N E W 5 - O C T A V E H A R P S I C H O R D S
I N T H E N E A P O L I T A N S T Y L E
Making the Soundboard Rosettes
Scraping the wood veneer
The wood for the top layer of each level is backed with a very thin high-quality parchment from a young goat with a very thin skin. Normal thin (1mm) veneer of pear (as above) or cypress was glued to the parchment using a thin hot hide glue. The glued wood and parchment were held flat between to layers of thick wool cloth to facilitate drying for about a day after glueing. The wood and parchment were then removed and held flat for the final drying under pressure from some small narrow battens. After a second day of drying the material was removed and was ready for working
The veneer was then thinned using a sharp plane blade used almost vertically but at an angle greater than 90°. Various other methods were used to try to thin the veneer, including a normal furniture scraper and a piece of broken glass. However, this method worked best.
The veneer was thinned, quickly at first, and then more slowly as the material became thinner. The wood was regularly held up to the light until it started to become translucent. The dark thicker areas were then thinned until the whole piece became uniformly translucent and had a thickness (including the backing parchment) of about 0.4 to 0.6mm. This was then cut and punched to make the initial top layer of each level of the rosettes.
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