Last night I got the bridge glued on using a couple of clamping techniques. Kind of hard to clamp it this far from the sound whole, but this worked fine.
Today I drilled the holes for the PegHed tuners using an old friend, a hand drill that I bought in a garage sale sixty years ago. Electric drills are too aggressive in this instance. Hand tools are often more controllable. First I carefully clamped it into a secure position.
The old hand drill allows you to drill slowly and gently avoiding tear-out on the bottom of the peg head.
With the small holes drilled, now I can insert the tapered auger and cut out the 3degree hole necessary to insert the PegHed tuners.
These excellent tuners look like old violin begs, but they are really modern, aluminum geared tuners delivering a 4 to 1 gear ratio. I have used them for years, lightweight, reliable and handsome. Not cheap, but good!
And now for the big moment. The stringing up. I have had great success with Southcoast Strings.
AND SHE SINGS. I am very pleased with this Bubinga, Sitka Spruce combination. Looks good, sounds wonderful. And the Kasha bracing provides rich bass and bright but balanced trebles. This baritone is a success. I have been playing it for hours and enjoying that robust baritone sound. I will keep this one and sell my earlier maple and spruce bari. watch for it in the "available instrument" section of the website.
