Kontrabasharpa build

The key box design is very simple (thank you Kjell Lundvall for the suggestion). It’s even more simple than the […]

Having got the top nicely smooth, it’s time to cut some holes in it. Knowing how much work has gone

Now the top (second version) is glued up from strips, and approximately the right shape, it has to be shaped,

Having found that a steamed top wasn’t really working well enough – I really think this old timber is very

Before completing the second attempt at the top of the instrument, I decided to complete and glue on the headstock

Before the top can be attached to the body, there are a few more things to do. First, decide how

After a lot of work planing the piece selected for the top to thickness (about 3.5 to 4mm), it was

Originally I thought I would make the top from glued pieces, and cut it out to shape with chisels and

The back of the instrument is made from tonewood – a part of the old piano soundboard, cut to size

Time to finish the rough shaping, and round off all the sharp corners! First a bit more wood can be

Now I have a lump of wood that’s roughly nyckelharpa shaped, it’s time to start cutting bits off to get

The first step is to glue together the large blocks of wood from which the body and neck will be

Here’s what it’s going to look like – very roughly! The blocks of wood that will form the body have

I had originally thought I would build the kontrabas nyckelharpa using new wood, and spent some time on the web

With the decision made it was time to get some bits needed to complete the initial drawings. I had decided

Having owned a three row chromatic nyckelharpa since May 2014, when I collected it from Olle Plahn in Falun, I