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The progress reports

Each week (hopefully) we update this page with new photos of instruments in progress. The updates will usually be on Monday.

We hope that you enjoy seeing the progress on your instrument and those of others who have them on order.

 

Week ending July 7, 2008


See last week, or next week, or the index of other weeks for more pictures.


Well, it's been a little while, hasn't it? We've been very busy, and had some illnesses, and a bunch of other stuff too boring to include here.

My photopraphy has been a little sporadic, so I'll show you what I have, and fill in the rest with text.

At the workbench making a new master plug for the tailpiece mold. The drawings underneath are my specifications.

Boring one of the holes in the master plug on the mill. (In keeping with naming our new thickness sander Harris, we named this machine Cecil B.)

 

On the Minstrel, gluing in the linings.

 

The first iteration of our new go-bar deck. We've wanted one of these for years, and finally found that the time spent making it would be offset by the time savings in having it. The principle of the go-bar deck is simple: flexible rods are used to hold down items that need to be clamped together. Here we used cedar bars, which worked well, but didn't last more than a few clamping cycles. Later we switched to fiberglass rods from a kite shop.

Gluing together the base of the deck.

 

Making so many instruments at once made it easier to streamline the processes of making the indivdual parts.

 

Gluing the back braces on the Minstrel with the go-bar deck.

Gluing on the Minstrel's back.

 


 

Laying out the keybox position on a Chinook

 

 

 

We went to San Antonio, Texas, for Louise Craig's Hurdy-Gurdy Weekend.

Here's Cali giving Louise pointers on setup on her new Chinook.

 

Michael Laird with his Orca

Playing in the living room

Roy Trotter and Cali

Mesquite is common in San Antonio. Some are pretty normal...

... and some are a bit more twisted.

 

Playing into the night on the deck

 

It wasn't that hot by San Antonio standards, but I thought it was. Luckily I had shorts and a Tommy Bahama shirt.

 

Justin came to visit for three weeks. Thanks for all your hard work, Mr. J!

 

Cali's hurdy-gurdy with the experimental keybox.

 

David C. has been helping in the shop - thanks for your help!

 

Choosing woods for a custom inlay

Testing the vacuum clamping bag for leaks

 

Clamping a wheel cover with the vacuum bag

 

Working on one of the circuit boards for the electronics package.

 

 

Designing the mounting for the electronics package

 

The completed Minstrel

 

Alden with one of the completed Chinooks

 

William and Felicia came to visit - always a pleasure.

 

We played at Tacoma's Tall Ships festival - of course, no pictures.

 

 

 

 

See you soon!


Thanks for watching - tune in next week!


Beati illi qui in circulum circumeunt, fient enim magnae rotae.

Please contact us if you have comments or questions about this page or other pages on this site.

Alden and Cali Hackmann
Olympic Musical Instruments

Beati illi qui in circulum circumeunt, fient enim magnae rotae.

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