The instrument works. It's playable, the action is reliable, and it even sounds pretty good for a first attempt.
So, with that said, I declare this blog finished, apart from a few final posts to summarize things I've learned, present a few concluding thoughts, display a slideshow of all photos of the construction process, plus (soon) a few audio tracks of the instrument being played.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Final adjustments
In the past two months, I've continued along the lines suggested by the previous post, partly restringing the back 8' register in the lower regions and voicing the whole instrument down a bit. As was the case for the front 8', this has changed things for the better. Both rows of jacks now play well and repeat reliably.
With the overall strength of voicing altered, I tweaked the separation between both rows of jacks by revisiting the jack end screws. I ended up giving each another half-turn, so the back 8' now sits beneath the strings by the equivalent of 4 half-turns, and the front 8' by 8 half-turns. This gives a tiny bit more slack to the mechanism.
It's important to recognize that the primary means of controlling the interaction of the two registers when both are turned on is by means of consistent voicing, and not indiscriminate cranking of these end screws. The screws are meant to adjust how long it takes for the plectrum to rise up and contact the string from beneath. There may be small differences here and there due to the quill angle in the tongue, which are a result of the quill mortise punching process, and an extra half-turn or two of the end screws can correct for this, but that's the extent of their usefulness.
With the overall strength of voicing altered, I tweaked the separation between both rows of jacks by revisiting the jack end screws. I ended up giving each another half-turn, so the back 8' now sits beneath the strings by the equivalent of 4 half-turns, and the front 8' by 8 half-turns. This gives a tiny bit more slack to the mechanism.
It's important to recognize that the primary means of controlling the interaction of the two registers when both are turned on is by means of consistent voicing, and not indiscriminate cranking of these end screws. The screws are meant to adjust how long it takes for the plectrum to rise up and contact the string from beneath. There may be small differences here and there due to the quill angle in the tongue, which are a result of the quill mortise punching process, and an extra half-turn or two of the end screws can correct for this, but that's the extent of their usefulness.
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