Too Many Instruments

Forgot to post the finished dulcimer, so here it is.

Been working on a new dulcimer, all mahogany with an eastern red cedar soundboard (I think, I got all the wood about 5 years ago from someone who was clearing out their garage). I decided to use the eastern red cedar for the soundboard as this section of the plank had no knots at all! This has been a long time coming as I built a new form (twice, the first shape did not turn out as I hoped) to shape the sides. The dulcimer is longer and with a larger upper bout and a slight larger lower bout than my previous builds. And about 3/8's of an inch deeper, too. First time trying f shaped sound holes. These took forever to carve and the cedar splintered very easily! Still a ton of work to do, but its finally starting to look like something.

Finally got back to building and finished my next dulcimer.  Cherry and beech.  Tried several changes from previous builds and they seem to have worked out very well.  

Working on a peghead for the next dulcimer build.  Still needs lots of work.     

Well, finally got back to building and finished my first langeleik build.  Besides missing the beautiful ornamentation, this is different from the original in that it has a modern A scale but since the Gjovik Spelmannslag langeleik book also contains tunes in both G major and D major, I added a g natural fret in each octave.  I’m very happy with the sound.  Now back to figuring out how to play and practicing tunes.

Well, finally some more progress on the langeleik build.   Glued up the body and soundboard.  Made a new nut and bridge and a new set of frets out of cherry.   Much happier with these than the ones in the previous update.   Made the three little pyramids to hold the back peghead strings also of cherry,  And keeping with the theme, I made the wooden tuning pegs from the same cherry.  I had never made tuning pegs before and that took multiple attempts to get usable pegs.   Took the method from a Clifton Hicks youtube vid (thank you Clifton) on how he makes tuning pegs for his mountain banjos.  The frets are not glued down yet.   I have some ideas on how to do this, but if any one has a method or tips to share, I'm all ears.

Further progress on the langeleik build. Pegheads and sides glued up.  Soundboard, nut/bridge and wooden frets roughed out but not glued.  Not happy with the frets and will likely make another set.  

Roughed out the pegheads for the new langeleik build.  Re-purposed wood again from the back of my neighbor’s 100 year old house when they built an extension last year.

Next project is to build a Norwegian langeleik.  Went to Gjovik, Norway for the Nordic Harp Meet last October.  Way cool.  Took lots of photos and measurements of this amazing old langeleik.  Worked out a plan for the build and am already creating sawdust.

So, haven't posted in a long time, Dulcimer #4 completed. Made from re-purposed wood. Peghead, tailblock, fretboard, back and sides are cherry from a broken table I found at the side of the road with a "free" sign taped to it. Soundboard was from a friend of my wife’s family who gave me several planks that were sitting in her hallway for several years. She told me they were Ash, but I think its probably Beech wood.

Ok, so glued up some cherry pieces and roughed out a tailblock.  I had re-sawed and sanded some of the cherry to make sides for the new dulcimer and given how warm it was, decided to get going.  Set up my side bending jig, heat blanket and controller.  Bending came out well.   Roughed out a finger board blank, too.

Well, finally some progress on the next dulcimer. Solid cherrywood scroll style peghead (from the broken table I trash picked). Still lots of work to do on it, though. I really like the idea of re-using/re-purposing wood. And it's easier on the wallet, too.

Design evolution!

And here’s the new hourglass with the first coat of the danish oil finish.  All walnut with a figured redwood soundboard.  The redwood really lit up when the finish hit it.  

Progress.  Completed the hourglass dulcimer. Strung it up to test the frets for placement and buzzing.  Everything was great, and the instrument is also much louder than my first two instruments.  Maybe the hourglass shape, the scalloped and hollowed out fretboard, or the wood.  Most likely all three. 

Finally, some visible progress on the next dulcimer. Roughed out a back.  Took a bit but I figured out how to hold the sides exactly symmetrical while I glued the back on to the body (peghead, tailblock and sides). All in walnut. And then roughed out a soundboard of figured redwood. The sound holes are supposed to be tulip poplar leaves, but the wood was so soft and brittle that I could not make them as detailed as I originally designed (sigh). Then started working on the fretboard. Its hard to see but all of the fret slots are cut. Way more work to do, but at least its starting to look like a dulcimer and you can get an idea of where its going.

Okay, so. Have been trying to bend hourglass shaped sides for the next dulcimer, using a heat blanket and a form I built. Definitely a learning experience. Clamps pressed too tight - dents, bend too fast - cracks, bend to slow - burnt wood. But finally after a half a dozen or so tries (see dead sides in background of first picture) I finally had some success! Not perfect but at least they survived the bending. And started carving out a new peghead to match the sides.