The READIN Family Album
Me and Gary, brooding (September 2004)

READIN

Jeremy's journal

Personal density is directly proportional to temporal bandwidth.

Kurt Mondaugen


(This is a page from my archives)
Front page

Archives index
Subscribe to RSS

This page renders best in Firefox (or Safari, or Chrome)

Thursday, September 27th, 2018

🦋 Tin-can Cello: eagerly awaiting setup

So I'm going over to Derek's shop on Sunday, to see if I can use his fifth-string peghole taper on my cello... If not I'll bite the bullet and buy a taper from StewMac -- I have a hunch that it will not, and I'll have to. (Update, bought a taper from eBay. Setup is not going to happen for another 3 to 6 weeks.) I made a couple of minor tweaks to the body this evening, bolting on a block that was loose and fixing the forward brace in place with a screw, and I closed the back. I put thick masking tape on the bucket where the tail spike emerges, to mask any rough edges that might wear at the tailcord.

posted evening of September 27th, 2018: Respond
➳ More posts about The Tin-can Cello

Wednesday, September 26th, 2018

🦋 Tin-can Cello: scale confirmed!

cellos

It is a nice confirmation to get: this evening I thought to lay the tin-can cello next to the body of the Kay cello which I scavenged its fingerboard and neck measurements from -- the bottom and top of the cello body line up exactly with the bottom of the washtub and the end of the curved portion of the neck, and the bridge position on the tub lines up with the center of the f-holes on the cello. What's nice is that I did not use this cello body for measurements or as a story stick, I calculated all the scale numbers based on the washtub dimensions. But I went into this (before I had started working out dimensions at all) with the image of the washtub as the lower ⅝ or so of a cello's body, the curved portion of the neck making up the upper part of the body -- it looks like that's right on.

Also -- confirmed that the D string (which winds on the fourth peg, furthest distance from the base) will reach from the tailpiece to the peg.

posted evening of September 26th, 2018: Respond
➳ More posts about Projects

Monday, September 24th, 2018

🦋 Tin-can Cello: slowly approaching setup

I glued the fingerboard onto the cello neck this evening, which has a feeling of finality to it -- really all that's left now is to put the strings on!

IMG_20180924_190446588

IMG_20180925_175545311

posted evening of September 24th, 2018: Respond

Sunday, September 23rd, 2018

🦋 Tin-can Cello: tool inventory

The tools I have found the most useful in the course of building the Tin-can Cello:

  1. bandsaw. This project would have been just about unthinkable without a bandsaw.
  2. angle grinder. Has been an invaluable time-saver and has made a fair amount of shaping possible that I would never have started on otherwise.
  3. dragon rasp. Just a great, great hand tool.
  4. sanding blocks: Wow. In the course of my woodworking avocation to date, I don't believe I've ever glued sandpaper to wooden blocks. Certainly not the amount I'm doing in this project. It is a wonderful thing!
  5. scrapers (especially the french curve shape)

posted evening of September 23rd, 2018: 1 response
➳ More posts about Luthery

🦋 Tin-can Cello: staining and finishing

My shop time this weekend has been spent on putting the finishing touches on the neck of the Tin-can Cello. Since I last posted, in parallel with repairing the crack in the scroll, I've been putting stain on the different parts of the neck and buffing it out with steel wool-- I've been able to buff it to a very nice sheen. The pigments are pretty muted, with an antique look.

This weekend I was able to stain the scroll and put some coats of Tru-oil on. I will buff and sand the finish this week, and possibly put one more coat on.

chelliphant

I'm naming him Chelliphant!

Finishing steps

posted afternoon of September 23rd, 2018: Respond
➳ More posts about Woodworking

Sunday, September 16th, 2018

🦋 Tin-can Cello: a repair

fixscroll

I am planning out a fix for the cracked scroll. My idea is to cut out two ¼" thick maple patches to the pattern I've roughed out above; I will glue them onto the sides of the pegbox and redrill the pegholes as I've marked -- these points are midway between the existing holes. This will significantly strengthen the pegbox and make a better instrument. The trick is going to be getting the mating surfaces perfectly flat.

posted afternoon of September 16th, 2018: 1 response

🦋 Tin-can Cello: colors

2018-09-15_05-33-14

I've started the process of coloring the cello's neck. Holding off on the scroll until the repair is finished...

I'm taken aback by what a shiny, smooth "finished" surface I can get by buffing out the stain. The stain I'm using is made by mixing tea and pigment dissolved in turpentine -- apply by rubbing on with a cloth, then rubbing off the excess. Before it has fully dried, buff with steel wool. After it has dried, sand with 400 grit, and buff again with steel wool and cloth.

The curved part of the neck has varying depth of color; during the staining process I noticed scratches in a couple of places that I had missed when sanding the neck, and went back and sanded them out, removing stain. (There are also scratches that I left.) It looks surprisingly ok...

I am thinking the finish will be a coat of thinned Tru-oil and then a coat of un-thinned Tru-oil, and maybe further coats for the lower portion of the neck and the scroll. Buffing with steel wool and cloth.

posted morning of September 16th, 2018: Respond

Wednesday, September 12th, 2018

🦋 Tin-can Cello: a setback

2018-09-12_09-31-40

I dropped the cello neck as I was staining it, and cracked the scroll. To fix it I've glued the two pieces together with clear Gorilla Glue; now I'll need to first, glue a hardwood dowel through the joint on the upper side of the peghole, and then cut out the peghole in the direction of the grain. I'll glue a new block of wood in that void, reinforce with a dowel, and redrill the hole.

posted evening of September 12th, 2018: 2 responses

Saturday, September 8th, 2018

🦋 Tin-can Cello: materials list

  • 8/4 hard maple board, 7" x 7 feet. $50
  • 11-gallon Behrens washtub. $30
  • fingerboard and nut. (free as salvage)
  • bridge. $50
  • tailpiece. $50
  • tailcord. $10
  • pegs. $40
  • drumhead. $40
  • plywood for back. (free as scrap)
  • strings. $7 (ebay)
  • bow. $60

    I'm waiting on the tailcord as I said below, and have yet to buy the strings. I'm planning to use the bow from my dilruba, at least to start with. [Note I ended up buying a cello bow from Menzel, for $60. Dilruba bow is haired with black horsehair, which is not appropriate for a cello.] I think I overpaid for the bridge and tailpiece, but I don't mind since I got the salvage cello in the deal.

    Update Tuesday the 11th: Tailcord arrived... I'm champing at the bit to start finishing! ...The varnish is supposed to be arriving today, as is the drying lamp. Sealer coat tonight?

    Update Monday the 24th: Got my strings...

    posted afternoon of September 8th, 2018: Respond

  • 🦋 Tin-can Cello: #goals

    I sent away for a book of duets by Bach for (Stroh!) violin and (Tin-can!) cello... Guess that's gonna mean taking lessons at some point...

    posted afternoon of September 8th, 2018: Respond

    Previous posts
    Archives

    Drop me a line! or, sign my Guestbook.
        •
    Check out Ellen's writing at Patch.com.

    Where to go from here...

    Friends and Family
    Programming
    Texts
    Music
    Woodworking
    Comix
    Blogs
    South Orange