Building the Lever Harp
Rick Kemper,
These
links will take you to chapters which outline, in detail, the tools and
techniques I use to build harps from the design stage through levering.
I
have tried to create the kind of resource wish I had when I started to
build harps, with an emphasis on the applied aspects of harp building. Over the next year, I will be completing
additional chapters which deal with the theoretical aspects of the craft.
All
together the first 12 chapters of the guide top 100 pages with more than 70
drawings and 50 photographs. With this
material, and a set of plans, the
rank beginner will be able to select a design and build nice sounding
harp. Intermediate builders will find
the jigs and techniques to start building more complex round or stave back
harps.
Cover, Intro and
Acknowledgements
1. What to Expect - The Basic
Building Process, Time and Costs
2.
Creating, Buying, Borrowing or
Stealing a Design
-Square Back
-Stave Back
-Round Back
5.
Plain and Fancy Soundboards
6.
Fabricating and Attaching
String Ribs
7.
Gluing on the
Soundboard/Batten Inlay Edge
8.
Fabricating the Neck and Pillar
-Wood Selection -Sawing out the Parts, Smoothing Curves
-Drilling the Neck -Attaching
the Knee Block
-Reinforcing the Neck
9.
Fitting the Major Parts
Together
-Doweled Neck and Pillar Joint -Splined Neck and Pillar
Joint
-fitting the
Neck/Sound box -Bolting the
Pillar
-Drilling the String Holes
10.
Sanding, Scraping and
Finishing
11.
Mounting the Hardware and
Stringing
-Reference Points, critical
dimensions, fudging
-Things Ma should have told me about epoxy
-Setting up a vacuum press
-Building a foam mold for round back shells
-Sourcing Wood for Sound Boards
-Adhesives for
This guide does
not include string bands or plans. I
sell plans for some of my
designs, and you can also purchase plans from outfits like MusicMakers, Cambria or Stoney End.
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