The case-side mouldings and joins
A drawing of a cross section of the case side shows the series of mouldings all six of which make the entire circuit of the case. The sides are supported and reinforced inside with the usual knees and these have a 'nick' near their top for use in clamping the liners to the knees and in clamping the case sides to the liners during glueing.
As can be seen here the lower outside case moulding hides the shaded piece of wood which is glued and nailed to the case side before the case sides or moulding are glued in place. This shaded piece of wood projects below the level of the baseboard. The outer lower case moulding is glued in place next using this lower projection for clamping it in place. The outer lower moulding is also easily clamped near its top edge using the same strip of wood. The top section of the case side is then glued in place by placing glue on the outside of the soundboard liner and on the top of the baseboard strip, slipping the case side into the space between the moulding and the knees and clamping the case side only at the level of the soundboard liner. The case side is then trapped in place between the top edge of the lower outer moulding and the knees in a kind of self clamping operation. This feature is found on many historical Neapolitan harpsichords.
Go back to the main page of this section