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It’s coming along slowly lol, have 2 clear coats on, wet sand it in-between coats with 400 grit, temps are pretty cold here now so takes 2 days to dry each coat , plus it stinks! so put it out in a covered patio after it sets up, this may have 4-6 coats , the board has highs and lows and the sanding in-between will flatten it, I use a 10 inch block sander. it shows the low and high spots.
Wish I had a clean room lol, do my best, eyelets , no haven’t bought any yet, Lyon and Healy used just thick dots for base strings around 9mm wide X 5.92 deep, must be for base tone? maybe the vibration of string goes straight to soundboard better, , no eyelets at bass section , can’t find those in off white , some kind of plastic, did find mother of pearl ones but can’t use that material I think it would break.
Will call Robinsons Harp and get their opinion, metal ,brass plated may be the solution.
Update:
Getting further down the road on this harp, yesterday glued the veneer to soundboard and came out pretty nice! not the easiest thing to do using recycled veneer with 40 holes in it and matching holes in soundboard, used contact cement because if I messed up can always remove it with a heat gun, plus it rubberized and will flex not crack.
This morning glued the top strip on and matched those holes also, next up will be applying first clear coat.
Here’s a short video on my process.
Waiting on contact cement, for veneer, hopefully get it done soon, lots of planning to get it on straight, the veneer has 40 holes lol , still need to figure out the side rub molding, I’m going to make my own out of 2 thin strips of wood trim.
Yes on the screws! Will counter sink them, still mocking everything up and things are fitting pretty nice, have the front center spine done all 40 holes drilled, what a nightmare lining those up thru 4 layers!
I was able to taper the sides of top spine, looks cool, it’s 1/8 thick, I think it’s more for beauty, finished look than strength .
Thinking about the moulding for the sides, would be nice if I could find some that fits off the shelf, but don’t think so, unusual angles, I can make custom ones I guess.Great tips thanks
Question, where do soundboards usually break? Is it down the center or pulls away from sides.Thanks!
Its a lot of work with caveman tools lol.
Just finished the final sanding of soundboard, next I’m going to apply a clear to the rear side, L&H has it.
Yesterday went to the store and bought contact cement, so pricey, $10 for 3 ounce can, so bought 2 , they don’t carry anything bigger on store shelves in California, drug attic’s must sniff the stuff??? wanted at least one pint so returning the 2 I bought, found a pint on eBay $21, don’t need to run out when applying veneer, 3 ounce can covers 900sq inches , calculated soundboard is a hare over 850 ,times 2 that would be close.
As far as tuning the harp may son is a musician, guitar, piano , has a good ear for proper tone, plus he just tuned our piano and has the gear for it.
Starting to look better!I would rather use small thin wood screws. predrill holes so things don’t crack, so glue soundboard and screw it down, screws would act as clamps, looking at the soundbox I don’t really see any screw holes from original soundboard, they must have used just glue, some special epoxy, I’m just going to use titebond glue, as long as its wood to wood bonding its super strong 750lb of pulling force before it lets go, and that’s every 2 inches.
I’m a long way before I can install it, next I’m going to fabricate the rear spline setup and glue it.One thing I learned about veneer glue, they use contact cement, kind of rubberized, it allows sound board to bow outward without breaking bond.
Thanks, so here’s a screen shot from a youtube L&H factory tour, image of soundboard for what looks like a 47 string, pretty thick at the bottom, looks 1 inch, I can glue a 1/4 thick board to my 1/2 inch and get pretty close.
I know those strings want to pull right thru it, that should be pretty strong.
As far as attaching soundboard to soundbox, after inspecting soundbox surface where SB is glued, I removed the putty ,cut out bad sections where Stanley did damage, glued in small wood pieces, should be way stronger, I will have to nail or screw down SB to sides, I’ve seen some builders do that along with glue.
Redwood being a softwood pretty close to spruce (that’s what Titebond engineer told me) method should be OK.Thank you Balfour , your very helpful!
Mine is 14.5 at the bottom, so half your size, if your inside spline is 1 inch at bottom I feel safe using my 1/2″ wood, as far as it getting thinner at the top I guess I can power sand it a little.L&H 40 string pedal, Does anyone know how thick the center spline is for rear of soundboard?
I’m having a hard time finding any info on it, I have a sample piece of original SB with front spline on it, it’s about 1″ wide and 1/8 thick, but the rear of piece is missing spline, the marks it left on the wood appear to be 1.5″ I’m sure the rear spline has to be thicker for strength, I bought new wood for spines, for the rear I have 1.5 wide and either 1/2 or 1/4.
Its all about tone right? thinner is better but weaker , thicker may affect tone but will hold up to string pulling pressure.
Will put a video up soon on progress.
Thanks if anyone know!Soundboard about 65% done , just glued ribs on back side, now it will be more stable to handel, next will work on top veneer, then apply a clear to it, next glue front and rear center splines, figure out the proper spacing on them, mark and drill holes, etc.
