiple occasions, but, to date still have not received a reply.  As a result, have closed my complaint as a "no response," which will be reported to the public for the next three years.  They have suggested I consider filing an online complaint with the Connecticut Attorney General's Office or with the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection. They also suggest I consider legal means.

My immediate response is to once again warn people about Zuckermann's business practices.  They cater to a niche market, so if one is inclined to build an early instrument, their designs are certainly going to need your consideration.  My only advice is to pounce on the kit as soon as it arrives and do a dry run immediately.  As soon as you know what is missing, you'll need to contact them ASAP and hound them for the missing parts.  They don't whine about little things that need to be supplied, but in my experience, they don't hurry to correct the problem.  In my case, it took them 10 months to send a small envelope of bridge pins that were not included.  If anything big is missing, be prepared for a battle.

I'll be back to the building fun in a day or two!  Stay tuned.

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.