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Thursday, December 19th, 2019
 Yesterday I ordered a wok. I'm starting my next metal soundboard instrument, a da gamba tenor violin with carbon steel soundboard1. A rough sketch of the design:
parts:
- wok (14" diameter)
- neck + dowel (I'm thinking I will use cherry)
- dowel stop (a small piece of wood that will ride on the bottom of the dowel, as a spacer for the tailpiece)
- back -- arched maple. Thinking I will use some very pretty wormy maple that I've had in my shop for years and years. It is flatsawn but I think it would resonate. Back will be attached with a kerfed lining which I'll need to make. Soundholes will be on the sides of the back.
- tailpiece -- likely will use a 1/4 size cello tailpiece. May need a cork spacer to raise the angle of the tailpiece.
- bridge -- maybe a viola da gamba bridge? or a fractional cello bridge? or a viola bridge?
- strings (steel) -- the tones I am thinking of are G2, D3, A3, E4 (and possibly B4). Maybe use 1/4 cello strings? The scale length will be something like 20". Or another possibility, tune in fourths E2, A2, D3, G3, B3.
- fingerboard
- pegs
posted morning of December 19th, 2019: 1 response
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Sunday, January 26th, 2020
I want to lay out how I came to the point where I'm about to start making and putting together the brass viola. I will readily admit here that I'm hoping the project will be a success; that the instrument will sound, in the end, like an instrument. I'm pretty optimistic right now, not having begun yet to layout any parts, except on paper. (And if it comes out the other way, please read this charitably, or don't bother.)
 I think of the #tincancello as being a "banjo", in the sense that the steel soundboard functions as a flexible membrane taught between the bridge feet and the rigid rim of the washtub. (For a wooden cello the rigid element is the arched woundboard itself.)
It seems to me, and I intend to verify, that it will be interesting to build a metal soundboard instrument with a soundboard that's arched and rigid-- it occurred to me several months ago that a wok could work for that. I will make a wooden neck and dowel using a roughly similar layout as the #tincancello . (The principal difference here is that the dowel will run through the very rim of the wok, instead of through the middle of the washtub.) I will also carve an arched back. My hunch is that this will produce an ideal resonating chamber.
Bracing as appropriate at the point where the neck meets the body and where the tail meets the body will allow the soundboard to resonate completely free of the tension of the strings. I'm hoping the brass will ring like a bell under these condition; and I'm making a primary assumption, that the pan will be light enough, and rigid enough, for the vibration of the bridge to really transfer to it. This is the primary factor that will determine the success or failure of the project. (Analogy to the #tincancello soundboard is not worthwhile for the reasons outlined above.)
↻...done
posted morning of January 26th, 2020: 1 response
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Saturday, February first, 2020
In my post below on dowel vs. bolts I've been working through a couple of different designs for the brass viola. A dowel will absorb most of the tension of the strings, so that the tension on the soundboard is primarily from the bridge pressing down towards the dowel. If instead of a through dowel, I use blocks and tenons at either side of the pan, then it seems clear there will be a lot more tension on the pan, and in different directions. The question in my mind is whether this extra tension will enhance the sound or detract from it.
My guess is that the extra tension across the soundboard will be a good thing, is why I'm leaning toward the latter solution. You need tension for the soundboard to resonate; so why not add more tension? As I visualize the instrument strung up, the strings would tend to pull the endpin upwards, which would in turn pull the tail block against the pan, this would have the effect of making the pan quite taut along its length. If the instrument were constructed with a dowel. the pan would be under tension along its center line from the bridge to the neck and tail, but the sides of the pan would be less responsive.
posted evening of February first, 2020: Respond
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Thursday, May 21st, 2020
Today I did a first rough fit of the tailpiece and neck into the viola d'ottone. I'm overjoyed to see everything lining up straight, I was quite convinced there would be a misalignment that I'd have to correct for.
posted evening of May 21st, 2020: Respond
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Wednesday, March 10th, 2021
A chapter of my and Ellen's life has closed; another will be opening in a few weeks. A little time to rest and prepare ourselves. Some reflections on where I've been and where I'm going.
I have been working as a computer programmer since May of 1994. I've been employed continuously over the past 27 years, with the exception of a month or so at the end of 2001, when Xyris Software downsized and let me go (with a generous severance package, no complaints). This past week I resigned from my current job (at Audible) and am not intending to work in software again. (Fingers crossed that it works out that way.)
This summer we will be leaving our home of 19 years in South Orange, and will make our way to Red Wing, MN, where I'll be studying violin repair and restoration at Minnesota State College Southeast's luthery program. At the end of the 1-year program I will seek employment with a violin shop or an orchestra, with the long-term goal of entering an apprenticeship with a luthier and starting my own business. Depending on how old and how skilled I am at that point, the business may be a violin repair shop, or may be an instrument-making pastime. The best-laid schemes of mice & men gang aft agley,/ an' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,/ for promis'd joy; and I'm open to things working out differently from the path I currently have in mind.
I've been dissatisfied with my career in programming for a long time, like 20 years give or take. I've been searching for a different path, and luthery seems like the right way. I've also been depressed, and in denial about being depressed, for a similar period; I've also been smoking weed pretty heavily, for a similar period. It's an open question which way the vector(s) of causation point(s), between drugs and depression and dissatisfaction with my career. (Maybe the arrow is tridirectional!) Over the past year I've been addressing all this with therapy and medication, and with not smoking grass, and with making plans. I'm feeling pretty good, compared to how I've been feeling for the past several years. I'm looking forward to the next chapter.
posted afternoon of March 10th, 2021: 4 responses
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Sunday, January 7th
When I finish the guitalele, I am going to start working on the second Tin-can cello. It will be a good deal more ambitious than the first one, and will address some issues that make the first Tin-can cello softer and less clear in tone than it could be, and more difficult to play and maintain than it could be.
Neck and blocks
The first tin-can cello has a single-piece neck which extends from the "end-pin" to the peg-box. As a consequence, the top of the neck does not have straight grain, and I was not able to carve a traditional peg box. The pegs are difficult to turn. The "blocks" were added as an afterthought and do not serve the purpose of blocks in a traditional violin or cello; the body is lacking in structural stability. Additionally this means there is no contact between the instrument and the player's chest, so a traditional cellist will not be able to switch easily to this instrument.In the second tin-can cello, I will add a traditional neck block and tail block, fixing them to the ribs with fish glue. The cello's neck will be composed of two pieces. A lower neck stands in for the upper bout of a traditional cello; it is fixed to the neck block using a joint similar to a traditional cello neck. The top of the lower neck rests against the player's chest. The upper neck is similar to a traditional cello's neck (with a truncated heel); it is fixed to the lower neck with a simple dovetail-shaped joint. I've got these parts pretty well worked out in my mind's eye but have not had much luck yet with drawing them. I will work on that.
Body and back; soundpost and bass bar
The first tin-can cello has a much deeper body than a traditional cello; and the back is not fixed to the body. As a consequence, the vibrations of the soundboard are not amplified as they could be and they are lost at the bottom of the ribs. There is no bass bar, meaning the soundboard flexes under the weight of the string tension.
I will address this as follows: the washtub body will be cut to a depth of 120mm. I will carve an arched back in the approximate shape of a traditional cello back's lower bout; the longitudinal arch of the back will be continued in the lower neck piece. (I also have an idea for purfling that I think will look very pretty.) A soundpost will be in the same position as on a traditional cello. The back will be fixed to the ribs using fish glue. I will weld a bass bar to the soundboard, to make it rigid. My hope is that the combined effect of these modifications will give the cello a much clearer tone and increased volume. Fingers crossed! We shall see.
posted afternoon of January 7th: Respond
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