My youngest child decided that she wanted a solid body kantele like Dad's. Project time!
First step is selecting the wood. Here's a fairly hard piece of poplar with a pattern drawn on it. I don't think it is the ideal wood for this sort of instrument, but it works fine and I had it in my shop already. The pattern is actually drawn on what will be the underside of the wood. No particular reason, I just managed to draw it reversed from what it will be. At this stage, it really doesn't matter to the process.
A brief session with the jigsaw and I have the body cut from the board.
I love my belt sander. I use it for so many things. Here, it was vital for refining the edges of the kantele. I really like the graceful bird head shape at the top. It is whimsical and elegant. I think the look of the kantele was the first thing that attracted me. The sound was next. I know my young customer was very intent on having that shape at the top.
A little scrap turned into a simple bridge. Five holes for zither pins. A spritz of spray lacquer.
She wanted wood burned decorations. She was kind enough to pronounce them perfect, though I can see the skill level of my pyrography just isn't up to what I would consider Third Grader artwork.
Linoleum nails make good hitch pins to anchor the strings.
I start the zither pins with a hammer, tapping them in until they stay put, then I can screw them in with the tuning wrench.
And there we have it! A finished practice kantele for an 8 year old. This one is tuned in G. Super simple, fun little project. Now I just have to get her interested in learning to play it!
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