My first concert type instrument. I have named it "El Chocolate".
Welcome back to Woodworking Wednesdays. There's been a lot of developments in projects around here. Today, well see some of the work on my first concert type instrument. I'm excited to show how it is going and can't wait to listen to its first sounds!
Sound Board
We start with the soul of the project. The sound board is responsible for the quality of th sound in any strings instrument. On this project, I got some Red Cedar (thija plicata). I have listened to a lot of instruments made with tops of this wood and think it is an interesting choice for an instrument without bass like a Venezuelan Cuatro. It will give a deep and rich nature to the instrument's timbre. Thus the name, "El Chocolate" (the chocolate)
I went to an old strut display. To be honest, having so many struts isn't ideal for such a small instrument. However, there are give plus a reinforcement because I'm working with a thin top. We are somewhere around 1.3 - 1.2 millimeters. Red Cedar is really flexible with ways, vertical and horizontal, thus we need to ensure the sound board won't be deformed by the tension of the strings.
While voicing the top, we remove material from the struts to get to the desired sound. We shouldn't remove too much material from the middle strut since it's the one reinforcing the joint between the two pieces of wood that make up the sound board.
Once we have the rest of the reinforcements in peace, we can go ahead and carve them and sand everything to make it look smooth!
Assembly
If you're wondering when did I make the rest of the parts to assemble this one, you can go over here to recap. There's more about this and another project here. What can I say? I've been busy this year!
So, this one is going on the mould. All ready for assembly.
Ah, the beauty of having made a lot of work ahead of time.
We start with the end block on the sound board. This is where all the pieces will come together. Once we have fixed the top with the neck, we are on with the assembly process. We take a quick time to sign the instrument and we press of with the build.
Sides
I'm using a beautiful national wood called Pardillo. The scientific name of the spices is Cordia Alliodora. It is an easy wood to work that is somehow related to bay leaves. I say this because it has a similar aroma. It has a pale brown color and a beautiful grain.
After bending the sides, we make sure to trim them to the desires length. Then we glue them to the sound board using clamps. One side at a time, as to make sure each piece glues properly. With them into place we can move on to the internal reinforcements.
Reinforcements
We are using two kind of kerfing here. First, the wedged for the sound board and a complete kerfing for the back. These reinforcements are here to see sure the top and sides are bound. The same thing for the back and sides. The last reinforcements in the interior are to reinforce the sides themselves and extra one to make a monitor for the player.
With all these pieces in place we only have to take the extra step of trimming the sides to fit the back. This instrument has a rounded back with a 6000mm radius. After this is done we can finally close it.
Closing up
Before doing all the rubber binding, I too some time to see this. It is a thing of beauty. I'll never be making my first concerts instrument again, so I'm savoring the moment.
Now we just need to wait until the glue settles so we can move on and keep up with the project.
Bindings and Purflings
These are some of the ornaments that need a tons of skill. You need to trim a section of the sound board in order to place them. You can use anything you want to make both purflings and bindings. The rule of thumb would be to use a softer material for the binding (the inner strip) and a harder one for the purfling (outer strip). How you combine these depend entirely on aesthetics values of each person or a color scheme of the instrument.
I got some help back at my teacher's workshop to do this part. But this is the easy thing. The good part went on back home for the installation of these strips of wood.
I'm using more pardillo and purpleheart. The bridge and fretboard are going to be made of the latter too, so I figured I might as well use some for the ornaments. Once we have the strips theres a lot of measuring to be done and cutting implied. Both sides need to match at the bottom.
To help holding the bindings and purflings we use masking tape. To press them against the instrument we use some rubbers (these are bike's tire tubes cut in pieces). With this technique, we end with this result:
And after trimming the excess material, we end up like the photo sth the start of this post:
The work on this project has just begun. Join me next time as I go into making some of the pieces missing form this build and start with its finish too. I hope you have liked this project so far!
Follow me on Instagram for enquires and commission.
If you'd like to help the workshop grow, you can make a donation here. You can find me at discord as bertrayo#1763
Esa es la paciencia que yo necesito, de verdad realizar este tipo de obras es mucha dedicación y esfuerzo que sdbe poner, y tu eres todo un artista, me gusto mucho leer y ver el paso a paso, algún día me gustaría aprender y tener habilidades de como hacer un Cuatro, ya lo quiero ver listo.
Me encantó tu contenido ❤
De verdad que se necesita bastante tiempo y a veces un descanso del trabajo para apreciar el progreso. Por acá estamos a la orden si quieres aprender sobre esto. No hay muchas mujeres que hagan este su oficio pero las que lo hacen tiene obras espectaculares.
Muchas gracias por tus palabras. ♥️✨
The rewards earned on this comment will go directly to the people sharing the post on Twitter as long as they are registered with @poshtoken. Sign up at https://hiveposh.com.
Me gusto mucho leer con atención esta publicación y ver como haces un extraordinario trabajo.
Me gusta que todo se ve limpio y con mucho amor a lo que haces.
Felicidades por tu primer cuatro de concierto, ya se ve muy bien, espero verlo terminado.
Felicidades también por ser este post con el que te ganas esa insignia tan esperada en este mes de agosto memorable.
Saludos y bendiciones @bertrayo.
Muchas gracias. Hacer esto es una tarea de paciencia, pero cada vez que termino algo y veo el resultado, se me suben los ánimos.
Oye, cierto. Estoy cerrando el mes del #retodecreaciondecontenido con algo que me encanta hacer.
Además, recibir comentarios como estos hace que todo el trabajo sea mucho mejor. Espero tu post de hoy, @leidimarc
Con paciencia y conocimiento de como se hacen las cosas bien. Por eso logras un excelente resultado.
Si que bueno, es una meta más cumplida en Hive.
Yo rodando a Dios porque suba mi primer video, a cada rato se pone en rojo 😔
No hay de otra para hacer las cosas y querer que queden bien.
Sí, vale. Ojalá se suba pronto. A veces 3speak se pone chistoso con sus cosas.
Debo decir que el nombre de éste cuatro me encantó y me trajo recuerdos jajaja
El Chocolate!!
Andrés, estas fotos nos dejan ver mucho más detalles de todo el trabajo que hay detrás de cada cuatro que haces. No imaginaba que por dentro tenía tantas piezas pequeñitas que debes cortar y encima las haces ver lindas aunque por dentro nadie lo va a ver.
La verdad es impresionante y requiere una paciencia más impresionante aún! Un trabajo no aptos para ansiosos o quizás todo lo contrario.
Un abrazote amigo, espero ver al El Chocolate terminado!
Ja, ja, ja, ja. Curiosamente, el nombre es de mucho antes de comenzar el reto. Ese ya tiene un rato armado, pero como dije, le faltan unas piezas todavía.
Y sí, Rosa. Esto es como armar un rompecabezas. Peor aún porque es un rompecabezas funcional que se tiene que ver bien. Aunque creo que parte de ser ansioso es que esta clase cosas se me dan bien. Quizá sea un requisito. Además, parte de mi visión es que la gente vea lo que la "magia del cine" tapa sobre los instrumentos. Lo especial de cada pieza vienen al final cuando está completa. El resto es carpintería y paciencia.
Gracias por tu comentario. Y seguro que lo verás listo en unos meses. Algo así no se puede apurar.
Great work 👌👌
Thanks a lot! ✨✌🏻
You actually built this?
Yes, I've been a luthier for 2 years now.
I am astonished.. I really want to see more of this, if I could give you a bigger vote I would have... Reblogged and followed
Don't worry. Your comment and vote already means a lot. Engagement is far more important than rewards. Or at least that's how I see it. There's a lot more posts about these builds in my blog. I see that I need to make a curated collection of them.
Yes that's true.. I prefer engagement aswell... Otherwise whats the point...
I will definitely check out your blog sometime over the weekend 😜😜👌👌🙋♂️
Well, thanks. Gonna check yours as well. Gotta keep my spot in the engagement league. ✌🏻
You actually built this?
@appreciator @ocdb @arcange @acidyo
I dont know who more to tag but round up the forces and give this guy some votes here, this is really spectacular
I mean REALLY SPECTACULAR
Hey, man. Thanks. I do get some good votes from to time. The folks of @curangel had been there for me since my return to the Blockchain and it's been awesome. The ones you mention above also have shown their fair share of support from time to time.
I do understand that.. Although... I believe that its worth more than the vote you got 😂 but none the less you got something... I dunno.. To me thats really something brilliant.. I am a guitar player myself... So I know that its not just about sticking old planks together... There's a finer arr
Well, the world is what it is outside and in Hive. The good thing is that people who understand a bit of the art know the effort that implies assembling this. Rewards might come at some point on the future. Or not. Who knows? 😂
Congratulations @bertrayo! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s):
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Thank you for sharing this amazing post on HIVE!
non-profit curation initiative!Your content got selected by our fellow curator @rezoanulvibes & you just received a little thank you via an upvote from our
You will be featured in one of our recurring curation compilations and on our pinterest boards! Both are aiming to offer you a stage to widen your audience within and outside of the DIY scene of hive.
Join the official DIYHub community on HIVE and show us more of your amazing work and feel free to connect with us and other DIYers via our discord server: https://discord.gg/mY5uCfQ !
If you want to support our goal to motivate other DIY/art/music/homesteading/... creators just delegate to us and earn 100% of your curation rewards!
Stay creative & hive on!
Thanks a lot for your support and a special mention to @rezoanulvibes for choosing my post!
Congratulations @bertrayo! You received a personal badge!
Wait until the end of Power Up Day to find out the size of your Power-Bee.
May the Hive Power be with you!
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
Check out the last post from @hivebuzz: