Schreiner's Lutes and Guitars February Update

I am suffering from the February Blahs but since the beginning of the year I have gotten a lot done.  Here's a run-down of the projects that I am working on.

 The upkeep and repairs to the instruments that I have built over the years is never-ending. I have put this activity on a strict schedule. It is the only way to keep from being over whelmed. Everyone has the same problem. I mentioned this to a colleague who said he was afraid to even answer the phone.

This is an eight course Frei that I built ten years ago. The belly was smashed but the bridge and rose survived so I inserted the rose into a new soundboard and got things back together.

I continue to make slow progress on the Checchucci guitar. The border is composed of a zig-zag pattern of ivory (I'm using cow bone) lozenges set between white / black binding strips and filled with black mastic like the rose border. In the photo I am working around the perimeter gluing the individual pieces in place before adding the black filler. 

Because of  the demands on my time from other projects I work on the Checchucci only when I am assured that I will have several uninterrupted days. This is difficult work that requires focus.

 I have finished assembling the 15 ribs of another Koch theorbo. This example will vary only in minor details from the one that I finished last fall. See my posts from 9/20/13 and 4/15/13.

At the end of last year I decided over the holiday season to get a good start on a Tieffenbrucher eleven course. The model an archlute, No. 41 (formerly C. 45) in Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. I often build this lute as a ten course but my client wants to string and use it as a transitional era eleven retaining the old tuning.  The lute still lacks its belly and rose.

 Last year I replaced the fingerboard on a 1831 Panormo guitar that played hopelessly out of tune (see my post from    4/5/13). I took measurements and made various drawings and have now started to build a model. I am assembling it, Spanish style, without a mold on a solera.








I am photo-documenting all of my projects so I will be able to post at length on them in the near future.