Chapter Four

Fitting out the Shell

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This chapter outlines the process f= or fitting the parts that go into a round or stave back shell. Square back sound boxes usua= lly have the cap and base of the sound box integrated into the frame. When I am building a harp with a l= ight sound box and more than 800 pounds tension, I usually include some kind of bracing.

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Deformation under tension, Curved back brace, straight bar brace

Planning for stresses

As the strings pull UP on the soundboard, the soundboard will pull the sides inwards. If the sides o= f the sound box are stiff enough, the deformations remain small. As harps get larger, t= he big bass strings introduce more tension. The long sides of the sound box are springier. If the sound board and/or so= und box deform too much, the sound board separates along the glue line, or the spruce board may tear out around the mechanical fasteners holding it to the shell.

After watching a shell implode or a= sound board “belly up” off the sound box, builders either stiffen the sides of their shell or add internal bracing to make the shell more rigid.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Most of the stress and deformation occurs at the bass end. For five octave harps (~1300 lbs of tension), I stiffen the shell wi= th a single brace (the mid-brace) placed about 2/3 of the way down the length of= the sound board .

Marking out the positions for the internal parts

For round or stave = back shells, the first task is to decide where to put the cap, bass and mid-brace within the staves.

While I am marking out the positions for the int= ernal parts, I hold the shell onto the bench using a fitted cradle at the treble = end, and a clamp and two small edges at the bass end.

I used to try to ma= rk the locations for the cap and base using scraps of wood, rulers, string and a b= evel gauge, but it turned out to be a tedious, error prone process. I found I could be much more accurate using a marking jig and centering the sound box to mark the positi= ons for the cap and base. <= o:p>

The jig should be a= s long as the length of the finished soundboard. The end blocks on each end s= hould be cut to the angle specified in the harps design. The width of the soundboard = can adjusted by moving the jig higher (or lower) within the shell.

Cap and base Jig - the dashed lines indicate whe= re it would rest on the upper edges of the shell when it is flipped over into place. The main plank is a th= in piece of plywood, 5” wide, sized to the soundboard (45.5” in th= is case). The cross piece = on the bass end needs to be wider than the bass end of the sound box. The blocks on each end are cut to = the angle specified in the plans

The marking jig ready to be lowered into place.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The position for both the ca= p and base are set by three marks – two on the upper edges of the sound box= and a third mark on the inside of the center of the shell back made by sighting along the angled surface of the block.

The angle and posit= ion of the mid brace is not as crucial. &nbs= p; Some builders use several braces to stiffen the shell. If you use a U or T shaped b= race, you will need to make sure it does not interfere with the sound holes. I simply use one U sha= ped brace and place it about 2/3 of the way down the sound box.

The parts may not b= e circular arcs. The cap and base are us= ually elliptical sections, so once the marks for positioning the cap and base are made, You can spile them (description below) or use coat hanger wire (bent to the appropriate curve)= and cardboard templates to make patterns for the cap, mid-brace and base.

The cap and base ar= e made from good quality ¾“ birch plywood. I will use ½” p= ly for the mid-brace. A good fit can= be achieved by spiling them to the edge of the shell. To spile, I cut the pa= rt oversize and place it an inch or so down the shell (toward the wider end).<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Then I trace a line on the plywood= with a pencil laid flat along the length of the shell. Using a band saw and station= ary sander, I remove stock right up to the pencil line, adjusting it to the bev= el by eye. I return = the cap or base to the shell to fine tune the fit by marking, then sanding away= the high spots. It so= unds tedious, but it only takes 30 minutes or so to neatly spile and fit all thr= ee parts with gaps under an eight inch. =

When I am satisfied with the fit, I scribe lines= along the upper and lower edges of the base and cap and mid-brace on the inside of the shell. These lines = will be used to cut the liners to the right length and angle. After the liners are glued i= nto place the lines will also ensure that I will glue the cap and base into the correct position. &= nbsp;

Ready to trace t= he final location for the cap, mid-brace and base in the shell=

Liners can be recta= ngular in cross section, but I like the look (and the economy) of triangular liners.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> I rip liners from a clear pine boa= rd with the saw blade tilted at 45 degrees. I cut the ends to length and= the correct angle, and glue them into place with yellow glue, clamping with spr= ing clamps and PVC pipe ring clamps every 4” or so.

The Notched bloc= ks needed to clamp triangular liners in place

After the Liners ar= e glued into place, I taper them. The pulling force of the strings is concentrated at midrange and base end, and I like to have a full inch of surface area to attach the sound board (¼” shell + ¾” Liner). At the treble end, the tension is = much lower, and a wider soundboard area will yield better volume and a fuller response. I taper the rib so = the width of the combined rib and sound box is about ½”.

Cut away view of= the shell, at the top and bottom ends showing fixtures to hold the cap and base into place while the epoxy cures. For the cap, a positioning block rests on the bottom of the shell. It is made from a 1x3 that is cut = to the appropriate angle. Double sti= ck tape holds the cap onto the block until the epoxy cures. At the base end, three pieces of l= ath are clamped to the shell (one on each side, and one on the bottom). The base piece rests against the l= ath stops. I wrap the ends of the= lath with shiny plastic packing tape to keep any epoxy schmutz from bonding them= to the shell or base.

Even with careful f= itting, I end up with ¼” to 1/8” gaps around the cap, mid-brace = and base, so I glue them in using epoxy thickened with wood flour (fine sanding dust). It takes a= bout 90ml of epoxy to glue all three into place. I coat all the edges with neat (un= thickened) epoxy and let it soak in. The= n I thicken the epoxy with wood flour to the consistency of peanut butter and g= lue the cap, base and mid-brace into place.&nb= sp;

For my first 5-6 ha= rps, I cut each sound hole by hand using Forstner bits, a jig saw and lots of sanding. Every other hole end= ed up looking noticeably asymmetrical, and I realized I needed a jig that would a= llow me to a quicker, tidier job of it. <= /span>

Underside of the= sound -hole routing jig

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Cross Section of= the shell, jig router and bar clamps, Set up on a shell.<= /p>

To build the jig, I carefully cut a set of sound= holes into a trapezoidal piece of Luan that was 48” long, 12” wide at= the bass end, 5” wide at the treble end.= I glued two 1x2 runners along the edges of the template so they woul= d hold the plywood just above the shell. A 16” piece of 1= x2 (the clamping bar) is screwed to the top of the template between the second= and third sound holes. Two = bar clamps are used to secure the jig to the shell. Two additional spring clamps are u= sed at the ends of the jig (on the X’s shown on the jig schematic) to secure= ly hold the jig to the shell. The holes are cut with a router equipped with a collar guide or a ball-bearing pattern bit.

Next, I trim the to= ps of the liners the cap and the base so they make a flat plane for the soundboar= d to rest on. Until I found a fixture that would allow me to securely hold stave and round back sound box= es to the work bench while I planed them, this was a daunting task. After trying six or seven elaborate frames to hold the shell, I came up with a system that would allo= w me to quickly secure a wide variety of shell shapes firmly to the bench.

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The fixture consists of two pieces. One is a small cradle that fits underneath the sound box on the treble end. I screwed a ¾ x &frac= 34; inch stick that fits into a bench dog hole to the cradle. The second piece is a cresce= nt shaped piece of wood cut from a 2x2 with a 3/8 x 10 inch carriage bolt epox= ied into it. The crescent i= s cut so the curve fits the inside of the sound box and it is just narrow enough = to fit into the middle sound box hole. &= nbsp; The parts of the cradle and crescent that contact the shell are padd= ed with thin foam. Even th= ough 1/3 of the harp overhangs the workbench, the fitted cradle and crescent pro= vide firm lateral stability for planing and routing operations.

Inserting the cr= escent block through the middle sound hole

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Trimming the cap= and base:

The shell will exte= nd beyond the cap and base end. I use to trim to the cap using a power miter (chop) saw. I set the shell onto a table= and set the double bevel on the saw to match the cap angle and make several successive cuts to “sneak up” to the top of the cap. There is a substantial risk of tea= r out on the back end of the saw, so now I trim it with a bandsaw (about ¼ in= ch high), then remove the excess on a stationary disk sander or the horizontal edge sander.

Trimming the top= of the shell the old way

For the base, I use= a band saw to cut the shell so it stands ¼ inch proud of the base. I lash the shell to my workbench through the bench dog holes.&nbs= p; The shell is wedge shaped, so the lashing can be tightened by pushing the shell down. <= o:p>

I use a router with= a straight bit and a block of wood screwed to the base to cut the shell so it= is flush with the base.

Router set up to= trim the shell flush with the base.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The ¾ MDF pad screwed onto = the router is the same curve as the edge of the sound box base. While the pad rides along the plywood base, the ½” straight bit trims the shell flush. =

At this point the s= ound box is almost ready for the sound board.

Go on to Chapter 5<= /o:p>

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