zithers lutes and lyres

Look what I just bought

2011-06-15T03:03:00.000-07:00

ebay is a trap.

But I really have wanted an electric bike for a while, so one day I put in a bid not expecting to win. But I did.
It's great. Even a fat old bloke can ride for a long way, limited only by how sore his bum gets.

A Bowl for the Newly Weds

2010-04-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

and another photo so you can see what it looks like when it's put together.

A Bowl for the Newly Weds

2010-04-25T05:04:00.000-07:00

My darling wife has cousins, nieces and nephews just like the rest of us.

And they sometimes get married. Recently we were invited to a city far, far away for the wedding of one of her very lovely nieces. As it is to be in a city far, far away, I decided not to go, but offered to make something as a wedding present.

After much dithering and several false starts I acquired a lump of African mahogany (khaya senelganesis). Despite the foreign sounding name the tree from which it came grew right here in Darwin ( or close thereto).

The African mahogany is a naturalised Territorian. I have two very sturdy examples in my own backyard.

But despite being on terms of some familiarity with the tree I had not previously used it as for turning, although I had seem some examples of work by others, and knew it could produce very worthwhile results.

So here it is: a lidded bowl, approx 21cm diameter. the lid is formed to take dips, biscuits, cheese etc in two separate sections.

I made a somewhat similar bowl for aforementioned wife, in pine. I assume she did not dislike it too much, as she suggested the design for the wedding bowl.

So here it is: the wedding bowl, African mahogany, orange oil finish (hence the satiny finish), and note the colour of the timber. NO, I did not spill beetroot on the wood!

Clock setting - olive wood

2010-04-18T06:18:00.000-07:00

Like most things in life woodturning is more fun when shared with someone else.

This clock setting, done in double harness with Tom while on holiday. His lathe, his wood (olive wood - beautiful stuff), but I claim the idea.

Not a bad result from a piece of wood languishing in a box of bts and pieces.
z

A Lute - at last

2009-11-15T05:10:00.000-08:00

Finally, I justify the name of the blog.

This is a lute.

Go on, look it up in your dictionary. It is, by definition, a lute. Sure it doesn't look much like the picture from medieval England of the King's lute-player, with a multi-stringed instument, with a weird bent-back peg-board.

It's more in the historical line of middle Eastern or even Chinese lutes, which pre-date the Pommie version by quite a few centuries.But I can't really claim it's that either, it's just a thing that grew out of the wood, like a wood-turned mushroom.

technically: 4 stringed, (bronze wire), strung to zither pins at both ends, sound chamber is a turned bowl of pinus radiata, rod is glue laminated jarrah/cypress pine.

It is non-fretted.

One night I was worrying about how to fix the fret-board, when a voice boomed out of the night sky, and said "Dooooon't fret!"

So I didn't.

But I'm thinking the voice may have misled me, because the lute would be more useful as a musical instrument if it was fretted, so I'm thinking about fitting a fret-board.

Or perhaps make another lute next year, fixing all the mistakes that I currently pass off as design features, and make that one a proper fretted lute.
We will see.

All the best from vsquared

Rest in peace. Scott

2009-11-03T05:12:00.000-08:00

An old mate died recently. Because one tends to feel pretty useless at times like that I offered to make an Urn for his ashes.

It ended in 3 urns, not one. The lower photo is the main one.

I'm not entirely happy about any of them, but I did my best.

New guinea rosewood, finished with Rustins plastic.

All three made from the one rather umipressive branch, so at least it was a good use of resources.

Bowls - not bad actually

2009-10-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

Top picture - black wattle bowl - very simple but timber is beautiful Nice colour and grain, hey.

Pictures 2 and 3 - bowl - domesticus robusticus - also known as hard timber I found lying around at home.

Colourful pens

2009-08-07T05:27:00.000-07:00

Pen blanks from man made material can make interesting pens.

Certainly people seem to like them.

But it'll never replace wood, as far as enjoying the process of turning goes.

The reddish brown one, all by itself, is red gum.

Bowls - different shapes, sizes, timbers

2009-04-14T05:32:00.000-07:00

Three new bowls, none of them quite finished.

I'm in the throes of re-inventing the lute, (or one of its many forms), and each of these bowls started out as a sound-bowl or part of a sound chamber for the lutes (there are to be two).

In the photo with three bowls, the one on front left. New Guinea Rosewood, was to be a sound-bowl, i.e no lid, but it has gradually lost favour and will probably end up just a bowl, for peanuts and popcorn perhaps.

The dark one at the back, Darwin black wattle, was to be the bottom of the sound chamber for lute no. 2, but it also is probably not going to get the job.

The one on the right, pinus radiata, is now favourite to be the open sound bowl, and the sound chamber will probably also be in pinus. I have two blanks prepared for the sound chamber, and with luck will turn them this coming weekend.

Why all the changes? Probably I'm not good at planning, and projects get made up as we go along. Change is inevitable. Sometimes, change is good. Sometimes, its just easier to change than to finish what we started.

The lonely photo in the left corner is the black wattle. We have been fighting for two weeks now, as it really did not want to become a bowl, and declared it was willing to self-destruct at 2500rpm if necessary.

But I was too clever for it, and although it is now 20% glue, we have declared an honourable draw, and it is a bowl.

(NB It is not yet finished, and if you look closely it is still in the chuck, destined to go back on the lathe within a couple of days. Hara-kiri is still possible. I will report further. For those who are interested in detail, the finish is olive oil, and looks great. I'll keep up the oiling until saturation is reached.)

all the best

vsquared

A very small piece of Penola redgum meets its fate

2009-02-19T05:09:00.000-08:00

The previous post features a sizeable lump of Penola redgum.

I left most of it in Aldinga, but smuggled a sliver home in my hand luggage. (Photo)

I then cut it in half, and the result is a clock insert, as you can see.

What is interesting from a woodturning point of view is that the timber, which had not been neatly cut but just rough-split, could not, due to the rough and broken surface, be turned down to a nice, neat item.

I turned it to a round, more or less, but retained much of the broken, split, damaged surface.

Whether it is a successful piece I'm not sure. But it is interesting, and I had fun with it.

I have another little piece, which might get a similar treatment. Not sure yet.

The photos aren't terrific, but if you douoble click and enlarge them you'll get a better view of what I've described.

All the best

vsquared.

Acquiring timber, honestly

2009-02-04T05:56:00.000-08:00

Recently we went holidaying, and drove many miles. First stop was Penola, and pretty and friendly town with an unfortunate climate.

But its climate, wet and cold, makes for beautiful timber.

We did the touristy thing, looking through some old and historic cottages, built of timber slabs, plus whatever else they had to hand. It was genuinely interesting.

Stacked, ready for burning in the open fire, was a collection of local timber. I confessed to the kind lady who who had opened the cottage that I had a shameful habit, i.e. reducing perfectly good timber to shavings, and please ma'am could I have a piece of your firewood.

"Poor doddering old fool" she thought. But what she said was, "Sure, help yourself".

So I did, to a big lump of Penola redgum. Most of which now resides in a shed in Aldinga, waiting for a fellow wood butcher to have 'a nidea'. A little bit followed me home to Darwin, and I'll post a photo soon that will reveal its fate.

Little things finished recently

2008-09-23T06:48:00.000-07:00

A few new masterpieces.

Well, at least they're relatively new and finished.

They are a lidded box (perhaps jewellery box), with a clock insert inside the lid. The idea seemed good at the time, and it worked OK, but I'm not sure how practical it is.

A sort of pocket watch - a prototype - which worked OK, an d I'll make a modified version later to make it more compact: a spinning top: a plain lidded bowl with contrasting timbers: and a music box in black wattle. The music movement is in the lid, and makes the lid too heavy to be practical. But the black wattle is pretty.

Come to think of it, no masterpieces among them at all. But enough progress to make me relatively satisfied.

all the best,

vsquared

Woodcraft and capitalism

2008-09-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago one of my correspondents, whilst on a tour of the winery's of the Adelaide southern vineyards, come across some woodturned pens, offered as a souvenir by a vintner, for $30.00. She was of course scandalised, knowing the modest price I put on my creations.

The price tag of $30 does provide a very substantial profit, and brought to mind a poor, grey-bearded, shortsighted woodturner, slaving over his lathe until late into the night, and getting but a pittance for his work, with the profit being picked up by the large winemaking corporation.

But that is the way capitalism works.

More recently still, I came across an ad for pens, made using jarrah (sorry, Jarrah) from a Perth WA cathedral, currently being refurbished. These pens are top of the line, a veritable Rolls Royce of pens. Each kit (i.e. the works of the pen) costs upward of $80. To that add the very little bit of historic jarrah, some work, some skill, some sandpaper and wood-finish, and Lo -
you have a pen worth >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>$495.00.

Christianity hasn't survived for 2,000 years without learning a thing or two!

Singer treadle to computer desk

2008-08-05T06:27:00.000-07:00

My dear old mum had a singer treadle sewing machine.

It was a beautiful machine (and mum was a beautiful mum).

Some time ago I acquired a singer treadly thing, minus the sewing machine and have had the intention to "do something" with it for a long, long time.

The time has come. I have a plan. I know what to do, how to do it, and what it will look like at the end.

This is the INCEPTION PHASE of a project.

The inception phase is marked by complete confidence, a certainty that this time things will go according to plan.

The next phase is the COMMENCEMENT PHASE. I've already entered this, as I have some of the basis materials to hand - see photo for treadle and some planks of cypress pine, which will be used in the construction. So far so good.

Further phases of the project are:
BASIC CONSTRUCTION- usually notable for finding there is a need for more timber, and for the discovery the timber is no longer available. A small loss of confidence sometimes occurs about this time.

CONNECTING THE COMPONENTS - often a small error in measuring or cutting or glueing up is discovered at this point. Timber can be cut to shorten it, but it is very difficult to stretch, so luck can play a big part in compensating for this minor error. Emotions ranging from minor iritation to despair are not uncommon.

FINISHING THE TIMBER - If there is one thing that woodworking gurus agree on, it is that preparation of timber is the secret to a good finish. This equates to hours of rubbing and scrubbing with sand paper, all the while discovering scratches, dents and other imperfections that were NOT there when the project started. this is also the time to try and cover up the botch that occured in the previous phase. BOREDOM prevails at this time, with frustration common. The words 'NEVER AGAIN" are sometimes heard.

FINALLY - PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER - Why, why, does it NOT look like it looked in my mind's eye at the inception phase?
A modicum of disappointment, mixed with relief are common at this stage.

I'll report on progress in due course.

Finished - at last

2008-07-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

And it's better than it has any right to!

It started in The Guru's workshop, when I said I thought I'd turn the blank upside down and try a natural edge bowl. ( You HAVE noticed the edge isn't nice and flat and even, it's all wavey!)

The Guru said "Hmmmm. Whatever you reckon".

You need to know him to understand what that revealed of his opinion of the idea.

But I went ahead, and received the usual guidance and assistance. And all went fairly well.

At the sanding stage I took it home, intending to finish it on my newly acquired Jet mini-lathe. But I found I couldn't mount it, as the spigot on the bowl was to big for my only chuck.

Dammit!

I shelved tlhe bowl (literally) for a while, then had a brilliant idea. I drilled the base of the bowl and turned and fitted a pedestal. Wundebar. You are bnrighter than Einstein even...

Unfortunately, the pedestal wasn't quite exactly straight, or centred, or perhaps both. And when you put a slightly off balance lump on a lathe, the unbalance is magnified.

I shelved it again!!

Then, a few days ago, I plucked up my courage, gritted my teeth, put my shoulder to the wheel, my nose to the grindstone... and found it was impossible to work in that position.

So I attached the bowl to the lathe via the pedestal, and spent an uncomfortable hour or so sanding and polishing with the bowl thumping and bumping in unbalance.

And the result is OK. Not perfect - [perfection is for the gods).

But OK is OK.

Natural edge bowl on pedestal, New Guinea rosewood, finish Rustins Plastic.

all the best

vsquared47

pens, pens, pens

2008-07-06T06:35:00.001-07:00

This is the completion of a small order for pens, which will now travel to the far side of the world, before meeting their users.

The timbers in the four pens on the left are, from the left: Cypress pine, Darwin Black Wattle, Flame Sheoak, and Northern Ti Tree.

The two pens in the photo on the right are the Flame Sheoak and the Ti Tree. All the timbers are Australian natives, the black wattle and ti tree are Northern Territory indigenous.

The sheoak and the ti tree are outstanding timbers for small turned items, being dense, close grained, with a fine finish. the sheoak has great colour and pattern, reddish brown with black streaks. Very showy, though it doesn't show up much in the photos. We'll blame the photographer, not the timber or woodturner.

I take more pride in my wood craft than photography these days. though I used to be a pretty fair clicker. In fact, the older I get the better I used to be.

The cypress and black wattle are fine general purpose timbers, for turning, flooring (the cypress), furniture work, even carving. The ti-tree and sheoak are not much good for anything except small craft items, but what they do well they do really well.

I hope the people who find themselves in possession of any of these pens will visit this site. Leave a comment, tell me how great the pens are, tell me that MissE behaved herself (ha ha) or advise me not to give up my day job - whatever - it'll be good to hear from you.

hairy oak: ugly name, beautiful timber.

2008-06-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

The heading is a bit misleading. Only two of the items illustrated are hairy oak: the two reddish-brown pens.

The lighter coloured pen is Northern Ti-tree (or weeping ti-tree), and the lidded bowl is Darwin black wattle.

The shirt used for a back-ground displays my personal wood-turning philosophy. Thanks to shopper who found it.

But the hairy oak is a bit special. I hadn't heard of it until a few months ago, when I bought a 2nd hand lathe. The seller threw in various other items including a variety of timbers. One piece was/is an ugly grey lump, split and splintery all along it's length. It looked pretty useless, but I took it anyway - BBQs also provide a valuable service to the family. It had the words 'hairy oak' pencilled on it.

I asked my wood-turning guru if he knew it, and he advised I not throw it away. So I cut it open, and it's beautiful. Dark red/brown, with black streaks, (or, i think, black star spots if cut across the grain). It is highly prized by woodturners, though usually only for small objects (eg pens), beause it has an unfortunate habit of splitting along the grain as it dries. No good for anything but turning. What a shame.

Of course, it's not an oak really: Australia doesn't have any oaks.

It's an Australian native casurina. And if you don't like the name of hairy oak, it's also known as Flame Sheoak. Much more impressive I think, so Flame Sheoak it will be.

I'm turning a few pens at the moment, as I have an export order. Definitely flame sheoak for the international market.

all the best, from vsquared.

Black Wattle - a gift to woodturners

2008-04-06T05:56:00.000-07:00

This is the first thing I've made from black wattle, which is pretty much the Smith or Jones of woodturning timber in Darwin, i..e. everyone uses it because there's plenty available.

It's also a very fine timber for the purpose, and is probably the best local turning timber, taking into account colour, grain, ease of turning, and quality of finish possible.

Which is pretty funny really, because whenever a householder finds a seedling black wattle in their garden, they say "Another bloody black wattle. rip it our before it takes the place over".

The cup, chalice, call it what you will, falls a bit short of perfection. This is normal for me.

I think the holes in the base might have been a mistake, but the idea seemed good at the time.

all the best

vsquared

A lump is still a lump

2008-03-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

This is the lump of wood formerly known as a lump of wood.

It now has a shape.

But what does this shape mean?!?

What will the lump become?!?

These and other gripping questions will (or may be) answered in the next and further episodes of "The Lump".

all the best

vsquared.

A new lathe - a new project

2008-03-05T05:36:00.000-08:00

The new lathe mentioned in the title is, in reality, a second-hand lathe.

I was about to buy a new lathe, when a used lathe of the same type was offered, including an extension bed, stand, an armful of chisels and gouges, a chuck, and some other goodies.

For good or ill, I bought the used one. So far, so good.

In fact, so far, very good.

You see above my Jet mini-lathe, loaded with a lump of timber, which is already turned down to almost round. It started very lumpy and bumpy, but the little Jet handled it beautifully.

The lump is my latest project. I intend to take photos as I work through it, and at the end, tara-tara - it will be revealed as a..............................?

alternatively, you may note in a few weeks, no further mention of the lump. You may then assume I stuffed it up. Barbecue timber is useful too, you know!

all the best, from vsquared.

The art of the Christmas Present

2008-01-22T05:00:00.000-08:00

Some people spend days in department stores;

And some shop until their credit cards melt;

Some grow ill from the stress and worry;

And some slaughter the mink for his pelt.

But I did all my Chtristmas shopping at my lathe. And I don't really care whether people liked what they were given, because I had fun making it!

And here are some photos of a few of the outcomes.

Two angles of a New Guinea rosewood

cake stand. I look forward to a sponge-cake from it. Thanks to SkyW for the photos - a good job.

A camphor laurel bowl. I hope Pat enjoys it.

There was a cyclone

2008-01-21T04:38:00.000-08:00

African mahogany, victim of the chainsaw gang, and alas, too big for my modest abilities.
Inspecting a paperbark, some of which is now added to my stock.

Darwin, the city in which I live, work and destroy lumps of timber, is in the tropics, and so subject to cyclones - you know, big winds, lots of rain, trees and houses fall down, ships sink.

We had a smallish cyclone a few weeks ago. No houses fell down, no ships sank, but some trees did fail to survive. Fallen trees = wood available for the taking.

So a number of evenings recently have seen me on the roadside, saw in hand, making merry of natures abundance.

I am now rich! I have big mobs of black wattle (delicious), some nameless timber from the verge that might or might not be useful, and tonight I liberated some paperbark from the parklands down the street.

But, as every fisherman knows, the one that got away is the biggest. The photo is of the remains of an African mahogany, felled by a cruel woodsman's chainsaw - just because it was big! I wanted to bring it home, but my teenage son wasn't willing to even try to lift it. What's the modern generation coming too?

It will be some time before I can produce anything from this windfall (nudge, nudge - windfall - get it??), as the wood is so green the sap is literally running out of it. But I'll record some results on this site when they happen.

All the best, vsquared.

The Tale of a Lump of Wood

2008-01-09T03:18:00.000-08:00

Small bowl - Raintree.

A small clock, inset into Raintree. Thanks to Tom for the photo.

Vase - Raintree timber.

Some time ago a little old man was walking through a forest - well a city park with some trees in it. He saw, lying on the ground, a lump of wood.

It was not a really small lump of wood, which would not have been any good for anything; it wasn't a really big lump of wood, which would have been too heavy to pick up; it was a medium size lump, just right to pick up, carry back to his car, and take home.

It was a piece of Raintree, and had been lopped from a tree by city Council workers that very day. The little old man saved it from the dreaded woodchipping gang.

And the little old man had a woodturning lathe. And the photos show what he did with the lump of wood:

It also provided the timber for another clock insert, smaller than the one in the photo, and for a couple of pens.

I'm sure my piece of Raintree must be very happy I saved it from the dreaded wood-chipping gang.

I'm getting famous

2007-11-18T05:36:00.000-08:00

In the blog world this must be fame, or at the least the beginning of fame.

My humble blog has been linked by a brilliant young art student, with literary obsessions.

I'll have to watch my sppeling and garammer if real book people are going to read it.

Not that it matters, me and my lathe will keep working away, and just occasionally launch a few random thoughts into the blogosphere.

We've been busy, me and my lathe, and 3 darts, marked with country of origin, will be post-hasting in the direction of the Athens of the South tomorrow.

All the best to all.
vsquared.

Pens and chess pieces

2007-11-03T06:14:00.000-07:00

Practice spindles for making a chess set, for my too smart by half son. I taught him how the play chess, taught him everything I know ( which isn't much), and now I can't win a game. So I'm no longer interested in playing chess, only in turning chess pieces.

Pens: interesting though it'll get a bit repetive unless I get creative, which I might. Much easier than it looks, once you've got the gear. And you have to purchase the "works" of the pen. the only wood-turning is the barrel. A good turner could easily make a couple of pens in an hour, including putting them together. I take about an hour per pen at the moment.

Woodturning - mistakes, blunders, blame the lathe

2007-10-27T06:37:00.001-07:00

There have, I know, been some rumblings of criticism over the fact that nothing new has appeared on this site for over two months.
But, as I am not under any contractual obligation, and I foresee no fiscal benefit attached to my ramblings, I am not at all repentant.

The steady reduction of the world's supply of timber continues, as I reduce perfectly good lumps of wood to shavings and dust.

Wood-turning really is very wasteful, though not as bad as printing newspapers.
I've recently been making pens - you know, things to write with when you don't have a computer. The word "make" in this instance is a bit misleading, as I buy all but the outer shell, then turn a piece of wood down to a very fine cylinder, into which the "works" of the pen are fitted. My guess is that 83% of the timber ends up on the ground, and the remainder forms the pen. But I comfort myself that what I start with would, for anyone but a woodturner, be rubbish to start with. Very small bits of wood are involved!

I've also recently been working on a crib board. A round crib board, obviouslyl, what other shape would a turner be making?
This involved bigger lumps of wood than for the pens, but still waste timber to the professional workshop that had thrown them on the junk pile.
Unfortunately, things didn't go entirely to plan. I managed to split off a large chunk, while turning. In fact, this happened twice. So I glued it back together, and modified the design to hide the bungle. Succesful? We will see - in due course - in the fulness of time.

Unfortunately, I suspect that it wasn't just a bungle by a ham fisted amateur. the lathe is developing noises it never had before. I suspect the bearings are wearing out, causing the drive shaft to move around a bit.
On the other hand, it might just be me.
.
I'll probably never be a really good turner - started too late in life. But I have a theory - a motto if you prefer. You've probably heard the proverb - "if a things worth doing, it's worth doing well".

I don't necessarily disagree with that, but I have an alternative - "the proof of whether a thing is worth doing, is if it's worth doing badly".
Working with wood, whether I do it well or badly, is worth doing for me.

Just lumps of wood

2007-08-24T04:50:00.000-07:00

This is the current project - cake stand/platter, from New Guinea rosewood. I promise it'll look better when complete.

Two pictures of a lump of Raintree wood, turned to resemble a vase.

This comes from then same piece of timber that the art student keeps her pens in.

It's finished as far as shaping goes, but doesn't yet have a polish/sealer/coating of any sort. A finish coat of something will bring up the grain and brighten it.

Should look good.

all the best,
vsquared.

woodturning - bad for your mental health?

2007-08-20T06:21:00.000-07:00

camphor laurel bowl

I said I'd post picture of the bowls I've been working on. Herwe they are!

The bottom one (upside down) was the first one, and the top one, made from New Guinea rosewood salvaged from a tree removed from m y workplace, is the second.

The other photo is the upside down one, right way up. It's turned from a pice of camphor laurel.
A very pretty timber, though not without practical problems for the wood-turner.

Birthday present - the cheap way

2007-08-03T06:35:00.000-07:00

The making of lutes, lyres and zithers seems to have ground to a halt for the time being.
The craft known as woodturning has me by the throat at the moment. I had intended that woodturning would be just one more skill to use in my pursuit of a usable musical instrument. But for some reason I find great satisfaction in taking a perfectly good piece of timber and reducing it shavings and dust.
And that is woodturning for you.
It does have it’s uses though. The photos herewith are of three items I salvaged from the debris on the floor, and which provided a cheapskates birthday present for my favourite arts student.
The little bowl (more of a saucer really - it started out much bigger) is from a nameless tree my back fence neighbour gave me after he had chopped it down. The thing that looks like a miniature beer barrel is a miniature beer barrel, and is turned from a 20 year old lump of Oregon, that was at one time part of a post holding up my pergola. These were made in my back-yard on the world’s cheapest lathe.
The biggest of the three I made in the timber workshop I attend once a week. This workshop should be called “Woodworker’s Heaven”. It smells of new and old timber, sawdust and glue, and the lathes whirr instead of clanking and rattling, and the chisels and gouges are sharp.
Anyway, this bowl is made from a piece of timber I rescued from a park after the city council had been lopping some trees. I was convinced it was a piece of black wattle, but Ian, the guru from the workshop, says it’s Raintree. He’s the expert, so it’s Raintree.
A nice bit of timber anyway, and I’ve got enough left to produce two more things.
Happy birthday my love.
Vsquared.

Lyre now complete - more or less

2007-07-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

I posted a photo of this lyre in an earlier post, but without the soundboards. There are two soundboards, though you can only see one in the photo - one either side of the frame obviously.

They're held in place by the tension of the strings, which pass over a bridge, which bears on the sound board.

The soundboards are turned from cypress pine, which I glue-laminated in 20mm wide strips, then turned on a lathe. Rather pretty I think.

The roughish looking frame at the bottom of the lyre is just a stand I put together to make it stand up for the photo. I'll tidy it up one day, as it works well.

The lyre actually sounds pretty good, but I've no way of getting a tune out of it, as I can't play anything.

all the best

vsquared47.

It's been a long time

2007-07-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

You might expect that, as it has been longer than a month since my last post, that the long zither would be pretty much finished. Alas and alack, that is not so.

Ideas for other things keep popping into my head, and I am easily distracted.

I think I've inherited this problem - Skywalker suffers from the same malady.

So, since the last post, I have not finished the zither, I have started another lyre, recommenced my woodturning adventures (at a woodturning workshop and on my el cheapo GMC lathe at home), and completed the lyre that featured in a previous post, by fitting the sound-boards it lacked, (wood-turned, and rather pretty if I say so myself).

The wood-turning was intended to be just a skill to be at the service of the instrument making projects, but it is proving to be hard to keep it in its pigeon-hole. It's an addictive past-time, and the quickest way to reduce a piece of timber to shavings that I know.

At the moment I have two bowls at the workshop that I hope to complete next week, plus a couple of things at home that I'm having fun with. I'll post photos of the bowls if they come up worth a picture.

For now, I've posted a couple of photos on of a 'lute', that I consider a failure. It's the first (and only) fretted instrument I've tried. I need someone with hands the size of a polar bear to stop the strings. (The neck is a bit oversize. I'll do better next time).

all the best

vsquared.

A real qin - I didn't make it!

2007-05-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

My previous post mentioned the 'qin', a Chinese long zither. The photo on right is a real qin, advertised on ebay. It's about 1.2m long.

The ebay ad didn't tell me much about this particular instrument, but a classic and serious qin would have seven silk strings, tuned by tightening cotton or flax strings attached to the silk strings. The cotton is wound round a wooden dowel, that is turned in a hole.

Sound strange? Well the instrument has a history of around 3,000 years. They did things differently in those days.

It's played, so I've read, by plucking/strumming, and using the row of dots on the side as guides to where to stop the strings. It has neither frets nor bridges.

My reading also suggests it took many, many years to become a master of the qin.

I believe it!

All the best.

vsquared.

Long zither - starting a new instrument

2007-05-10T05:04:00.000-07:00

Starting a new instrument. This week I started constructing a new instrument - a long zither, based on the Chinese "qin" (or "chin").
Note, I say 'based on'; I don't claim that this is a qin. I'm not that presumptuous. The qin has a 3,000 year history, and is considered by Chinese scholars to be one of the great musical, poetic and philosophic influences.

So, what I make is a long zither, influenced by the qin.

It will be about 1.2 metres long, by about 160mm wide at it's widest point, and will be strung with six bronze or brass strings.

I'm using one of my favourite timbers for the body - cypress pine. It's a pleasure working cypress; it cuts and planes well, glues well, and finishes beautfully. When it's being worked it gives off a wonderful piney/spicey/turpentiney smell. It can have big variations in colour and grain. The batch I'm working with isn't highly varied, and is a bit like teak in appearance.

As a contrast I'll use NT stringybark for zither pin planks at each end. The stringybark has a pink to reddish brown colour, and is quite hard. It unfortunately smells like dog poo when being cut or planed.

I unreservedly love the cypress, because it's pleasure to work, and if you make an effort with finishing it looks great.
I have a bit of a love/hate thing with the stringybark, because although I do like the contrast in colour it provides, I really don't enjoy working it.

As the zither progresses I'll post some photos to show the stages.

A slab zither

2007-05-03T06:35:00.000-07:00

A zither is a stringed instrument, with the strings stretched across the sound chamber or soundboard.
Unlike, say, a guitar, it doesn’t have a neck to extend the strings beyond the sound chamber.
That’s it. Within that description it can look like anything.
For instance, the Chinese (and Japanese and other Asian nations) have traditionally used long zithers, with anything from five strings to more than 30. They are usually unfretted, with movable bridges.
I’ve made a couple of long zithers based on the Chinese “qin”.
The European zither is more commonly rectangular with multiple strings - often 20 or more.
The nearest I’ve made to the European style zither is what I call the slab zither. It’s made from a slab of camphor laurel, which was given to me by a very generous man. Thanks Peter.

I use mainly Australian native timbers, but camphor laurel is an introduced species. Its very common in parts of New South Wales and Queensland. In fact its been declared a noxious weed in some places.
In dairy farm regions it’s a real pest, because if cows eat the foliage their milk tastes of camphor!
But the timber is good to work - medium hardness, interesting grain patterns, planes and sands OK.
This particular slab (which means I don’t know if it’s all like this) seemed to be affected by some dark staining - perhaps fungal attack. As often as I sanded/planed it out, it appeared again next day.
I ultimately decided to lightly stain the main body to conceal the marks. In the photos, the natural colour of the timber is the sound chamber cover; the darker body is due to the stain.
This zither has 17 bronze strings, from .012” to .025”.

another lyre - even stanger than the first

2007-04-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

A lyre is a very simple device, but it's very simplicity means it can take a variety of forms.

This one I made from the fork of a Norther Ti Tree, known locally as a weeping ti tree.

I call it David's Lyre.

You remember the David from the Old Testament. The first mention of him is when King Saul, who was having a few professional problems at the time, commanded his helpers to find someone who could play the lyre and thus cheer him up. David, a shepherd boy, was brought before him, and his playing cheered up the grumpy king. In fact Saul sent a message to David's father saying he had decided to keep him. Then, when Saul's kindom was invaded, David took on Goliath, and killed him with a stone from his sling. Ultimately of course, David became King in place of Saul. But he started as a shepherd boy, who played, and I have no doubt made, his lyre. And if he, a poor shepherd boy, made a lyre, what did he make it from?

He didn't have a luthier's shop available, probably not even a corner music store. So what more natural, given the shape of the lyre, than that he found a suitable tree fork, and worked from there.

I guess he didn't have bronze music strings available, as I have used, but then I couldn't get my hands on sheep or goat gut, nor the sinews of the lion or bear, as I'm sure David did.

The top bar is of Northern Territory stringy bark (see previous post) and the partly completed sound board is a slice of Darwin Black Wattle. All the best from vsquared47.

What's a lyre.

2007-04-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

A lyre is a seriously ancient musical instrument.

The ancient Greeks loved it, and the Egyptians used it.

It probably goes back 4,000 years, perhaps more in it's most basic form.

In more modrn times the Irish and the Welsh both used it, either as a precursor or as a poor cousin to the harp (say 800 to 1300AD). Don't hang any heavy hats on my dates.

The one pictured isn't quite that old, in fact I'm still working on it, though I started it about 12 months ago.

I wasn't happy with the standard of joinery so I put it away for six months or so. Then I had a moment of inspiration that put all to rights. I think it'll be good when finished.

The arms are of two different New Zealand timbers, glue laminated in three strips to form the curve.

The top bar is of Northern Territory stringybark; very hard and strong, ideal to carry the zither pins I use for tuning. Unfortunately it's not a pleasant timber to work - it smells like dog poo when cut/planed/sanded. But it looks and performs well, and you don't get the smell once the job is finished.

More on lyres later. Play well. All the best from vsquared

Intro to 'zithers lutes and lyres.

2007-04-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

This publication will be for the purpose of sharing my interest in crafting strange musical instruments, which for want of better descriptions I call variously "zither", "lute" or "lyre".

There might be a few ring-ins, as I've also made some simple-system flutes, and a hammered dulcimer.

I'm not an expert, just a backyard wood-butcher who has found, in my advancing years, a very interesting hobby.

If I sometimes wax philosophical as to why I do this, or the importance of not losing the skills that our ancestors used to make these interesting instruments, I apologise. You don't have to read all those boring bits.

I'll post some photos for you to look at instead.