Piccolo 104 done

Hiya! It’s been a while but I’ll blame a trip to Sudan. The piccolo is finished but we’ll start with pics of the last steps. 

The first pic shows me shaping the pegs in the, well you guessed it: peg shaper. When wooden pegs dry after being turned the can go a bit oval in cross section. The shaper takes care of that and ensures a perfect taper. 

A taper that matches the one of the reamer, if all adjustable parts are set correctly. I do the pegs first and then holes into which they’ll fit. My equipment comes from www.metmusic.com, one of my favourite webshops. 



Then I cut the pegs to length. The guide sets the height above the headstock, on the backside I let the pegs vary in length. The pegs for the G and A strings are longer because of the angle of the headstock. 

Note the leather saw stop, and think for a while of my poor thumb and the state it was in before I made the stop. 



Then the top of the pegs are filed round and smooth. I start with a pencil sharpener but a file does most of the work. 



The bone nut is cut to length, filed to height and marked with the divider for slots. The vise is from Stewmac, a great buy. 

After drilling the string holes I counter sink them with a round engraving bit. Looking at piccolos of different ages I can see each of these steps as the processes have evolved. I think the instruments get better all the time. 

Weighing in at 196 grams. If you ate it you’d want another one. 



Here it is, a full frontal!



I stamp them only after playing them for a while. This one is approved and a 100% Argapa.