Air Travel = Smashed Lutes

Over the last two months I have had to stop building new instruments because I have been inundated with clients' instruments that have been damaged in airline travel.

These few photos represent only the worst cases - no pun intended. This theorbo was flying across the US. Although the case is doubled walled fibre-glass the impact shattered the front end of the lid (not pictured), broke the hinge and split the case walls on both side. Expectedly, the theorbo extension split as well.

It could have been worst. The extension popped cleanly out of its lap joint with the neck. I don't use a nail, screw or dowel to help secure this just for this type of accident. The neck joint to the body also popped, but cleanly. The bass side of the soundboard including the tongue, but not the fingerboard points, also popped but without cracking a rib or the soundboard.

The second theorbo was in the same type of case on a trans-atlantic flight and received a blow on the lower bass side of the case ripping off the clasp and compressing the case end.  The soundboard cracked in several places, the underlying belly wood that remains when the half binding is assembled split from the rest of the belly for the entire length of the bass side.

And, the inside clasp split completely in two! Fortunately, no ribs cracked and the rib joints held.

These two lutes were the most appalling examples because they were in "flight cases". Other lutes that have been sent to me recently have been lucky and suffered only loose bars and small cracks.

It is disheartening for both my clients and myself to see our lutes treated this way. Airlines banned instruments from their cabins and put us at the mercy of baggage handlers and their machinery. Recently, the US mandated that airlines had to allow smaller instruments in the overhead compartments or allow musicians to purchase seats for their instruments. Canadian airlines are following suit. Airlines in the EU are inconsistent or uncooperative. The International Federation of Musicians has launched a petition "demanding European legislation be updated to ensure fair treatment for performers travelling on planes with their instruments."   This links to the petition. It is in all of our interest. http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/36533/musicians-want-global-action-over-airlines

Carving a Jauch Triple Rose

The Andreas Jauch lute in Copenhagen that I am using as a model has a single rose. However, my client is partial to triple roses for large lutes and I agree with him. I don't necessarily copy the rose pattern that is on the original of the lute that I am modelling and I seldom change the design from a single to a triple rose. But a few years ago I measured a lute by Johannes Jauck, a relative of Andreas, in Brusssels no.251. This is its rose. I thought Johannes would approve of the switch.

I recognized that the design was taken from a rose pattern that I had in my collection. I selected the portion that I needed, whited-out the bit that wasn't necessary and drew in the continuation of the little part that I did need. I then photo-copied it to the size I wanted.

I had thinned out the soundboard to 2.0mm over its entire surface. In this photo I have marked off the rose area and I am thinning it down to 1.0mm right in the centre of the triangle that the three roses form.  I allow the area to become gradually thicker as it runs toward the edge: 1.3mm at the edge of the rose triangle and 1.6mm or so at the edge of the belly in this location.

I like to layout the ring border of the rose and cut it before I glue on the rose patterns. I have found that the paper patterns distort a little when the glue dries and this causes problems with centering the rings. The circle cutter is really meant for paper and is not substantial enough to adequately cut into spruce so I use it to score a line that I then deepen with a knife. The little black blocks are thin pieces of ebony tack-glued to the soundboard. I have drilled a very small hole in them, not all the way through, but just enough to secure the point of the tool.  They come off easily with a hot knife when I have finished with them. I spaced the three roses in the same manner as the Brussels Jauck but made them a little larger to correspond to the larger size of the Copenhagen lute and placed them in the same location.

I scored all of the lines of the rose pattern with a small instrument maker's knife and then, working section by section, removed the waste portions. Rather than cutting all the way through the soundboard I used two micro chisels that I had re-shaped to make them suitable for rose carving. One 17th century inventory of a lute maker's shop listed twenty-odd small chisels. Presumably for carving roses.

The chisel on the right is unaltered. The blade is 1.5mm wide with a 30 degree bevel. Opposite it is the same chisel reshaped so that the bevel is less than 10 degrees. One millimetre up from the tip the blade is only .25mm thick. The thinner blade displaces less fragile soundboard wood as it is plunged into the cut. Below it is a reshaped chisel that is also ground narrower to 1.1mm wide. By "walking" this chisel around a curved line that has previously been scored it is possible to make a clean cut through the wood without leaving  a faceted contour. The straight section are cut through with the 1.5mm chisel. I also have reshaped chisels that are 3 and 4mm that I occasionally use.

When necessary, perhaps while removing a waste portion that is next to a fragile rose element, I will bevel the edge of the waste. This provides more room and less resistance to the chisel as it separates the waste from the rose element.

The rose patterns and backing are glued on with fish glue.  I like this glue for this type of operation because I think it causes the paper to shrink less. I use a thicker mixture for the backing and a thinner one for the patterns. Since the rose patterns are on the face I want them to come off easily and cleanly. Sometimes they come off unexpectedly while I'm carving. In that case I carry on if possible but otherwise I stop, glue the offending part back in place and start cutting elsewhere. I remove the paper by wetting a small section lightly with a damp cloth for a few seconds and then touching it with a warm iron also for a few seconds. This releases the glue bond. I then loosen an edge with a knife and finish removing the section of paper with tweezers.

 There is still a lot of work to do. The geometric part of the rose design has a double vein cut into it, the vines need to be contoured and the border needs to be finished. I will do all of that next time.

Assembling the Jauch Lute Bowl

At the end of my last post I had started to assemble the bowl. I made good progress and have finished. With a new mould like this one I never know how difficult it is going to be to assemble the ribs. Each lute is different although there are similarities within in each style. This lute proved to be no different.

The three centre ribs went on easily. I was careful to trim them to the required widths. I added the ebony spacer to each rib before I glued the rib in place. Had this been a solid mould I would have glued the spacers at the same time as I glued the rib to its neighbour. But with an open mould there is always the danger that the spacer will drop a little below the surface of the two ribs. This method is slower but more accurate.

NOTE: I used my usual method of shaping ribs on a long plane mounted upside down which must be nearly universal for lute makers. You can see this technique in my Post Archive from September 28, 2011.

After the first three ribs things became a little more challenging. Since there is some flattening in the design of the bowl and particularly because the bowl becomes relatively deeper around the front block the ribs develop an odd shape that is difficult to make. Here is a series of photos of the profile in paper of the 5th rib on the treble side counting from the edge. The top edge has been shaped to fit to the previous rib and the bottom edge has been shaped to fit within the rib lines of the mould.

The straight line is added for reference. It is not a centre line. You can see the difference develop on the right side of the photo.  The bottom edge has a smooth curve but the top edge has gone flat.

This is the middle third of the rib. The bottom edge continues its smooth arc while the top edge has actually gone negative. That is, it has become concave. The deepest and widest point of the bowl is denoted with an arrow on the right of the photo.

 The two sides of the rear of the rib appear more conventional, but interestingly, it is the top that has a tighter arc. All of these features are a result of the flattening. With bowls that have a more pronounced flattening the rib shape is more exaggerated. The negative aspect is greater and the arc of the bottom edge of the rib at the rear becomes straighter and in extreme flattening, reverses. Crazy!

All in all, I was pleased with the way the new mould worked out. There were some problems though. I hadn't gotten several facets flat so the rib sat too high. That was easily remedied. At several other places it was obvious that I had filed the facet too low and the rib wouldn't make contact with the mould. My temporary fix for this problem is to insert a small piece of card stock wrapped in clear plastic tape. This provides a surface for the rib to sit on. Before I assemble another bowl on this mould I can make a permanent fix if I choose.

The rear area worked out really well. The rib ends came nicely together without problems and they maintained a uniformity of widths.

Once the bowl was assembled I cleaned it up to a respectable finish. Usually, I like to apply the apron or at this time. But I didn't build that capability into the mould. I had decided to follow another sequence because of what I have been seeing in historical lutes and guitars recently.  The inside clasp in lutes or the end blocks in guitars are often shaped to provide a good gluing surface for the belly but are otherwise reduced in size and mass. Also, I had seen one instance where the bowl apparently was papered before the inside clasp was applied. So I decided to paper the bowl, apply the clasp and then glue on the apron in that order. I use 90 lb water colour paper.  As the glue  and paper dry it creates  tension laterally across each rib and it was that effect that I wanted to concentrate in the rear area of the bowl. It seems to me that delicate instruments require extraordinary treatment of seemingly insignificant features.

I wrapped the outer surface of the bowl in plastic tape in order to protect it and made a wooden form that fit the contour of the rear edge of the bowl. Clamped in place, it and the plastic tape secure the form of the bowl while I apply the paper and the clasp. This photo was taken after I glued the clasp in place. Naturally I used more clamps. The clasp is spruce 6mm thick tapering along the top surface to 1.5mm at the ends. Before I glue the belly in place I will taper it in the other direction as well down to 1.5mm along the bottom edge.

To apply the apron I use as many clamps as would fit. The little wooden cauls are concave so that the top and bottom edges of the apron are in firmly in contact with the bowl.

I have thinned out the soundboard material and have started to carve a triple rose of the lute. I am using a different cutting method for these roses than I did for the Kaiser theorbo in previous posts. I'll report on this soon.

Building a Baroque Lute Mould - Continued

At the end of my last post I had finished "roughing out" the mould. There was still lots to do! I had carefully band-sawed the arc of each piece but the angle of the edge of each was only approximate. Remember that the profile of the center axis is not the same as the profile of the face and therefore the angle changes along the course of each arc. I used a rasp initially, followed by files and finally various curved sanding blocks, rocking back and forth, with each tool from one cross-section to the other to smooth the transition. Working thoughtfully, the proper angle was obtained.

Now I had to lay out the position of each rib.  I drew this diagram of the larger cross-section from the lute plan. The width of the 15 ribs average 35 -36 mm wide but there is much variation. The two edge ribs are significantly narrower ( 26 and 29 mm) than the average. Presumably, they were originally as wide or wider than the average. But at some time the bowl was cut down which was and still is the usual method to lower a troublesomely high string height. Several ribs are 34 mm wide while another is only 31. Such variations are commonly found in surviving lutes although our modern aesthetic prefers a more uniform treatment. A millimeter or two here or there is almost unavoidable and I am willing to accept such variation when I am assembling a lute bowl as long as the discrepancy is not obvious.

I did want the two edge ribs to be wider than the others. I measured the distance along the arc of each cross-section and divided by 15. For example, the largest cross-section is 538 mm so each rib would be 35.87 mm wide measured along the curve of the cross-section. I rounded that up to 36 mm and added 4 mm to make the edge rib 40 mm wide at the widest point. Subtracting the width of these two ribs from the total left me with 458 mm for the remaining 13 ribs which works out to 35.23 mm per rib. Remember that this represents the distance along the curved surface of the cross section and therefore must be measured with a flexible ruler. I repeated this process for each cross section. This takes time.

Before I cut the facets for each rib on the cross-sections

I wanted to be sure that the points I marked out created smooth transitions from one section to the next. I used a flexible ruler secured on edge with two clamps. This gave me two free hands to hold the ruler and mark the rib line. In order to create a smooth rib line I found that it was necessary to wander a little from the rib divisions that I had marked off. This is where the variations in rib widths creep in.

Ivo Magherini photo

  I wasn't sure how the rib lines were going to run over the rear section of the mould. If these lines are badly laid out it will be very difficult to assemble the ribs around the rear of the bowl.  On the original each side of the bowl is different! On the treble side the ribs nearly come to a point but on the bass they spread out and would join well below the level of the soundboard. I tried several times but had trouble marking rib lines that looked reasonable.

 Finally, I covered the area with painter's tape and drew more attempts on that surface. Ultimately I got something I liked. I pricked through the tape along the lines with a pin and used these marks to pencil in the appropriate lines.

When I was confident that these rib lines would result in nicely shaped ribs, I created the individual facets using a rasp and files. I replaced the front of the mould with material for the front block and shaped that to the proper contour.

While I was building the mould I prepared a set of curly maple ribs, so when I finished the mould I could begin the work that I really enjoy.

Building a Lute Mould for a Jauch Baroque Lute

Ivo Magherini's drawing of the 1734 Andreas Jauch 

My newest project is the construction of a model of the Andreas Jauch baroque lute that is in the Musikmuseet, Copenhagen. Fellow lute maker Ivo Magherini generously sent me a copy of the working drawing, photos, fact sheet and report that he made when he measured the instrument a few years ago.

Before I can begin to construct the mould that I will use to assemble the bowl I need to analyze its contours and make cardboard templates. On the drawing you can see the contour of the face, the centre axis of the back of the bowl and two cross-section contours. Historical lute bowls often display a sophisticated design for enclosing space. This Jauch is no exception. The bowl is flattened in the deepest (and widest) part. As the rib lines flow toward the front of the bowl this shape changes to a point where its depth is equal to half the width. Then, at the front block, the bowl is deeper than half the width. The photo demonstrates the flattening while my diagram illustrates the transition from one region to another.

Ivo Magherini photo

The two larger cross-sections are from Ivo's drawing. For comparison, the broken line represents a semi-circle. I created the smaller cross-section which is near the front block. You can see the flattening of the two larger arcs while the smaller arc is noticeably deeper. Making this transition is tricky even when a lot of information is available.

The problem I faced was to construct a number of cross-sections that accurately represented the contours of the bowl from the limited amount of information contained in the drawing. I need to create enough cross-sections so that there is one about every two inches. Here's how I did it.

At any spot along the centre line of the lute I can determine the bowl's width and depth, plus I have the two known cross-sections from the lute drawing. The image (below) represents the method.

The scribed  arc on the card stock is the contour of the larger  of the two cross-sections from the drawing.  I want to use it to create the arc for the centre cross-section (the widest and deepest point of the bowl) while retaining the characteristic shape. I  marked the width and depth for the arc on the card stock and aligned a flexible ruler to those points, allowing the ruler to mirror the smaller arc. I repeated this procedure several times for various points along the length of the bowl. Each new arc formed the basis for its neighbour.

 Then I arranged the templates on the drawing to see if the result looked reasonable.

 Once I was satisfied that I had made enough templates I transferred them to pieces of pine wood that I had previously prepared for this mould. I set the bandsaw table at a slight angle to represent to slope of each section of the bowl and cut out each member.

These were glued to the longitudinal section in the appropriates locations.

When all of the sections were added I filled in the front block area and the rear area of the bowl and shaped them to  reasonable contours. That finished "roughing out " the mould. I still had to mark off the mould into individual ribs. 

I'll explain my method for this in a few days. 

When Magherini measured this instrument the lighting was dim and the workspace inadequate, which explains the dark photo. Visiting instrument makers find varying work conditions at museums; from well-equipped laboratories to a shared table in a storage room.  I understand the Copenhagen collection has moved to a new building.

Information about surviving lutes is always valuable and  much appreciated. Thank you Ivo.

Measuring the Checchucci Guitar at Boston MFA

This evening I'm in Boston having finished the first day of measuring the baroque guitar by Jacopo Checchucci, Livorno, 1628. Tomorrow I'll be back in the museum making templates of the arching of the back and recording things that I missed today. Several factors have bought me here. First for an Italian guitar, I've been building an anonymous model  since 1994. Although it has been successful for me, I thought it was time for a change. Second, I've been attending the Boston Early Music Festival for years, either as an exhibitor or just going to shows. While here I've visited the Museum of Fine Arts and admired their Checchucci guitar (acquired in 2002).

I emailed curator Darcy Kuronen to set up a visit. Darcy explained that even though the guitar is one of the few intact, nearly original Italian guitars from the first half of the 17th century, few builders have expressed an interest in it and no one has measured it. You can see from these two photos that it is an ornate guitar. But it is more than that. It is a comfortably sized guitar. The body measures 46 cm long with a string length of only 63 cm on a 10 fret neck. Stretched to 11 frets it is still 65 cm. Perfect.

I think it is rare to find a guitar that combines a beautiful aesthetic that is well crafted with important acoustical elements. The back  has a very high arch and the side ribs are angled inward around the  circumference of the body. I'm sure this will make an interesting model.

Both of these features are visible in the photo at right.

Kuronen is concerned about the securing the long term documentation of these instruments. It is one thing to display them to the public as artifacts but quite another to make them and drawings  of them available to interested builders to turn into living musical instruments. Darcy has arranged with a musical instrument draftsman to record important instruments in their collection.

 In the meantime, you can visit the MFA collection online at:
http://www.mfa.org/node/4475

Scroll through the thumbnails to find the Checchucci guitar, a Berr baroque lute, an Alexander Voboam guitar and many other interesting instruments.  The Checchucci is in playable condition. Audio files of the it and the Voboam, recorded by Olav Chris Henriksen, are available on the these pages.

I will make my report on this guitar along with measurements and more photos available on this blog in the near future.

Repairing Lutes and Guitars

It is inevitable that my instruments are damaged in one way or another. I expect to have one in my shop at any given time, but my clients are having a run of bad luck over the last few weeks. Here's the casualty list, all with loose bars caused by age or careless baggage handlers; 1983 ten course, baroque guitar, large Schelle model theorbo and most recently, as a rush item, a small theorbo with .... loose bars.

The story of the ten course is interesting. It was built by my early apprentice, Bruce Duncan. Bruce went on to study in England and returned to build lutes. This was one of them. He is no longer involved with lutes but stills builds early instruments - analog synthesizers.

 The damaged lute has had its belly lifted numerous times over the years. This procedure takes a toll on the wood fibres around the edge where it is attached to the side ribs. This is a photo of the area above the bridge on the treble side. You can clearly see the damage that repeated repairs has caused. I did not look forward to removing the belly again but I decided to take it off and then to completely renew the edge. Here is how I did it.

There was damage similar to this around the rear edge of the belly continuing up to the third bar on the bass side. The procedure to repair this type of damage requires that the inside damaged edge of the belly be removed to a uniform width and depth and then filled with a splint of wood of similar grain direction and structure.

I removed the three harmonic bars and the finger bars that support the underside of the bridge and made a template to guide my router. This is a handy machine. It is smaller and more manageable than many routers but more sturdy and accurate than the Dremel Tool. It is called a laminate trimmer and its industrial use is to remove the overhanging veneer or laminate that occurs in the fabrication of counter tops, shelves, etc. The 1/4 inch thick  plywood template  allows the circular base of the router to move freely, smoothly and precisely around the edge of the belly at a set depth. Just enough wood is removed to expose the underside of ebony half binding (left side of above photo) that encircles the edge of the belly.

Then I cut thin pieces of spruce and shape them to fit snuggly in the routed channel. I glue them in place with hot hide glued, secured with painter's tape and sandwiched between layers of plexiglass. The inserted pieces of spruce are allowed to dry then they are levelled flush with the surface of the belly and the harmonic bars and fingers are glued back in their original places.

Here is the result after everything is done. This is a lightly built lute that gets a lot of use. I think it is good for another 30 years.

To a greater or lesser degree I carried out this procedure on the other instruments. It is frightening to use the router for such a delicate operation. But if care is taken and the set-up is well thought out it does the job very nicely.

All of these repairs have taken time and a toll on me. Although they are necessary and appreciated I would rather be building new lutes. 

I have started the mould for a triple nut baroque lute after the A. Jauch in Copenhagen. Very shortly I will begin to describe building the mould and then follow through with posts concerning the construction of the entire lute. 

The last week of April I'll be at the Boston Fine Arts Museum to measure the Checchucci guitar. 

http://www.mfa.org/search/collections?keyword=checchucci