Unfortunately I forgot to take photos as I was making the soundpost. It’s another piece of the old piano soundboard, cut to a long thin square section at first, sized to fit the hole in the back of the instrument. The bulk of the post was then rounded, cut to length (with a slight angle on the top to fit the top of the instrument), and wedged in place using the traditional method, cutting a step in the base of the post. In the photo you can see the wedge – the thinner piece.
The next photo was taken with my mobile phone, poked as close as possible to an “ox-eye” soundhole. It shows the square section base of the soundpost, and the top of the wedge. Fiddle luthiers should note that the soundpost was traditionally on the “bass” side of the instrument – I added a “bass bar” to the top, so it is also on the “wrong” side!
So the instrument is more or less built – but the essential movable accessories (tailpiece, bridge, keys and leaves) still need to be made. There are one or two tiny adjustments probably needed to the keybox fitting before the keys are made, but it basically looks OK.
Here’s the keybox fitted. The upper sound hole looks a bit rough but it works – the Helmholtz resonance is probably right.
Finally, here’s the top of the keybox.
On to the next stage!