I like that second example where you made the tail piece out of the blade of a cake knife. It looks like it has your "Miku" logo on it. How did you do that? Etched it in some how I guess. Hopefully, it doesn't have to be an OLD cake knife (stainless steel), which we know is hard to work. Always looking for new ideas, which is why I've been browsing the old photos and dug up (reactivated) this discussion thread. The bottle opener tail piece is another idea I need to keep in mind. Most I've seen are not that flat, and it's the flatness of your bottle opener that makes it such a nice piece to adapt into a tail piece. Thanks for the ideas...
The fork tailpiece I made is the result of my laziness. It took me about 20 minutes to finish it. I've discovered that laziness is sometimes creative - like here where i used bottle opener to make the tail piece with almost no work at all except some drilling. Or here where the tail piece is made of this.
Thanks for sharing the "how to" info, Miku. One of these days I have to take a course in metal working. My tail pieces tend to be made of wood, and they are a frequent source of failure. So, I have started working Aluminum to form the simplest of tail pieces. I get the aluminum "stock material" from aluminum meter-sticks at B&Q. I cut them to width and drill in 3 or 4 small holes for the strings and a couple larger hopes for a couple screws with which to attache the tailpiece to the tail end of the instrument. I finish them by sanding with increasingly fine sand paper. They seem to work okay, but they sure aren't an inspired design like yours.
You need an old fork (I don't know why but the steel is more "plastic" in old forks - the new ones were useless for me). The next step is heating - I used normal kitchen propane burner. You have to heat it as long as the fork's "teeth" are orange/yellow or more. Then using very narrow pliers it is quite easy. Then cool it quickly in cold water. After some grinding and polishing the fork was ready.
That's one of the nicer "bent fork tail pieces" I've ever seen! How did you bend the 4 "points" of the fork to get the spiral shape to hold the strings?
Comments
Logo was cut-out in adhesive film, taped on the tailpiece and etched with Fe2(SO4)3. Don't forget to protect the rest of the steel with adhesive film.
Hi Miku,
I like that second example where you made the tail piece out of the blade of a cake knife. It looks like it has your "Miku" logo on it. How did you do that? Etched it in some how I guess. Hopefully, it doesn't have to be an OLD cake knife (stainless steel), which we know is hard to work. Always looking for new ideas, which is why I've been browsing the old photos and dug up (reactivated) this discussion thread. The bottle opener tail piece is another idea I need to keep in mind. Most I've seen are not that flat, and it's the flatness of your bottle opener that makes it such a nice piece to adapt into a tail piece. Thanks for the ideas...
-Rand.
The fork tailpiece I made is the result of my laziness. It took me about 20 minutes to finish it. I've discovered that laziness is sometimes creative - like here where i used bottle opener to make the tail piece with almost no work at all except some drilling. Or here where the tail piece is made of this.
Thanks for sharing the "how to" info, Miku. One of these days I have to take a course in metal working. My tail pieces tend to be made of wood, and they are a frequent source of failure. So, I have started working Aluminum to form the simplest of tail pieces. I get the aluminum "stock material" from aluminum meter-sticks at B&Q. I cut them to width and drill in 3 or 4 small holes for the strings and a couple larger hopes for a couple screws with which to attache the tailpiece to the tail end of the instrument. I finish them by sanding with increasingly fine sand paper. They seem to work okay, but they sure aren't an inspired design like yours.
That is fantastic. And Miku is sure right about the old forks vs the new ones. Stainless steel is terrible to work with, drill and cut.
You need an old fork (I don't know why but the steel is more "plastic" in old forks - the new ones were useless for me). The next step is heating - I used normal kitchen propane burner. You have to heat it as long as the fork's "teeth" are orange/yellow or more. Then using very narrow pliers it is quite easy. Then cool it quickly in cold water. After some grinding and polishing the fork was ready.
That's one of the nicer "bent fork tail pieces" I've ever seen! How did you bend the 4 "points" of the fork to get the spiral shape to hold the strings?
beautifull