Carter's Rebec

Carter - Your rebec as it progresses

I am going to separate the sets of images by event so the progress is clearer. I will post information and then questions as I go, and I encourage you to inject your thoughts, comments, criticisms, etc. I will not continue on until I have a clear understanding of the next step, and so there will be no need to backtrack or correct. This is your rebec, I demand only one thing - that I be allowed to complete it to a level of craftsmanship that I believe deserves to be associated with my shop. I don't know anyone else who works like this, but I find that it both reassures the client of the progress on their project and it helps deliver a much more custom project when the client is not local.

The first step is to decide on the basic style. There were two overall shapes, one round ended and one pointier. If you were to try to place them by location, the pointier instruments seemed to be more popular in Italy and the surrounding area, and the rounder instruments in Britain and Germany.

I know that we have discussed this a bit, but I wanted to show you pictures of both styles. Both types can be built with flat peg heads or early pegboxes. There is little difference in sound based on the shape. The scale length remains the same on both, so the overall difference is that the round-ended instrument is a bit shorter overall, sometimes helping to be more comfortable to a shorter-armed player.

Here's the Bernie Ellis pattern of pointed end rebec with pegbox.

Here is a reproduction style Virdung rounded instrument

Let me know which body style you like, and we will start to work on the rest (pegbox, end of fingerboard shape, c/f hole shape, stuff like that.

I had some time today, so I put this information here to move a bit quicker.

OK, so here are the dimensions.

Round rebec

About 20/5-21 inches long, 4 3/4 - 5 inches wide, a bit taller than 5 inches without bridge.

pointy rebec

About 21-22 inches long, 5-6 inches wide in the bowl, almost 4 inches thick (bottom of bowl to top of high end of fingerboard - doesn't count bridge).

The pointy and round rebecs have about the same soundbox volume, but the pointier instrument is shallower and wider.

Here are some pictures of peg discs and boxes.

More elaborate shapes are also available

like this fleur de lis

Let me know what you think

OK

Mockup started with round body and spade peghead. The soundboard will be spruce, unless you have a very good reason to make it something else. So I added it as the proper color and texture on the mockup, and now we move to soundholes.

Here are the options for sound holes. There were others, but these were the standards. Having no extant medieval rebecs, we have to go on representations in carvings and paintings.

Looking at carvings and paintings, this was the earliest, common around 1050-1100. The holes were either up high on the body like these, or down below the bridge.

Next were the d-holes. Like these from the early 1100s to the 1400s

Then came the long crescents - about the same time period, but common for a few hundred years - sometimes opening outward, sometimes inward.

Then the sharp crescents - these were seen throughout the middle ages on icons, paintings, etc...

Then the c-holes - probably middle of the 1300s to the 1600s

Then the s-holes - from a church fresco painted in 1010 to instruments painted in the 1500s

Once again, if the volume of the holes is figured correctly, there will be no difference in tone because of the shape. Let me know what you think.

Here are a couple with combination soundholes. Mostly the instruments were not hybrid but a few were, so we can justify something like this. I have done unusual non-period soundholes before, and can do so again, but there is structural reason to keep it simple and period builders knew this. The shapes in the piercings are not entirely important, they can be teardrops, simple crosses, petals, that sort of thing. But the 4 fold and 6 fold symmetry were extremely common, and should be used as a guide.

Here are the two types of tailpin

Integral

And removable - like a modern violin

Here is the mockup, bridge, c-holes scaled and in position, endpin, nut and ruler for reference.

Now we have to decide on a tailpiece. The earliest rebecs had no tailpiece at all, which works but sometimes makes changing a string a bit difficult. Here are some tailpiece images for common styles.

A common short equilateral triangle

A longer triangle

A trapezoid (length to fit)

Or some rather elaborate shapes, such as this one from the 1300s

This one is set up to use 4/4 violin scale length. We can move the bridge up by 3/4 inch and allow a bit more tailpiece room as well as centering the bridge a bit better by using a 12 1/4 scale instead of a 13 inch scale. Same 4/4 strings. Just allows a bit more room for a custom tailpiece. Let me know.

OK, here is what I have so far. In this mockup, the body is Canarywood, very dense and a good choice for the body of the instrument. The soundboard is spruce (most likely Englemann). The tailpiece, pegs, tailpin, and fingerboard are Brazilian Cherry (Ipe) as it is the closest wood in hardness and durability I can readily obtain to replace the ebony I have used but is not subject to government controls. The inlay, saddle and tailpiece rail are polished cattle bone. I think this will make a very attractive and good sounding instrument.

Only 2 questions remain. First, pegs through the head from the back, or from the front. Because of the angle of the strings over the nut, the strings are always pulling up. to make the pegs hold well when the heads are on top, you have to drill the holes at a bit of an angle, to actually help the strings pull the pegs down into the holes. This was common practice for instruments that were tuned from the top. For those tuned from the bottom, the strings just automatically pull the pegs up into the taper, keeping them from slipping. You have to drill perpendicular to the string plane in order not to pull the pegs too tight, that makes fine tuning hard. Either way, there is room for some pretty big heads on the pegs, and if we keep the diameter to a minimum, fine tuning will be pretty easy.

The other question is how to dress the open end of the fingerboard. This was done typically in a number of ways. In early instruments the fingerboard was flat, the bridge mildly curved, and the action on the middle string was quite high, but since it was seldom played out of first position this was negligible.

The fingerboard often followed the shape of the instrument over the soundboard. Commonly it was either left straight on the end, concave

double concave

or convex

The other odd shapes you might see on recreation instruments don't seem to have any basis in period.

So here is the instrument with a straight fingerboard end

Convex

Concave

Double concave

And straight with a point (a bit extra work fitting an extended soundboard, but doable)

Let me know

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From this point, I change the page to document steps along the construction process. I don't guarantee that I will post pictures every step, or that I will post pictures right when they happen, but at least you will always know what has been done.

So here are a couple of pics of your instrument as it progresses. This is the canarywood blank with the peghead shaped and dropped, ready for hollowing and refining the profile. Hollowing begins tonight.

Just because it's a picture worthy event, here is the bowl hollowed and the single transverse brace being glued to the soundboard. The brace is the center position lute brace, not added for any tonal modification but so that a bit more tension could be put on the strings. There are those who believe that a single or pair of transverse braces might have been used in mid and late-period rebecs, as they were basically bowed small lutes and the lute builders would have recognized the structural benefit. I know that the single brace in the bass rebec allowed more string tension and aided in volume but didn't change the tone. The brace is very light Spanish cedar, 1/4 x 1/4 inch taken down to a triangle and tapered at the ends. Has a 1/64 inch rise in the middle, this will flatten under string tension but will keep the top from looking concave. Adds almost immeasurable mass, just a bit of stiffness above the c-holes, as this is the point of weakness when the bridge is between the sound cutouts.

The soundboard mated and the first coat of sealing oil applied to help identify areas where the finish needs improved. Fingerboard glued up tomorrow. Then all that has to be added to the instrument is the saddle and nut. The bridge, tailpiece, and pegs are all accessories, so once the fingerboard, nut and saddle are on, the instrument will be done except for oil. I think we'll make the deadline.

Now the fingerboard wedge being glued on. This keeps me from having to leave a notch in the bottom of the fingerboard - that is where cracks start. It also allows me to elevate the fingerboard so that there is a paper thickness gap between the board and the soundboard. It is made of the same Ipe as the fingerboard. I should have the instrument in strings for a first playing tonight or tomorrow morning. The finish will not be complete, but I can do the final adjustments to the soundboard thickness and tone adjustments before I apply finish.

I will probably be down late Thursday evening, and will be working on the instrument in Warner's shop to get it finished. I'll all some more pics later tonight or tomorrow.