I have the same concerns, and nave never tried to push the limits of the wood. I like to work in maple, cherry, and walnut, and there are relatively hard and dense woods, but are prone to fracturing (especially the hard maple).
So when I hollow out the body of an instrument, I leave some wood proud on the inside (if I have the walls of the instrument hollowed to 3/16, for example, I leave a 'hill' of wood that is 1/2 to 5/8 inch thick), centered on the spot where the tailgut peg will go into the instrument. I try to do a nice job of blending the extra wood in so there is no sharp corner where it would be prone to breaking off. This has not failed me yet. If I am going to carve the body of this instrument, I will leave the area for the front axle bushing quite thick, and where the other string pins are I will leave a solid flared strip of wood proud (from the belly to the top) at each location. I will probably use walnut, and inlay either padauk (yeah, I know it's not medieval, but after the orange tones down it looks great with walnut) or maple veneer strips to make it look as if it were glued up of 5 pieces, while maintaining the integrity of the full carved construction. I already have 2 soundboard blanks picked out, they are carpathian red spruce and are really pretty. For everyone else out there, what was the earliest example of ornate rosettes and purfling that anyone has found? I know that cut soundholes are present in the earliest of stringed instruments, but when did they start getting really fancy? Chris *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 2/24/2007 at 11:57 AM Karl Christoffers wrote: >Greetings Chris, > >Just for the sake of completeness sake, and since I do >not think anyone else has mentioned it ... > >In Marcello Bono's plans packet for the Bosch >hurdy-gurdy (purchased some time ago from Michael >Muskett), Marcello gives the builder three options for >the body of the instrument. They are: contemporary >lutherie construction (with curved back and belly), >carving the body out of one block of wood, and gluing >up smaller blocks of wood to give the mass of a carved >body without needing to start with a serious block of >seasoned wood. Marcello does not give any cautions in >the text to indicate there are possible problems with >any of the construction options for the builder or >player. I rather like the third method of gluing up >the body so I would not have short grain into which >the strings will be anchored at the tail of the >instrument. > >However, since you have already carved instruments, >you already know whether short grain in the tail of an >instrument is a problem or not. Is it? > >-Karl Christoffers > > >--- Chris Nogy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> I have made several hollowed bodied instruments >> >> www.nogy.net, look at the rebec or the crwth or the >> citole or the lyre pages. >> >> But this instrument, the citole from the Cantigas, >> is one of the design starting points I am trying to >> explore, as well as King David's Crwth, the gittern >> from the British Museum, etc... These instruments >> were popular and common body shapes, I assume that >> it would not be out fo the question to build a gurdy >> with a shape similar to other instruments that were >> being built. >> >> I am just really curious to know if this method has >> any specific design characteristics that would make >> it unsuitable for a gurdy (a medieval gurdy, not a >> modern one). >> >> I have wood in sufficient dimension and am >> experienced in making a jointed body in his style as >> well. I know that if it had to be a jointed carved >> body, then it would have to be jointed in 3 sections >> so that the axle would have the full support fo the >> center. But for a smaller gurdy, which most of the >> medieval illustrations I have seen seem to imply, >> there are lots of species of hardwood that grow >> large enough and can be seasoned well enough to do >> this job. >> >> Chris >> > > > > >____________________________________________________________________________________ >Looking for earth-friendly autos? >Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center. >http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/
