Hi Brian, you did a great job on the citole! Yes, the top did not fit, but the work was very well done! My comments may be invalid since I don't know how much the top was off. So forgive me if I'm preaching to the choir. But, did you consider adding binding or decorative edging to the top? It may have helped you to add additional material to the edges so it could be glued on. Otherwise, saving it for another citole would have worked too. Old school gamba makers as well as violin etc would make the rib garland and then trace the outlines on the top or back wood , leaving a margin to trim back. Also, many instruments we're built without a mold, tracing the outline on the back, and building the ribs onto the back, so the outline was not as critical. Maybe things already understood by you. I'd like to build a citole also, so I was very excited to see your video and your Facebook posts as well!! Many Thanks!
I am planning to have some kind of ornamentation on the edges, but I'm considering my options whether or not to use inlayed purfling, or some other kind of decorative edge. In any case, the gap in one of the corners here was big enough that I wouldn't have bothered trying to add wood around the edge to make up for it.
I looked around the internet for inspiration, and found one that I really liked from a Spanish luthier named Asier de Benito. I really liked the proportions and lines, even though I'd already decided against the more period accurate solid carved body and neck loop design that his uses. His website doesn't mention any measurements except for the length of the strings between the tailpiece and the nut at the pegbox, which he measures at 550 mm. From there, I did my best to extrapolate all the other dimensions. I pulled up good old MS Paint, and drew a line on the image along the aforementioned string length. It told me that the line was X pixels long. Then I looked up a proportion calculator online, because as my own video mentions, I hate doing math. But logically, if the line which is (X) pixels long is proportional to 550 mm, then I have the relationship between those numbers that I need, so when I draw another line to measure the width of the bouts and such, then the new line that's (X) pixels long is equivalent to (Y) millimeters long. This gave me an approximate blueprint to work from, but there were plenty of small adjustments made along to way to make things slightly more pleasing to the eye.
nice recovery! Live and learn....
Good save on the rosette!
Thanks. I went to bed furious that night. But the moment I woke up, I knew the solution.
Hi Brian, you did a great job on the citole! Yes, the top did not fit, but the work was very well done! My comments may be invalid since I don't know how much the top was off. So forgive me if I'm preaching to the choir. But, did you consider adding binding or decorative edging to the top? It may have helped you to add additional material to the edges so it could be glued on. Otherwise, saving it for another citole would have worked too. Old school gamba makers as well as violin etc would make the rib garland and then trace the outlines on the top or back wood , leaving a margin to trim back. Also, many instruments we're built without a mold, tracing the outline on the back, and building the ribs onto the back, so the outline was not as critical. Maybe things already understood by you. I'd like to build a citole also, so I was very excited to see your video and your Facebook posts as well!! Many Thanks!
I am planning to have some kind of ornamentation on the edges, but I'm considering my options whether or not to use inlayed purfling, or some other kind of decorative edge. In any case, the gap in one of the corners here was big enough that I wouldn't have bothered trying to add wood around the edge to make up for it.
Was wondering where you got the plan from? Or, did you create it yourself? Thanks
I looked around the internet for inspiration, and found one that I really liked from a Spanish luthier named Asier de Benito. I really liked the proportions and lines, even though I'd already decided against the more period accurate solid carved body and neck loop design that his uses. His website doesn't mention any measurements except for the length of the strings between the tailpiece and the nut at the pegbox, which he measures at 550 mm. From there, I did my best to extrapolate all the other dimensions.
I pulled up good old MS Paint, and drew a line on the image along the aforementioned string length. It told me that the line was X pixels long. Then I looked up a proportion calculator online, because as my own video mentions, I hate doing math. But logically, if the line which is (X) pixels long is proportional to 550 mm, then I have the relationship between those numbers that I need, so when I draw another line to measure the width of the bouts and such, then the new line that's (X) pixels long is equivalent to (Y) millimeters long.
This gave me an approximate blueprint to work from, but there were plenty of small adjustments made along to way to make things slightly more pleasing to the eye.