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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Broken Strings

The gittern is now almost finished, and only the tied gut frets remain to be fitted. I strung it up at my intended pitch (d', g', d'' & g'') but this was just too much of a stretch for the top pair of strings (0.33 mm carbons) and so... 'twang' followed by a small amount of blood! I have now lowered the pitch by a third to b, e', b', e'' and await the arrival of some replacement top strings (0.37mm).

The tone is clear and bright, with good sustain, and a bit louder than I had expected. The volume increased noticably as I 'fitted' the bridge (reducing its mass by more than half). I made the bridge from Macassar ebony as I like the colour (it looks good with the rosewood, and doesn't really need any oil finish) but I wonder if sycamore, being less dense, would have made it even louder. If I'm feeling adventurous I might try and post up a short MP3 (when the new strings are here and the frets have been put in place.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Four coats of Tru-oil

Four coats of Tru-oil so far. and probably a couple more still to go. The main remaining woodwork will be to make the bridge, but I don't want to make any dust at the moment so I'll probably tackle that job next weekend.

A few scratches have made it through the sanding process - I will have to take more time on this process on teh next instrument.

Sunday, February 06, 2011

Getting Close

No picture today, but the gittern is now ready for 'finishing'. I'm going to use Tru-Oil, my favorite 'drying oil'. I have still to make the bridge and to do a final fit on the nut and the pegs, but after that it's just the strings to add!