Search found 53 matches

by Barry Black
Tue Jun 07, 2016 12:41 am
Forum: Jam Session
Topic: What other things do you guys make?
Replies: 60
Views: 69660

Re: What other things do you guys make?

Here is a marquetry jewellery box I made for my daughter. complete with secret drawer. Cheers, Bob IMG_1719 (300x193).jpg IMG_1720 (300x191).jpg IMG_1721 (285x300).jpg IMG_1723 (300x225).jpg IMG_1725 (300x225).jpg Nice work Bob. I used to do this for a living so I know what's involved. Barry
by Barry Black
Sun Jun 05, 2016 6:59 pm
Forum: Wood and Materials Q&A
Topic: cupping wood - Back and top
Replies: 4
Views: 6533

Re: cupping wood - Back and top

Sometimes I have found that even quarter sawn wood will cup after resawing simply because the interior moisture level is different from the outside. To correct, I simply lay them on the cement floor of my shop, concave down , with some weight to hold them in place for a few days. This has never fail...
by Barry Black
Thu Oct 15, 2015 8:58 pm
Forum: Wood and Materials Q&A
Topic: Kiln-dried vs air-dried maple?
Replies: 8
Views: 9394

Re: Kiln-dried vs air-dried maple?

If air dried is available I would go for it. When I retired from building furniture for a living I ended up with quite a bit of wood which had been stickered on my racks for up to 18 years. Since then I have used it in projects along with freshly purchased kiln dried and have noticed a huge differen...
by Barry Black
Wed Oct 07, 2015 12:37 am
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Hurdy gurdy tangent spacing
Replies: 8
Views: 15425

Re: Hurdy gurdy tangent spacing

On my Pimpard hg I made the tangents from hard maple and attached them to the key bars with 2 X 56 pan headed machine screws which allowed them to be adjusted quite easily. I think for the sake of practicality I'll do the same thing on the Varquain. I want it to have a period look however I do also ...
by Barry Black
Sat Oct 03, 2015 2:57 am
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Hurdy gurdy wheel dimensions
Replies: 2
Views: 7061

Re: Hurdy gurdy wheel dimensions

Thanks for the response Yuri. Fiber resin board used to be used a lot as an insulator in high voltage applications and sometimes for printed circuit boards. It's usually medium brown colour and looks like fabric sheets glued together with some kind of fibreglass resin and is relatively dense/heavy. ...
by Barry Black
Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:43 pm
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Hurdy gurdy wheel dimensions
Replies: 2
Views: 7061

Hurdy gurdy wheel dimensions

The Varquain style hurdy gurdy that I am currently building is shown in the drawing as having a 1/2" thick wheel. I would like to try using some fibre resin board for the wheel as it is very stable however the nearest thickness that I can find is thinner, closer to 1 cm. Does anyone know whethe...
by Barry Black
Fri Sep 11, 2015 12:15 am
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Hurdy gurdy tangent spacing
Replies: 8
Views: 15425

Re: Hurdy gurdy tangent spacing

Thanks, the fret calculator is a big help.
by Barry Black
Thu Sep 10, 2015 2:47 am
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Hurdy gurdy tangent spacing
Replies: 8
Views: 15425

Re: Hurdy gurdy tangent spacing

Thanks John. Now I just need to find out what that 'fraction' is. I guess I could find a guitar, measure the distance from nut to the closest fret and calculate the fraction myself.
by Barry Black
Sat Sep 05, 2015 12:59 pm
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Hurdy gurdy tangent spacing
Replies: 8
Views: 15425

Hurdy gurdy tangent spacing

I am planning to build another hg now that my Pimpard is in the hands of my musician son and apparently not a complete failure and waste of pretty wood. This time I am going to make a copy of a Varquain guitar shaped one with a few modifications. I know nothing about music and so before I begin, I w...
by Barry Black
Mon Aug 31, 2015 7:07 pm
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Now that I have made it,what do I do with it?
Replies: 8
Views: 12635

Re: Now that I have made it,what do I do with it?

I'm not musically inclined either so I gave the hurdy gurdy that I just finished to my son. He is a musician so it's his problem now :)
by Barry Black
Wed Aug 26, 2015 3:14 am
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Building a hurdy-gurdy
Replies: 111
Views: 160080

Re: Building a hurdy-gurdy

I'm guessing that you were able to view it Charlie. I have to say that I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out, considering it is my first instrument and to be honest, I had no idea that it would be playable at all. However in 20 minutes my son Jeff had got it tuned and played that short piec...
by Barry Black
Mon Aug 24, 2015 3:09 pm
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Building a hurdy-gurdy
Replies: 111
Views: 160080

Re: Building a hurdy-gurdy

Ok, here goes. Let me know if this works.
by Barry Black
Sun Aug 23, 2015 7:57 pm
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Building a hurdy-gurdy
Replies: 111
Views: 160080

Re: Building a hurdy-gurdy

Charlie it's a video file 2.3 MB. We probably should have made a separate audio file, but it never occurred to me, and now the hg is with my son, back in Vancouver.
by Barry Black
Sat Aug 22, 2015 3:11 pm
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Building a hurdy-gurdy
Replies: 111
Views: 160080

Re: Building a hurdy-gurdy

My son finally was able to visit and get the hg to produce a kind of tune. This was his first attempt and i had no idea that it would take three people to play it :). Hopefully I can upload this little video as proof. I am anxious to hear what people think of my first attempt at building an instrume...
by Barry Black
Sun Aug 09, 2015 8:15 pm
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: First mandolin
Replies: 18
Views: 24467

Re: First mandolin

It looks great to me and the wood looks a lot nicer than I would find in a scrap bin at my local home depot. :)
by Barry Black
Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:04 am
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Building a hurdy-gurdy
Replies: 111
Views: 160080

Re: Building a hurdy-gurdy

I am having trouble finding strings for my hg locally so I decided to try some tennis racquet gut for strings, if I could find any. It turns out that no one around stocks it due to the shelf life issue, but I did get some stuff that is a 'gut substitute' that re-stringers use. it's just over 1.2 mm ...
by Barry Black
Wed Jul 22, 2015 8:18 pm
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Building a hurdy-gurdy
Replies: 111
Views: 160080

Re: Building a hurdy-gurdy

Hi Charlie, just wondering what strings you used on your hg?
by Barry Black
Sun Jul 05, 2015 2:32 pm
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Building a hurdy-gurdy
Replies: 111
Views: 160080

Re: Building a hurdy-gurdy

I am settled now on Vancouver Island and need to get this hg finished. I decided to french polish the main parts. In the past I have mixed the shellac flakes with denatured alcohol, but I couldn't find that here and was advised that methyl hydrate would work just as well. I think I was misinformed b...
by Barry Black
Tue Oct 01, 2013 8:19 pm
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Building a hurdy-gurdy
Replies: 111
Views: 160080

Re: Building a hurdy-gurdy

Nice job Charlie.
Seeing your pictures is making me anxious to get on and finish mine but thats not going to happen until I purchase a new home here in Comox BC.
So how does it play?
by Barry Black
Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:08 pm
Forum: Other Stringed Instruments
Topic: Hurdy gurdy construction questions.
Replies: 32
Views: 25801

Re: Hurdy gurdy construction questions.

Well, I have applied a couple of 'coats' of blonde shellac to my HG as per our discussion in Charlie's HG topic, and it's now ready for a light sanding and polishing. Meanwhile my house has sold and I must put it away again until we get settled in a new home which we have yet to find in the Comox Va...

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