Friday, August 26, 2011

The Morin Khuur, Part 3

The neck will sit inside a pocket chiseled through the side material. I figured it would disguise any wood movement and add just that little extra lateral stability. The neck is set back at a 2 degree angle. The strings on the Morin Khuur are quite high, about 3/4" above the surface of the neck at the junction with the body.


The inserts are set a little deeper than the surface of the neck to allow for some material removal if at some point it becomes necessary to change the angle. I don't see this as an eventuality, but I like to make repairs as easy as possible.  Having done some tests with these inserts, I have every confidence in their ability to hold, even in end-grain.  I did a test once where I suspended a cord through an eye-bolt (in mahogany) and stepped on it like a rope-ladder.  I'm the biggest guy I know, and it held just fine.

The back is braced with two longitudinal braces and a little cross-grain seam reinforcement.  This maple made it into the scrap pile due to a nasty little knot that ran perfectly tangentially across the surface.  It's stable, but I decided to add a patch over it just in case. The back thickness runs about 3.2 mm.

All closed up.  It took some planning to come up with the correct sequence of assembly. I'm not sure this is the easiest progression, (I expect it will be fun grafting the head on to that neck with the body in tow). Still, it has come together nicely and I'm quite pleased with it.

No comments:

Post a Comment