Working on the scroll

A bit of progress on one of the two scrolls over the weekend...I'll get both to the same state before cutting the channels where the pegs go. It also appears that I will have to make my own reamer (Touchstone tonewoods let me down). It will be a bit like Luke Skywalker constructing his own lightsabre, so I'll expect a "well done" from Darth.

Pegheads

There's a bit going on here. The wood arrived from Touchstone (unfortunately the material for the ribs was missing) - Indian rosewood for the back and spruce for the front. Four of the pegs are also in the picture. The pegheads have advanced a little and I'm ready to start working on the scroll carving. The clock's ticking though, only 241 days left...

Ordered

I've now ordered the wood for the back, ribs and soundboard, in rosewood and spruce respectively, from the ever helpful touchstone tonewoods. I have also bought two sets of Schaller adjustable pegs. I was torn between these and the traditional ones, so I hope I chose right. The wood for the top and bottom is a bit narrower than I wanted so I'll either modify the design a bit, or put a contrasting piece of veneer down the middle.

My birthday shot by the other day, and my family bought me a couple of the Siminoff books (this one and that one). The bluegrass mandolin looks very tempting for my next choice, or will the archtop guitar win out - next decade - arrgh.

The moulds

While I had the camera I took a shot of the mould. I still need to work out how to fix them to the base.

The heads roughed out

I roughed out the heads this afternoon.

A large lump of sycamore

The sycamore for the heads was ordered from Craft Supplies. They were out of stock of the size I needed, so I got this giant lump. You can see the template for a size comparison. I have quite a lot of sawing ahead of me! In the front are the two tail pieces in the making.

Walnuts

As a slight aside, I thought that I'd show the walnuts we harvested today. They should be dry for Christmas...

Headstock Plan

This is a my plan for the heads - I will need two. I was inspired by a violin from Beethoven's era, but I had to modify the scroll to suit the dulcimer design.

Annoyed

I was quite chuffed this evening to find a couple of comments on my recent post. Ah-ha I though, someone has expressd an interest in courting dulcimer moulds...but no, it was just SPAM - advertising for free something or other. I have deleted them. I hope that there isn't some machine out there automatically posting comments to blogs.

The Mould in the making

I have grabbed half an hour or so and made a little progress on the mould. Once the other pair of mould edges are glued (in the back of the picture) I will clean them up and make sure that the two halves are identical. Then, I'm going to have to work out how to fix them to the base!

A tiny bit of progress

I have managed to find half an hour or so this evening and made a start on the mould. Two out of the four bits are cut out. Once the rest of the bits are made I will bolt them to a base board. I am hoping that it will be possible to reconfigure the mould so I can work on the top or bottom of the dulcimer, or to use it to make a single course one.

Ukulele Orchestra Great Britain

I heard this lot on the radio on the way home - playing at the Edinburgh Festival (I think). Radio 4 Live (30 min) Broadcast on Radio 4 - Fri 09 Sep - 18:30. If they are ever in the area I would love to hear them live.
Their web site

6 doors

All hanging very nicely...but where's all the time gone?

Campanella Strings

Campanella Strings Highly pleasing...

Oops

My lovely wife has spotted the large lump of wood in the garage. This is hardly surprising as it's 8 foot long and 4 foot wide. "Are you making another musical instrument?" she enquired. "well...maybe" was all I could muster. I really must get those doors hung...

More Supplies

I now have a large (very) sheet of plywood taking up most of my garage. I'm going to hack this up to make the mould for the dulcimer. However, some dee-eye-why is taking priority and I really have to get some doors hung first.

The Start of the Dulcimer

Construction has begun with just 310 days left. I've made a start on the two head blocks (at the bridge end). My first attempt was rubbish - I cut the wood badly and, rembering the quest for perfection, I chucked it out. The current bits look better.

Rebetika No 1

I bought the CD of the above title in Kefalonia airport - it features Glykeria-agathonas and michalis genitsaris. It's rather good...

Fretboard Design

Dulcimer plans

Well, I'm back off holiday, and I did manage to do a bit of work on the drawings. I have decided to make the dulcimer in celebration of 20 years married to my lovely wife. This, I hope, will force the pace of the project and will give my until early July 2006 to get it finished. I have decided to make it quite ornate with, for example inlaid fretboards (two, since it's a courting dulcimer). I have finished the fretboard inlay design - it is a vine with 20 leaves representing...well it's not too difficult to work that one out! I also want to use a decorative binding around the edges of the instrument. It's my intention that doing this decorative work will help me with the archtop guitar(s?) planned for 2007....