Fretboard for Standard Hourglass and Peghead for Duck

I had breakfast here at Gretchen's this morning, and this means that I can sleep until 7am! I did eat all of the oatmeal in the house this morning. I'll make cheesy eggs tomorrow. And toast. And some pickles. I did just run 7.25 miles, so I may be a bit hungry still. I did have two big and drippy peanut butter sandwiches tonight.  And a pickle with a banana. Maybe I should have a snack.


I surveyed the fretboard this morning when I got in, and there were some major adjustments that were needed. So I spent the morning doing carving hundreths of thousandths of inches out of the zircote fingerboard. But I finally got the four key measurements within their acceptable parameters, which ain't easy! Here is a screen shot of the log that I keep so that I can better understand the movement of the wood. As I put it into new shapes the wood had to agree to remain there, and sometimes there is a lot of work to convince it to do so. We'll see tomorrow.

The instrument that the fretboard is going on is complete, except for the fretboard itself. Once it stops exhibiting changing pains I'll get the frets on it, and it'll be ready to be attached to the top. And once that happens the top goes on, the pegs get fitted, some strings go on, and the nut and saddle are put in their place to make sure the instrument is intoned perfectly. And the feet, it gets some feet. And more. There really is a bunch more to finish this instrument. I guess all that I'm saying is that this beauty will be done soon!

Then I started work on the new instrument. I got the peghead and tailblock all cut up and ready to be carved down further. There are no crazy logs to keep, but there are some pretty fine measurements to make, like allowing for a saw kerf. 

This instrument is going to be the biggest body for a double bout that I'm going to make until Dwain gives me the okay to build the equivalent of the Bear Meadow Concert Grand, but my version will have different ornamentation. But from the beginning I've always liked the single bout instrument a bit more. Val says its because I like big bottoms. So maybe that is enough of a reason that my top-end model be a single bout. Don't get me wrong, the double bout instruments are remarkably beautiful. Look how the shoulders gently sweep down into the waist to become the major bout. Beautiful. But I do like big bottoms.

I used two different bandsaws to get a lot of extra wood off of the two components. Some of the cuts are pretty complicated, and all of the cuts have to be precise. There are a lot of ways to fix an art problem when it comes to wood. But you cannot put the wood back together if you cut it up wrong, which is why I spent so much time yesterday getting the drawings right.

The tailblock is a bit simpler, but I had to be no less precise. Every problem that I create at the early stages can get magnified at the end. So I make sure that everything is the most right that it can be before I move on. 

After the cuts are made the carving begins. There really are a few other steps before I got here, but how much do you want to know, really? 

I used a cabinet scraper and hand-made scrapers to get the saw marks off of the peghead. This cleanup is really the final one before carving, so it has to be really good, even knowing that much of this wood will get carved away.

Once the peg head is scraped down and cleaned up the lines that I'll follow to carve are put on. Okay, I'll give you some of the minutia. If you look at this image of the peghead you can see the lines running horizontalish, with the edge of the image. The lines on the left side--not the round part--find their home this way:

1. Using a four inch combo square mark lines the approximate thickness of the ribs on the back along the sides of the tongue.
2. Using the rib-thickness lines as a center point, draw two marks the width of the pegbox walls.
3. Using the center line at the scroll head, measure out .5" on both sides and put a mark.
4. Connect the inside lines at the back with the inside lines at the scrollhead.
5. Connect the outside lines at the back with the outside lines at the scrollhead.

This centers all of the activity where the tongue goes into the peghead. This apprenticeship is teaching me to follow this kind of process for each component on the dulcimer. That is why Dwain's instruments are of such high quality and why mine will be very-well constructed, too.

Have you been to our web site? Go and check out the site and what we are doing. I've gotten my second commission, and that is absolutely amazing and most humbling.

Sunshine Wave Studios. Art, music, and education for life.

I will work hard and make great instruments.