Hi all,
It’s finally time to start building the harpsichord case. The diagram shown below labels five of the six parts that make up the shell of the instrument. This diagram, which I did using Sketchup, is not the instrument we are building but the names of the case parts are the same. The Spine is made of poplar and will be 8 ¾” high by 71 5/16” long and is the left side of the case. The cheek is 8 ¾” high by 22 31/32” long and is the right-front side of the case. The tail is the rear side of the case and measures 8 ¾” high by 11 5/64” long. The bentside, as the name implies, is the bent portion of the right side of the case. The Nameboard is 5” high and spans the space between the spine and the cheek. The 6th part, which is not shown, is the case bottom. All six of these components are ½” thick, or as close to ½” as I can get – more on this later.)
Instruments in this style (Flemish School) are built “on the bottom”. In simple English this means that the case sides sit on top of the bottom. It would seem to make sense, therefore, to build the bottom first. So, of course, we won’t. Instead, we’ll build the bentside first. By doing this we’ll have the actual bentside to use as a template to trace its shape onto the bottom when we build it in the next Part. When the original harpsichord that our instrument is based on was built (in 1640 by the Ruckers family) the bentside was made out of a solid plank of wood. It was bent by heating it over a fire and then immediately fastened to the bottom before it cooled. My wife is not thrilled by this method so we will laminate the bentside instead. Here we go!
We are trying to laminate a bentside that will be ½” thick. Normally, we would use 4 pieces of 1/8” thick stock. In this case, because this instrument is smaller than the ones I usually build, we’ll use 3 pieces of stock planed down to a little less than 3/16” thick on the planer. This should cause the finished bentside to springback a bit more than usual which, hopefully, will match the shape on the blueprint more closely. The finished shape of the bentside need not match the plan perfectly but it’s nice to get it as close as posssible. The first photo shows the 3 plies sitting on top of the bentside jig.
In the next photo, the first two plies have had glue spead on their mating surfaces and are drying on the jig. We’ll let them dry for an hour and then glue and clamp the 3rd and final ply to the first two. Then we’ll let them dry in the jig overnight.
Here’s a closup of the jig clamps.
While we have the jig set up we’ll bend one more part that we’ll use in a later step. This part is an interior rail that will be glued to the inside of the bentside. Might as well laminate this part now.
The final photo in this Part shows the bentside and bentside liner after they were removed from the jig.
At this stage the bentside is longer and taller than we need. We will cut it down to size when we install it onto the bottom. In Part V (coming tomorrow) we’ll build the case bottom. See you then.
Ernie
Part 1 - The Keyboard Part 2 -Keyboard con't. Part 3 - Keyboard con't. Part 4 - The Case (Bentside) Part 5 - Case Bottom Part 6 - Case Sides Part 7 - The Lower Braces Part 8 - Case Finished Part 9 - Building the Registers Part 10 - The Stand Part 11 - Jackrail & Moldings
Part 12 - The Music Desk Part 13 - Building the Benchhttp://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/f101/harpsichord-project-part-12-music-desk-18962/
It’s finally time to start building the harpsichord case. The diagram shown below labels five of the six parts that make up the shell of the instrument. This diagram, which I did using Sketchup, is not the instrument we are building but the names of the case parts are the same. The Spine is made of poplar and will be 8 ¾” high by 71 5/16” long and is the left side of the case. The cheek is 8 ¾” high by 22 31/32” long and is the right-front side of the case. The tail is the rear side of the case and measures 8 ¾” high by 11 5/64” long. The bentside, as the name implies, is the bent portion of the right side of the case. The Nameboard is 5” high and spans the space between the spine and the cheek. The 6th part, which is not shown, is the case bottom. All six of these components are ½” thick, or as close to ½” as I can get – more on this later.)
Instruments in this style (Flemish School) are built “on the bottom”. In simple English this means that the case sides sit on top of the bottom. It would seem to make sense, therefore, to build the bottom first. So, of course, we won’t. Instead, we’ll build the bentside first. By doing this we’ll have the actual bentside to use as a template to trace its shape onto the bottom when we build it in the next Part. When the original harpsichord that our instrument is based on was built (in 1640 by the Ruckers family) the bentside was made out of a solid plank of wood. It was bent by heating it over a fire and then immediately fastened to the bottom before it cooled. My wife is not thrilled by this method so we will laminate the bentside instead. Here we go!
We are trying to laminate a bentside that will be ½” thick. Normally, we would use 4 pieces of 1/8” thick stock. In this case, because this instrument is smaller than the ones I usually build, we’ll use 3 pieces of stock planed down to a little less than 3/16” thick on the planer. This should cause the finished bentside to springback a bit more than usual which, hopefully, will match the shape on the blueprint more closely. The finished shape of the bentside need not match the plan perfectly but it’s nice to get it as close as posssible. The first photo shows the 3 plies sitting on top of the bentside jig.
In the next photo, the first two plies have had glue spead on their mating surfaces and are drying on the jig. We’ll let them dry for an hour and then glue and clamp the 3rd and final ply to the first two. Then we’ll let them dry in the jig overnight.
Here’s a closup of the jig clamps.
While we have the jig set up we’ll bend one more part that we’ll use in a later step. This part is an interior rail that will be glued to the inside of the bentside. Might as well laminate this part now.
The final photo in this Part shows the bentside and bentside liner after they were removed from the jig.
At this stage the bentside is longer and taller than we need. We will cut it down to size when we install it onto the bottom. In Part V (coming tomorrow) we’ll build the case bottom. See you then.
Ernie
Part 1 - The Keyboard Part 2 -Keyboard con't. Part 3 - Keyboard con't. Part 4 - The Case (Bentside) Part 5 - Case Bottom Part 6 - Case Sides Part 7 - The Lower Braces Part 8 - Case Finished Part 9 - Building the Registers Part 10 - The Stand Part 11 - Jackrail & Moldings
Part 12 - The Music Desk Part 13 - Building the Benchhttp://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/f101/harpsichord-project-part-12-music-desk-18962/
Last edited:
ccasion1
