Sparrowhawk
Sparrowhawk
Sparrowhawk
I'm making "Sparrowhawk" a Mountain dulcimer for Vic Griffin. It will have a European Spruce top and Sapele back and sides. This is one of my special "Anniversary Instruments" to celebrate the tenth anniversary of De Faoite Stringed Instruments.
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Here are most of "Sparrowhawk's" parts. |
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The Sapele back is thicknessed and joined using the "tent method" and hot hide glue. |
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The European spruce top is joined using the "tent method" and hot hide glue - the darker piece shows a rough-sawn face that hasn't been sanded yet and the lighter piece has had some sanding. |
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Next comes the "cunning plan". |
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Then the mould is made. |
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The Sapele sides are thicknessed and the bass side bent to shape by hand on the hot-pipe. Here it is in the mould. |
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The treble side is bent the same way and here it is in the mould. |
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The Sapele end blocks are made and glued to the sides in the mould using fish glue. |
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The next task is to glue in the laminated Sapele linings. These are side off-cuts and there will be two glued in to make each lining - eight in total. Here the first pair of top linings are being glued in using fish glue. |
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Here's the second layer being glued in. |
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After the glue has dried the linings are sanded level. Here's the completed rim-set - the linings give great stiffness so that the sides keep their shape out of the mould. |
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As this will be bound there is a set order of assembly. The top is thicknessed, cut to shape and glued onto the rim using fish glue. It has no bracing as the main neck/fingerboard glued to it serves this function. |
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The rim-set with top is put back in the mould as the glue dries for ease of storage. |
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Here's the top after trimming flush with the sides. |
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The top needs to be bound next and so the Macassar ebony bindings have the bwb side purflings glued on using fish glue. |
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When the glue has dried the bindings are shaped by hand on the hot pipe. Then the top binding channels are routed. |
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Followed by the top purfling channels. |
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The ends of the side where the Macassar ebony binding and side purflings will be mitred into the top and back bindings and side purflings are cut with a handsaw. |
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The side is then chiselled out. |
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The treble side binding has the side purflings mitred and is then glued in using fish glue. |
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This is repeated for the bass side. |
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Two book-matched pieces of Sapele are glued together using fish glue to make the neck. |
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The neck is cut to the right width and then where the Bog Oak fingerboard will go the underside of the neck is hollowed out to a depth of 7mm. |
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Here's the result after tidying up the slot. |
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The fret positions are marked on the Bog Oak fretboard and the fret slots cut. |
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The Bog Oak bindings are then glued onto the fretboard using fish glue. |
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The 3mm holes for the octave fret markets are drilled. |
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Then the slot for the bridge is routed in the Sapele neck. |
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Looking like this. |
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The 3mm saddle slot is routed in the Ebony bridge using this jig. |
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The bridge is tested for fit. The strum hollow just in front of the bridge has been sanded out of the neck. |
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The fingerboard is then glued to the neck using fish glue. |
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The 3mm MoP fret position markers are glued in. |
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The De Faoite hares and sparrowhaks are drawn on the top for the soundholes. |
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Then the tricky bit of cutting them out starts. This is carefully done using a router to get close and then needle files and scalpel blade to finish. Here's the two sparrowhawk shaped soundholes cut in the upper bout. |
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First De Faoite hare cut. |
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Soundholes completed - there will be more tidying up of their edges to be done later on. |
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The neck and fingerboard are positioned on the top and four 2mm holes drilled through the nit and bridge areas so that it can be held in position using toothpicks. |
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The top is masked off and the neck/fingerboard is glued on using fish glue in the go bar deck. |
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Next job is to fit the frets with the neck supported with a piece of wood inside the soundbox. |
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Fretting completed. |
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The back is cut to shape and the European Spruce braces glued on using hot hide glue. |
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The braces are carved. |
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The label is signed and glued in. |
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The top is signed. |
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Notches are cut in the side linings to accept the ends of the back's braces and the back is glued on using fish glue. |
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The back binding and purfling channels are cut. |
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Then the back bindings and purflings are glued in using fish glue. |
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Finally the end of sides pieces are glued in together with mitred purflings. |
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Then it's into the Troji and the bindings are scraped flush. |
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Here's the finished body. |
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The peghead block is made from Sapele and has the top slanted for the peghead and a hole drilled for the bolt that will hold the peghead onto the neck-block. A slot is cut down the middle for an ebony veneer to cover the bolt and an ebony heel cap has been glued on the bottom. |
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Here's the ebony veneer cap . . . |
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. . . and how it will fit. |
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The ebony peghead veneer is marked out and pinned in place to the Sapele peghead using tooth-picks. The peghead is then shaped. |
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The ebony veneer is removed and the Sapele peg-head place in position on the peg-head block that has been bolted onto the body. Two 2mm holes are drilled through so that the peg-head can be held in place when it is glued to the peg-head block. |
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The peghead and block are then glued together using hot hide glue. |
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The peg-head is then bolted onto the body and two 5mm holes drilled through into the peg-head block. |
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Two pieces of 5mm carbon fibre rod are then glued in with fish glue. |
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The ebony peg-head veneer is then glued on using fish glue. |
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The holes for the tuners are then drilled. |
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Then they are reamed for the ferrules. |
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Here's the peg-head bolted to the box. The peg-head, stringholder and the box will be finished separately and then assembled when the ebony strips will be glued in and finished. |
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The Sapele stringholder has a hole for the bolt drilled and an ebony veneer piece glued on the top using hot hide glue. |
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The position of the string holes are marked and are drilled at the right angle using a 2mm drill in this jig. |
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Here's the result. |
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Where the string holes emerge on the back of the Sapele block a channel is routed to hold the string ball ends. |
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Here's the result. |
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Then a channel for the Ebony veneer strip to cover the bolt is routed. |
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Then the ebony heel cap is glued on using hot hide glue. |
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Here's the result with the veneer cap fitted. |
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Here's the completed stringholder on the body. |
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The body has to be sanded and scraped and checked for any blemishes that need rectifying. Then the back and sides are then pore filled using egg white - 240 grit sandpaper is dipped into the egg white and sanded on the back and sides to make a wood slurry that is pushed into the pores. The egg white acts as a binding agent and the pores are effectively filled by the same wood dust. |
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Time to spray on the pre-catalysed lacquer. |
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Here's the front. |
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Final set-up involves fitting the Grover tuners, bolting on the peghead and stringholder and fitting the ebony end caps, fitting the Bog oak nut and ebony/bone bridge and stringing up. |
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Here's the finished Sparrowhawk. Here's a recording of me playing my arrangement of Nic Jones's "Ruins on the Shore" on Sparrowhawk in ddAD tuning. |
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A happy customer !! |