Major wood work complete!

 The three big parts are pretty much done. Fitting the neck/pillar to the box is always a challenge.  On my usual designs I fasten with nuts and bolts in hidden places. For this harp I have used the mortise and tenon design from the Queen Mary harp. The tenons and mortises are parallel front and back and the top of the sound box is cut to be perpendicular to the strings. This reduces the stress on the tenon.

This would be tricky enough as it is but the pillar is also tilted so that the top of the string is centered ( whuch means the top of the pillar is off center about an inch. This leads to a situation where small adjustments at one end are magnified at the other. Plus the mortise at the bottom of the pillar is a blind fit and needs to be accurate to take the pressure of the strings at tension.
There was lots of putting together, taking apart, trying to asses where things are binding, shaving here and there, rinse and repeat.

 Here is the final result. It's a very tight fit at both ends. Of course  this will all change when the strings have been on for a few weeks!














The transition between the top of the sound box and the neck looks abrupt and unlovely as it is.
However after some more quality time with the rasps and sandpaper blocks....

Time to change gears and start the brass works.