I have been making good progress on the four tenors I am building. The parts and pieces are almost all completed and I will be bending sides very soon. Yesterday I completed adding the braces and tone bars
This is the clamping system to firmly hold down the pieces as the glue dries.
In the afternoon I spent a couple of hours playing with the BUG Community Players at the Lynden Senior Center. These outings are always fun, six ukuleles and my big two string bass. We played for the lunch crowd.
Then back at the shop I had a MiSi Pickup installation to do for a customer. Here is his new Martin in the stirrups with it's original strap button removed, ready for the operation
The hole was already located for me. I simply drilled into the hole left by the old strap button with this step drill. I find that a step drill cuts a perfectly smooth hole, and the final diameter step is just perfect for the MiSi hole.
Look at that nice clean hole. Right through the butt block.
Now it gets tricky! You must insert the pickup through the sound hole. Place a dowel of the right size into the aperture of the pickup sticking the dowel through the hole you have just drilled. With the pickup impaled on the dowel you carefully draw it out through the hole, adjust it for length of protrusion, and then tighten it in place with the nut on the shaft.
Then you must drill a proper size hole in the slot the saddle sits in, fish the piezo out the hole from within, and lay it flat in the groove. Then the bridge is reduced in size the same amount that the piezo has added to its height. I used thin steel wire wrapped around the piezo to pull the cable up through the newly drilled hole at the first try. A feat of surprise and delight.
Then you must drill a proper size hole in the slot the saddle sits in, fish the piezo out the hole from within, and lay it flat in the groove. Then the bridge is reduced in size the same amount that the piezo has added to its height. I used thin steel wire wrapped around the piezo to pull the cable up through the newly drilled hole at the first try. A feat of surprise and delight.
- Now the piezo cable is laid in the bottom of the groove, the bridge is thinned a bit and replaced over it and the job is completed. bring the strings to the tuners, tune her up, charge the pickup for 60 seconds and test it on the amp. Hot dog, everything works just right. Job Done!
