This week, probably for the first time this entire year, it feels as though I am finally “cruising” on building psalteries. I don’t have to go out and buy any supplies. I don’t have a cold or flu. I don’t have to make any new jigs or shop fixtures. I can focus on just psalteries.
I’ve been doing some spring cleaning though, and I’m clearing out some of the wood that’s been sitting in my drying cabinet for probably around a year. I’ve found some pieces that I’d forgotten I even had, and some that I’ve just plain neglected. But, you can expect to see a lot of neat new stuff in the treasure trove soon.
I’ll be adding some Honduran Rosewood sets, some crazy Cocobolo sets, (just need to get some side pieces to match them), and some really nice Spalted/Curly Ash, just to name a few.
I’ve added a few new note marker options. (You can check out all the options here.)
The first is the elegant Black Star Diopside. (Which reflects a beautiful floating light within the stone.)
And the second addition is a timeless classic: pearls. (Genuine pearls cultured on a freshwater pearl farm.)
I’m continually experiementing with new stones and new designs for note markers. In the future, I hope to offer even more options. Hopefully one such option that’s coming soon will be red jasper. I can always use about as precious a gemstone cabochons as anyone would want, (ruby, sapphire, etc.) yet these would most likely cost as much or more than the instrument itself. But if anyone is interested, please let me know via email and I should be able to work something out with you.
March 20, 2008 – 12:59 pm
As I was cutting some straight-grained 1/4″ x 1/4″ strips of Cocobolo for rosettes, a funny thing happened. I rotated the otherwise straight-grained strip 90 degrees onto its side, and was amazed at the crazy colors and patterns that were present in an otherwise plain board.
Show to the left is a rosette made from the afore-mentioned psychedelic Cocobolo strips, which is sitting on top of a figured Mahogany soundboard.
Here’s a cherry bowed psaltery that I’m currently working on. Its not strung up or finished yet, so I can’t say for sure how it will sound, but it’s tap-tone is outstanding. This is a great piece of cherry, with an unusual amount of resonance for a wood this light. (Note, as of right now, there is also another set available in the Treasure Trove for a custom psaltery.)
Unfortunately, I am sick once again. It’s not the flu, but it’s still a bad cough/cold, and enough to slow me down this week.
I felt constrained to help explain the phenomenon in certain types of Maple (mostly in soft Maple), known as “quilting.” Now, I’m certainly no expert on the matter, but I have worked with the wood before.
Basically, the wood looks blistered and crinkled up – and the more three dimensional the quilt, the better.
Now, another factor that can come into play is the viewing angle required to see the quilting. On the best pieces, (that is, with the heaviest amount of quilt), it will look completely three-dimensional at nearly all angles, and you’ll have to rub your eyes to make sure that what you’re seeing is actually flat. But most pieces, like the one pictured on the left, looks good only at certain angles.
You’ll notice that this picture was taken at a fairly low angle to the wood. (Plus, it’s dyed blue!) Usually, when viewed at a steep angle like this, the quilt is easily recognized. When it becomes less apparent is when the wood is viewed straight on, that is, basically perpendicular to the surface of the wood.
Here’s the same piece of wood, viewed straight on. You can see how some of the “3D effects” aren’t as prominent anymore. And to be honest, I think the camera is even being generous in this picture – this wood looks mostly flat.
Well, after quite a prolonged shortage, I’ve finally got my shipment of wound strings! Look for a new batch of bowed psalteries to be listed on the main site: Phantasy Psalteries in the near future.
After having experimented with all sorts of strings during the beginning of the year, I really am leaning toward nickel-plated wound strings as my all-around favorite. (Pictured at left.) The only other string type that I’m still considering is bronze phosphor, which has a tone very similar to the nickel-wound strings, but with a slightly brighter tone; but they don’t last as long as the nickel-plated strings.
I’ve tried all sorts of variations of nylon and silver-plated copper with a nylon core, but in the end, I still feel that nickel plated steel strings are the best overall. I found that plain nylon strings were very mellow, but also extremely “picky” in terms of how they needed to be bowed, and tended to be very scratchy and screechy with the slightest variation in bowing technique.
With the sliver-plated strings with a nylon-fiber core, I found an interesting phenomenon: the string would shift its pitch downward as soon as the bow left the string. It’s my theory that this is due to the inner core being wrapped too loosely. They do have a lot of potential, but they are not without their roadblocks.
