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Day four, in which we encounter an opportunity for redesigning the pegbox, and vocalize an anachronistic exclamation of sorrow, regret, or dismay. 

Today started off with marking up those rectangular solids for the band saw, so I could turn them into functional “dulci-bits.”

Next, squaring up the blade on the band saw …

then checking fence position (that’ll do) …

and then getting started on the Y axis cuts

next up, the Z axis

The peg block is to be cut into thirds, so that the middle section can have a lower profile to accommodate the tuning pegs. Based on the manufacturer’s specs, I designed for a 3/4″ wide central section.

“Alackaday!” I cried aloud.

Lining up my tuning machines reveals that one manufacturer (two tuning machines to the right) is within specified measurements, but the other (two tuning machines to the left) is off by between 1/16″ and 3/32″.

Well, I’m glad I checked that before I started cutting the block! I’ll get to redesigning to handle the larger-than-expected tuning machines.

I may post again later today, but if not … it’s been #buffalofunaday!

Today’s soundtrack: Djangologie

Tonight I cleaned up my design diagrams a bit, in preparation for some more hours Saturday (tomorrow) in the shop.

Here’s the overview of the tenor mountain dulcimer design, which I named Añoranza.

Next up, the fret spacing template. I’m betting these JPG images won’t print at scale, so I’ll add links for PDFs at the bottom of the article.

Here’s the alto mountain dulcimer design, which I named Alegria.

Fret spacing and template for the alto design …

…and the PDFs

tenor-mouintain-dulcimer-anoranza

alto-mouintain-dulcimer-alegria

After un-clamping last night’s glue-up, tonight was a night for the belt sander and band saw.

I un-clamped all the blocks from last night, then roughed off the glue drips, kerf marks, and uneven edges into something resembling regular rectangular solids.

Two fretboard/fingerboards – one 34″ x 1-1/2″, one 34″ x 1-3/8″ (because I haven’t learned how to keep my band saw fence from drifting); two peg blocks and two tail blocks.

Tonight (01 Feb 2017), I selected pieces of wood from the maple, walnut, and redwood I’ve been prepping over the last couple of months and began gluing up pieces which will become the first two mountain dulcimers from my space at theguild@980 #buffalofunaday. For the intrepid, a few more photos here.

Here’s a look at the raw 8/4 maple and 4/4 black walnut that a lot of these pieces started from.

You can see how the the peg block and tail block will be shaped from the blocks that I’m gluing up.  The diagram for the full instrument will show up in one of the posts eventually, I bet.

The redwood is from bookshelves salvaged from a 106 year old house that was being demolished on Buffalo’s Lafayette Avenue. These are 0.120 inches (backs) and 0.075 inches thick (tops). I’ll be using scrap redwood for bracing.

These maple pieces are about .070 inches thick, and will make up the sides of the instruments.

Glue is very sticky.

Here are the peghead bloacks, tail blocks, and fingerboard/fretboards (more in another post), all glued up.

A fun night.

P.S. I did this all while listening to the audio the 1977 animated Rankin/Bass production of The Hobbit.

Buffalo Fun-a-Day is sponsored by Sugar City, and in this shortest month of 2017, I will be posting every day to document the things I do for fun: building mountain dulcimers, writing songs, traveling, and living my best life here in Buffalo, NY.