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This is the progress so far....
November 2002:
Sides, tail block and neck...
The wood is all popular. The dark
piece has colors ranging
from red to brown. The white strip will be offset
by a dark
strip running down the middle of the blonde back..
Here is the back drying in the
clamp.. Note the nice figure
and the dark strip down the center.. This serves
two purposes..
First is to contrast the white strip in the body,
second it
helps hide the fact that the book match isn't perfect..
December 2002:
For those of you searching for
a good f-hole pattern here's
the one I'm going to use. Just use the printer setup
of you
favorite paint program to size it.
Here's a look at the neck...The
pocket for the brace rod has
been milled.. I have decided to use a 5/16 stainless
rod.. A little
heavy but the body should balance it out.. The rod
has been roughed
with some 80 grit sandpaper and it ready to epoxy
in the pocket..
This is a shot of the top.. It
is Western Red Cedar.. You can
hear a ring when you tap it.. Should make a nice
top..
Here the neck, sides and tail block
have been glued and sanded.
The back has been rough cut, lined up and glued.
I will glue a strip down the center to
reinforce the back before
gluing the top. Will also place a name tag under
the f-hole location.
February 2003:
After all the holidays were out
of the way I got back to work..
Here are the pictures of the finished dulcimer...
Some things you might notice....
It has a round sound hole instead of an f-hole..The
reason
I decided on a round hole was the f-hole would have
interfered
with the modified X brace on the top...Also this
is the second
top...The first on busted trying to cut the f-holes..
TIP....Western Red Cedar is VERY easy to break and
also chips
bad...But it sure sounds good....
TIP 2...Indian Rosewood does not like to bend..The
dark ring around
the sound hole is made of this....
TIP 3...5/16 stainless rod is OVER kill for a neck
brace..It made
the dulcimer a little neck heavy so I'll have to
put a strap on it..
TIP 4... The bridge is from a web site on using a
violin bridge on
a mandolin..It really make a diffrence in the sound..Here
is a link
if you would like to know more...
Red
Bridge