Ornament or Instrument !!!

Talk about musical instrument construction, setup and repair.

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TKAY
Kauri
Posts: 38
Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:49 am
Location: S.E.South Aust.

Ornament or Instrument !!!

Post by TKAY » Thu Sep 23, 2021 11:45 am

Well, at long last my instrument is all together.
I first became interested in the lute in early 60's and finished building one recently.
So, what is this topic all about, just what the title says!!
I will go through the general gestation and discuss the methods and tools in another post.
As a general comment the body is Blackwood, belly "Swiss Spruce" pegs stained and other dark wood Qld. Walnut.
The ideas on construction came from many sources including The Lute Society (British) journal, British Woodworker magazine, American Lute Soc. (Plans.) Kiwigeo, assorted comments by other members. When it was started, there was no internet and little info on Lutes and many were "a half a pear shaped musical instrument with a handle" and really sounded little like the modern or probably ancient instruments.
If building an instrument from scratch ,how was the result, probably questionable at best.
An advantage of building a Lute is it is fairly rare with most people , at least in my country town, not knowing what it is. This makes it exotic and therefore "good" no matter how good/bad it actually is !
Lying on the sofa it is a great discussion piece and very elegant to look at!! but playable? that is another question which I will explore in the future.
So how was your first instrument?

Cheers Tom.
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kiwigeo
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Re: Ornament or Instrument !!!

Post by kiwigeo » Thu Sep 23, 2021 5:16 pm

Great work on that instrument Tom...I know exactly how much time and effort was spent. My lute is still sitting in my ship waiting for pegs and a nut.....Im looking at fitting some planetary tuners rather than turning up wooden ones. Look forward to some pics of the build.
Martin

TKAY
Kauri
Posts: 38
Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:49 am
Location: S.E.South Aust.

Re: Ornament or Instrument !!!

Post by TKAY » Fri Sep 24, 2021 1:56 pm

Sorry about the images at the end, I am just getting my head around the technology!!
As this lutes builder ,I will give ,for those not so familiar with the instrument a brief overview. For more details see Martins build discription some years ago. This is a general description with much variation between shapes, sizes and builders. This is MY lute!!
I will comment about deficiencies later.
The body is made of varying numbers, personal choice, of ribs less than 2mm thick heat bent to form a shell which is is edge glued together with a strip of cloth/paper down the joint. The neck is fixed on a block at one end with pegpox glued to it. The belly has a number of ribs across amd is glued to the shell/sides. A characteristic feature of Lutes is the carved in Rose. This instrument has 6 courses double strung except for the top(chantrelle) which is single.
A few comments about me might help you see how .why my build went the way it did. I am a recently 70+retired farmer who works on the principle of why buy a tool if you could make it yourself, with an interest in early music, particularly the likes of Tallis, Dowland, Campion etc. which I have sung A'Capella for many years, hence the interest in Lutes, I am not a player though.
The Lute is patterned on a Frei about 1570 with a semicircular back. This means all the ribs are the same shape, assisting in construction.
I chose a solid form made from assorted timber glued up in rectangles and sawed diagonally on a band saw. The segment was screwed down in a frame at the required angle and sawn to shape before final sanding. The segments were screwed together alternately onto the middle piece. You can see the neck block on which all the ribs are glued Lime,Linden. For shaping the ribs they were first bent with an iron made from a reassembled floodlight, this gave ample heat as the ribs were about 1.8mm thick by max.50mm wide. to get the varying angles on the edge I assembled a plane upside down in a large block and slid the rib over it, like a coopers plane. This worked well All the glue for the body was HHG giving great versability in missfits etc.
The necks are traditionally fixed on with a nail but I chose to use a 10cm recessed head construction screw. These are hot dipped and rough so I machined the countersunk slope which proved very effective. The belly all HHG ,useful if needing to be rejoined. Just hold up to a floodlight, (not LED!!) and flex. My build has a binding seen on some old instruments, of vellum. I had a dead calf some 30 years ago and made my own, a very smelly exercise (Maybe too much info) This worked well although like all builds it is a serious learning curve with some results better than others. Pegbox is laminated English Ash (out of the garden) veneered with Qld. Walnut. Pegs are a mainly WA Swamp mallet, extremely hard and seems to be up to it and doesnt slip, stained with neat Feast&Jackson(Bunnings) black Spirit stain.Frets are traditionally old bass gut strings, I used 1mm fishing line. Cheap but a bugger to tie, seems to work so far, 3months out.
The finish is natural shellac with propolis from a local beekeeper,a traditional instrument varnish. the neck has Walnut oil.
The belly "Swiss Pine" has egg white ,quite hard and sands well. I mixed my own wax of beeswax carnauba and artists Terpentine . Smells great.
A rundown on deficiencies or things to watch out for. Ribs are a challenge to fit but can still be structurally OK . Care is neaded to make sure the shell doesnt twist. As with all instruments ,neck alignment is critical. My bridge slipped 5mm sideways,not noticed untill bell was glued on. Not Ideal!, crudely "fixed" by drilling more holes for the strings. photo later of extension drill.
My Rose is too small but gets by. Asthetically a bit iffy. Pegs are a challenge. even with Lunbeg's book no one mentions what size the holes should be except lute pegs are historically fine. Mine are a bit fat with too large heads.
As I dont play an instrument I am looking for someone to pass an opinion. As you all would be aware LUTE players are everyware!.
So what is the verdict, as with so much in life , SOMETIMES IT IS THE JOURNEY AND NOT THE DESTINATION.

Cheers Tom.

Sometime I will show some of my adapted tools.
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