making the guides, beginning painting

Here's the wood for the guides, marked out for drilling.  Poplar and cedar.  The guides carry a set of nails which guide the keylevers; also, they will provide the stationary mounting points for the springs.

I was planning to mount the springs using screws and washers, but I realized that I could obtain better stability with fewer parts, by having the spring wires (suitably bent) pass through two drilled holes at right angles.

The guide nails are sealed into place with wood glue.  The good adhesion of the glue to the guides here, gives me confidence for when I rip up the original pivot-rail glue joints, and re-build using this same type of wood (and glue).

The guides are taped-up for painting.  I am trying to do most of the painting on individual parts as I go along, prior to final assembly.  This is to minimize the size of the areas I need to prepare for my "paint booth" (outdoors) and for drying.

Ripping apart the original failed glue joints.  This was so easy to do, and left so little glue residue on the finished wood I was trying to use for the pivot rails, that I'm just glad I didn't try to make it work as it was.

Here's the same pivot rail assembly procedure again, with the new wood.  Results were much better.

You can see that I left quite a bit of the old glue on the squares (where it had adhered quite well).  This didn't seem to affect the bonding of the new glue, and it ensured that there was good flat contact area.

Here are the guides, finally dry enough to bring inside after a good 48 hours.  The flat-finish spraypaint which I am more accustomed to using, dries thoroughly in under 24 hours, but the gloss-finish types which I will use for certain parts of this pedalboard, take seemingly forever to dry enough to stop producing significant noxious fumes.  I used gloss for the guides, but I could've used flat; and I'll use flat from now on wherever I can, such as painting the pivot rails and the bottom faces of the keylevers.

First dry-fit test of a spring under a keylever.  This test gave me confidence that my springs will work, with the wire I've got (12 guage galvanized steel), producing the right amount of force, in the leverage position where I'm planning to put them.

 

Trussed-up for painting like this, and with the guides taped into position to help hold the levers steady, the weight and form factor is very similar to how the completed unit will be, when folded up.  So for the first time, I can subjectively judge, how heavy and clunky will this thing be to schlep around?  Answer: somewhat heavy and clunky, but not as bad as a Hammond B3.  Pedalboard carried with one hand, with guitar or other items in other hand, should be realistic; it's better than a lot of guitar amps.

Painting the bottom faces...

You'll mostly only see the bottom faces when the unit is folded, and even then they will be facing inwards towards each other, not outwards.  Still, I want them to look decent: i.e., black.

Now, final sanding and shaping of the keylever surfaces, prior to painting.  I take all the white primer coating off the tops of the sharps, so that I can get maximal soak-in when I stain the sharp tops black.  I've been experimenting with homebrewed black dye; if results there are not black enough, I may just use India ink, for this project; however, I'd like to figure out the homebrewed dye because I also would use it in the future for manual keyboards, on the clavichord and harpsichord.  In any case, my intention is to stain the sharp tops black so that even after significant wear, they will stay basically black.  After staining, they will be painted with gloss black and clearcoat.