This involves fitting wooden blocks - "staves" at the front of the case and all of the corners and a piece of molding along the bottom edge of the case. The "staves" are both decorative and functional - they reinforce the corners of the case and conceal the screws that hold the case together. The remaining screws are all covered by the bottom molding.
After my experience with the moldings on the Zuckermann case I was determined to find a way of clamping the moldings while they were being glued that used as few nails as possible. Nails are a very easy and convenient way of holding the moldings in place while the glue sets but I hate having to fill in the nail holes afterwards and am never quite satisfied with the results.
In the end I managed to do it all without any nails - it took a lot longer to do it that way but the result was worth it.
Here is the last piece of molding being fitted to the bottom of the cheek. The three clamps used here are complete overkill for this particular piece - I could probably have just held it in place with my hands for a minute or two and it would have been fine. They were, however, invaluable for doing the bentside molding which was the first piece that I fitted.
Here you can see the cheek to bentside corner stave and the bentside molding.
The corner staves are made up of two pieces of wood that are mitred together. The parts in the kit were pre-cut very accurately and did not require any adjustment. To keep the two pieces perfectly aligned with each other I treated this like the corner of a small box, laid them out flat - edge to edge - on the bench and used masking tape to hold them together. After applying the glue the pieces are folded up with the tape holding the corner edges together and the fitted to the case.
With the case finished I have moved it inside the house where almost all of the rest of the work on the instrument will be done.
Fortunately there is (just) enough space for all three harpsichords ...
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