Gilding St. Luke

Many small tasks accomplished in the last week, including some more work on the new rose. The rose features an angel playing a harp, the traditional symbol of the Guild of St. Luke, to which many artists and craftsmen (including harpsichord builders) belonged in 17th-century Europe. First I checked to make sure it would fit correctly in the soundboard:



Then I took it out and applied a coat of shellac, then on top of that a coat of gold size, a sticky, resin-like substance which the gold leaf sticks to very neatly. Then I gilded it with gold leaf, like so:



The photo flash makes it look a bit more garish than it actually is.

A few days ago I glued on the wrestplank veneer, which is made of the same wood as the soundboard, using the usual go-bar method:



Once the veneer was in place, I drilled the holes for the tuning pins and glued down the 8-foot nut and the 4-foot nut.



Next up will be the installation of the hitchpin rails and case liners.