Finished

Now the nameboard is on, the buff batten is done, and all that's left is to deliver it to its new owner. Next up will be a Flemish single for a new customer -- stay tuned.

Lids on

I've put the lids back on, and the instrument is almost mechanically complete. A few more odds and ends to work on, and more voicing and regulation adjustment, and then it'll be ready to launch.

Almost done

We're in the harpsichord homestretch. The front and back choirs of jacks are cut to length, with quills and dampers installed. Voicing is an ongoing process, and the 4' choir remains undone, but the instrument is playing, and the bass strings are warming up and sounding better all the time.

Papers

The Ruckers-style decorative papers arrived, and they're almost all installed.

Upstanding

The stand is done being stained and varnished, and I've fitted it to the bottom of the case.

Gold leafing, continued

All the gold leafing is now done, and the decoration is complete except for the Flemish papers, which haven't shown up yet.

Here's the case, with gold bands:



I've also attached the endblocks to the keyboards, like so:




With the endblocks on, I could do the final fitting of the keyboards inside the case, where they sit very snugly.



Next up is register construction. The registers are made out of two pieces of wood, with slots in one piece cut on the table saw and a veneer cut from the same piece. The registers guide the jacks up and down on the keyboard.



Then I glued the veneer on and set it to dry:

Gold leafing

The decoration phase is finally, gradually, coming to a close. The painting is all done, the gilding is mostly done, and the Flemish papers are on order.

Here's the front flap, masked for painting the internal color:



And here's the lid, flap, and fallboard, all with painting complete.



Next up is the gold leaf application. Gold leaf comes in rolls, about a half-inch wide and 200 inches long, which amounts to about a tenth of an ounce of gold. It's tricky stuff to work with, because it's so thin and light the slightest breath of breeze causes it to flutter away.

Here's the case with gilded moldings:




And the lids, with gold striping:



And the first part of the case striping, on the tail: