Making a Thumb Piano

The most common question about these relatively uncommon instruments has to be: Are thumb pianos anything like real pianos? And the short answer would have to be: Not really. Besides the obvious size difference, the tines on a thumb piano are laid out with the scale falling in an alternating pattern while a pianos keys are laid out so the scale moves upwards as you move to keys farther to the right. Most thumb pianos dont have accidentals (the black keys on a keyboard) so you cant play a number of songs that were composed on piano, such as Fur Elise. The thumb piano is also played with a very different technique than the piano since you can only use your two thumbs as opposed to all ten fingers. Still, its possible to play some amazing music on the thumb piano with some serious work while also being a great instrument to leave on your coffee table and mess around with every now and then.

Design
The basic layout of this thumb piano is based off of this project:http://www.instructables.com/id/Thumb-Piano/. I decided to dress up my version with solid hardwoods and a simple yet elegant contrasting binding that wraps around all corners of the box. I also added more tines to allow this thumb piano to play two full octaves, using 15 keys in total. (Note: I was making two thumb pianos while taking the photos for this project so you will likely see parts for more than one thumb piano in some of the pictures.)

Parts and Materials

Most of the parts and materials I used could be found at your local home center. Nice pieces of walnut, cherry or maple may be difficult

though. You could use some of the small precut pieces that they sell; they usually have poplar at the very least. For the top, a simpler option is to use 1/4 inch thick birch plywood since it wont require a planer or thickness sander. Even better would be an 1/8th inch thick piece of hardwood plywood, but that is much harder to find than 1/4 inch birch-ply: A home center definitely wont carry it. The binding is only decorative and therefore completely optional if you prefer to keep your thumb piano simple. The full parts list for one thumb piano follows:

Any hardwood for the tops, sides, and bridge Contrasting (or complimentary) hardwood for the binding 3/8ths inch aluminum rod 1/16th inch brass rod Rake with metal tines (tines should be about 1/32nd thick by 3/16ths wide); The rake I bought cost $8 and made keys for three full size, 15 key thumb pianos and one smaller 8 key instruments. 2 #6-32 t-nuts made to be secured with brads 2 #6-32 by 1.5 inch long machine screws Wood glue
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Making a Thumb Piano

Chris Williams

Home The Soundbox The Bridge Binding Making the Keys Finished
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The Soundbox
Making the Parts

I was able to make the major parts for two pianos from one 15 by 5 by 1 inch piece of curly maple. (One 5 by 7 by 1 inch piece would be enough for one thumb piano, although keep reading for other problems with a piece this small.) I started by resawing the maple into three pieces. Two of these pieces were planed to 3/16ths for the top and bottom and the last piece was planed to 3/8ths for the sides. (If I had started with a piece shorter than 12 inches or so, it would have been unsafe to use the planer to bring the parts to thickness. I was already pushing the safe limits of thickness for planing anyway.) I then cut the top and back to length creating two 5 by 7 inch pieces for both thumb pianos.

Sides

I cut the sides to their rough length on the table saw, then used a disc sander and miter gauge to miter the ends and bring the sides to their final lengths. This was much safer than using a miter saw on such small pieces and left no chance

of the piece chipping out. The sides measure 5 and 7 inches on their outer edge respectively once cut to size.

Attaching the Back

I glued the back to sides using a bunch of clamps while making sure to keep everything as square as possible. I used a combination of quick grip style clamps and homemade spool clamps: The quick grip clamps kept the sides pulled tight and perpendicular to the back, while the spool clamps filled in the gaps for even pressure all along the length of the sides. The spool clamps are simple to make using 1.25 inch toy wheels,1/4 inch by 3 inch (or longer) bolts and wing nuts. The spool clamps are great for even clamping pressure over a large perimeter you need to glue.

I sanded the exposed top surface of the sides flat and level once the glue was dry using a belt sander. The sides were very uneven after attaching them, so this step would hopefully ensure a tight, gap-free joint with the top when its attached later. You could use a sheet of sandpaper glued to a flat surface for any of the steps using a belt sander. A very coarse gr it probably wont take much longer than the powered option, but will take some more effort.

The Top

I started by drilling the sound hole in the top. It measures 1.25 inches in diameter and is spaced 1.625 inches from bottom edge of the box. I also drilled holes to accept the t-nuts that will allow the machine screws to pull the aluminum rod down tightly on the keys. These holes were centered, 2.375 inches apart and 1.375 inches from top edge of the box. I epoxied the t-nuts in place from the inside of the top. The t-nuts I used are made to be secured with brads which stop the nut from spinning while tightening the screw and prevent it from falling out of place. They also have tnuts with sharp spikes built in. Fastening the t-nuts with built in spikes is possible with softer woods like birch ply, but wouldnt work with a hardwood since the spikes would tend to split the wood, so I used the epoxy instead.
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The Bridge
I started with a thicker block, but the bridge blank needs to be at least 7/16ths tall and 1.25 inches wide to make a bridge like the one I made. This bridge is a one piece design where the end stop and bridge stop are both made of a single piece of wood that connects together under the keys. This results in a stronger bridge than if the bridge and end stops were separate pieces both resting independently on the top of the soundbox. Strength is especially important to this design since it uses a thin, solid-wood top. This bridge design should hopefully transfer more of the sound coming from the keys to the top as well. I made this bridge quite tall so the tines would still be well above the top of the box for easy playing even though the tines dont bend upwards very far when tightened down with the rod.

Slot

I used the table saw to rough out the slot between the front and rear stops to 1/8th of an inch deep leaving an 1/4 inch wide piece protruding to make the end stop and a 3/8ths inch wide area for the front stop which will accept the brass rod and form the bridge stop. I also took off a small amount of wood in the area where the metal bridge stop would be (a little less than 1/16th of an inch) to allow the 1/16th inch brass rod of the bridge stop and the wood rear stop to be level. I did this while the bridges for the two separate thumb pianos were still connected and the blank was much thicker than necessary. This made it much easier to run through the table saw, but it would still be possible to do one at time if youre only making one thumb piano. I cut the bridge to a final length of about 4.5 inches. Using a chisel, I cleaned up the slot and the area where the metal bridge will go. The holes that allow the machine screws to pass through the bridge were drilled 2.375 inches apart on the drill press to match the holes in the top.

Bridge Hardware

I cut off a 4.5 inch long piece of the brass rod to make the metal front stop for the bridge. I also cut a piece of 3/8ths inch aluminum rod of the same length to make the rod that will hold down the key. I drilled matching holes in the rod to

accept the bolts. These holes were drilled in the same pattern as the other parts: two holes 2.375 inches apart. They were then counter sunk. Any round thing is always going to be hard to drill through. To make my life a little easier, I held the rod in place while drilling by taping it down to a scrap piece of maple that had a notch cut in it. This helped to hold it steady and straight while drilling.

Checking the Fit

I checked the fit between top, rod and bridge and adjusted as necessary before attaching the top to the body. I had to drill the holes in the bridge and rod larger since these pieces didnt fit right away. It would be possible to fit these parts once the top was glued down since the adjustments are done to the rod and bridge, but I wanted to make sure all the parts would work together since I had changed the design from the last thumb piano I made.

Carving the Bridge

I rounded the edges of the bridge with a small chisel and some sand paper. To finish the bridge, I used a v gouge to carve a very shallow, straight groove to hold the metal bridge in place.

Polishing

To polish the rod, I first chucked it on a drill press. I started with a file to remove large burs made while drilling and cutting. Then I progressed to 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper using water as a lubricant to give a polished, shiny look. I also used the file on the ends of the rod (which had already been filed flat while off the drill press) with the drill press running to file them to a slightly convex shape. To finish the rod, I flipped it around to the other side that had been in the chuck and filed and sanded that side to match. I used a layer of paper towel to prevent scratches on the already polished area now in the chuck.

Binding the Soundbox

Gluing on the Top

Before I could start on the binding, I had to glue on the top of the box. I used the same glue as before to glue on the top, but this time clamped the pieces together with a bunch of the home made spool clamps.

Once the glue was dry, I sanded the overhanging edges flush of the top and back on belt sander, trying to make them as square as possible. I also sanded the protruding t-nuts flush with the top surface of the box. Everything has to be flush and square for the next steps or it will interfere when cutting the rabbets for the binding.

Why Binding?
I was surprised how nice the box looked at this point. Even though I hadnt been very careful making the joints since I knew they would be covered later by the binding, they still appeared relatively tight and gap free. With a bit more care in the earlier steps, you could easily make a very nice looking box without the binding if you prefer the look. In my case, I had to add binding to cover the wane from poorly resawing the top and back (and my still iffy looking joints.) I also just personally prefer the look of a bound box.

Material
I used walnut for the binding on my box. It was rough cut to a 1/4 inch square from a long but narrow piece of scrap I had from another project. I sanded the pieces so they would be perfectly smooth and square on at least two adjacent edges that would later be glued into rabbet made on the edges of the body. These sticks fit well in the rabbets while still not taking too much sanding to make flush after being glued in place.

Setting up the Cuts

To make these cuts on the table saw, I set the depth to just under the actual width I wanted the binding to be. I set the width using the fence to the actual width I wanted the binding to be. The width was a bit over 3/16ths of an inch on all edges. This leaves the binding wide enough to cover the top to side joints fully. It also made for a nice width in relation to the size of the overall sound box. Its best to err on the side of too shallow when setting the depth and be prepared to use a chisel to clean up the interior corner that will be left rather than going too deep. I didnt touch the fence and depth adjustments between making the various cuts for the bindings so all the sections of the binding would be as consistent as possible.

Cutting Corners

I started with the corner binding so the top could then be cut afterwards, removing any of the overhanging corner binding and covering the corner binding end grain. I ran the corners through the table saw using a miter gauge. Usually its not a good idea to us e a

miter gauge and the fence at the same time since the off-cut get caught between the blade and the fence resulting in kickback of the off-cut. In this case, the small off-cuts arent heavy enough to do any damage. And since the edge of the box is so narrow, the miter box is necessary for support and to keep everything square. The rabbet was completed with two cuts, one from each edge. I cleaned up any of the interior corners the table saw missed with a chisel.

Gluing the Corner Binding

After cutting the walnut to length with a small hobby miter box and hand saw, I sanded the interior corners of the binding to ensure they wouldnt interfere with the fit of the pieces. I also checked that the binding pieces were square and would fit snugly in place in their respective rabbet. I glued all four corners in at once with wood glue and secured them with rubber bands. Once dry, I sanded the whole box on the belt sander until all the surfaces were flat and flush again.

Cutting the Top and Back

I ran rest of edges through the table saw, again without changing any of the settings. I pushed the box through by hand this time since it was stable in the remaining directions. I found it was very important to cut the edges (with the box on its side and the top or back flat against the fence) first to minimize chip out of the corner binding. To complete the cuts I laid the box down with its top and back flat on the table. When making the final cut on the long edges, long, 1/16th inch square pieces was freed which were then thrown back at me at high speed. This wasnt a problem since the pieces were very light, just stay out of the way and be aware. The final cross cuts made nasty sounds and chipped out the off-cuts rather than kicking them back. This still wasnt a problem for me or the box. I had to run some of the edges through the table saw a few times to ensure a square and even rabbet all the way around since the box wasnt perfectly square. Again, I had to clean up the inner edges with a chisel all the way around.

Gluing the Top and Back Binding

I used the hobby miter box to cut the sides to length and took off the interior corners of binding pieces again. Then I made sure each piece of binding would fit tightly. I used the disc sander and miter gauge to miter the corners of the binding and slowly bring them down to the right size as I did with the sides. I fit each piece of binding to its neighbors all the way around the box. Many, many small rubber bands were used to apply even pressure while the glue dried. One final time, I used the belt sander to bring the edges flush and make the box square again.

Finishing

I sanded the entire exterior of the box by hand and rounded over the edges to a slight radius with up to 220 grit sandpaper. Feel free to radius the edged to your own taste. I essential just took off the sharpness of the edge allowing the box to be comfortable to hold while still leaving the edges as crisp as I could. Up to a 3/16ths inch radius could also look very nice. A larger radius would be much easier to make using a router table, just be careful of chip-out.

I used tung oil for the finish, applying it as directed on the can. Three coats were plenty for a bit of sheen and a nice feel. I rubbed each coat into wood and let it dry for

12 hours before lightly rubbing it with steel wool. I let the last coat dry completely before lightly hand buffing it with a cloth.

Making the Keys

Grinding

To turn rake tines into thumb piano keys, I first cut off the bent section of the tines using a large set of pliers. Even with the largest pliers I could find (with an eight inch handle), it was still hard to cut the tines. I used a grinder to square up and smooth the cut edge, which was left very sharp from cutting. I ground down the sharp corners then gently rounded the edges for a much larger and more comfortable playing edge. The remaining sharp edges and burrs were removed by running the end over the grinder at a variety of angles until it was completely smooth.

Bending

I used a small vise and the same pliers from before to bend over the edges of the tines. This bend makes sure the ends point down and away from the player when installed on the thumb piano making the keys more comfortable to hit with the thumb. To get the bend consistent over 15 keys, I clamped each key to the same depth in the vise. Then, I firmly grabbed the exposed section and bent the key until my pliers were at about 45 degrees. This left me with the bend I was looking for and was very repeatable.

Cutting to Length

I used a previous version of this thumb piano I had already made to get the approximate length for each key. If you havent made a thumb piano already, do not cut the keys to length yet. Instead, its best to put the thumb piano together and tune it with the keys still at their full length. Then, mark each key where it should be cut off so you can be sure youll have enough length to tune each

one to the note you want. I cut my keys so the non-played end was just short of overhanging the edge of the sound box. This was enough length to allow for a bit of flexibility when trying different tunings, but mostly prevents the overhanging section from catching on other objects. I wont try to write out the lengths I used for my keys since they will differ depending on the exact rake tines you use and the tuning you choose. Once cut to size, its a good idea to grind the nonplayed end smooth since it will be pushed to lower the note played when tuning the thumb piano. If either of the keys ends arent smooth and deburred, they can make tuning really painful.

Polishing

I used a dowel chucked in the drill press with piece of 600 grit wet dry sandpaper double-side taped to it to sand the keys. I dunked each key in water then sanded the uneven, dirty, slightly corroded, pitted and scratched surface until it was smooth. I used steel wool, also wrapped around the dowel, to buff each key to a nice shine. The steel wool wasnt taped on: It wrapped around the dowel and matted together on its own. This step, especially polishing with the steel wool, could probably be done just as easily by hand if you prefer.

Tuning

I tune my 15 key thumb pianos to two full octaves of a g major scale. The very center key is tuned to the low g. From there, the scale alternates back and forth between the sides. Overall, the thumb piano is tuned like this from left to right: FDBGECAGBDFACEG The best method Ive found to tune the thumb piano to the correct pitches is to use a piano to play a reference tone, then to match the thumb pianos note to that reference tone. Ive also tuned the thumb pianos low g or middle g with a tuner, and then filled in the rest of the scale by ear until it sounded like a major scale through both octaves. Even easier than these methods would be to use a chromatic tuner (my tuner only works with the notes g, d, a and e since its made for tuning violin family instruments), but I havent had a chance to try tuning a thumb piano with one of these. Overall, tuning a thumb piano can be a real pain since you not only have to tune 15 keys, you have to tune them all at once. This is very different from a guitar (with a mere six strings) where you can tune one string without even putting on any of the others. To make tuning a thumb piano manageable, I start by putting all of the keys in place with the rod and screws just loose. Then, I bring the rod to partial tension on the keys. I use a finger or a hard object like a flathead screwdriver to push each keys ends, moving the key back and forth and raising or lowering its pitch. Once Im satisfied with the tuning, I tighten the screws as much as I can without harming them.

Finished

How it Sounds
This thumb piano, like most of this type, has a very beautiful bell like tone. But like all thumb pianos, it also creates very ethereal and haunting overtones since all of the keys are open to ring at all times. Its possible to change the resonance of the sound box significantly. By placing your thumb over the sound hole you can accentuate different notes. The sound box naturally resonates around the middle g, but you can lower the resonance to the low d by covering the sound hole about half way. By quickly removing and replacing your thumb over the sound hole, you can also make a warbling effect similar in sound to vibrato or a wah-wah pedal. The only hint I will give about playing is that I usually play with my thumb nail rather than the fleshy part of my thumb for a crisper tone and more comfortable playing. Otherwise, Ill just leave you to experiment as I have: This is a great instrument for experimenting in order to find out how to play everything from simple tunes to intricate patterns.

Lessons Learned
The only major issue I have found playing this thumb piano is not being able to get enough tension on the keys to be able to consistently stop every key from buzzing at the bridge. I should have used four screws instead of two to allow for more, even pressure. Alternatively, it could also help to switch to flat-top, allen-head machine screws which would be easier to tighten and would allow higher tensions per screw. Unfortunately this type of screw isnt carried locally, but it can be found online at places like McMaster-Carr.

Variations on a Theme
Mark I

The first version I made only had top binding and used birch plywood from a local home center for the top and back. Otherwise, it used the same type of setup as this thumb piano.

Mark II

This was the first fully bound thumb piano I made. It still used birch ply for the top and back while the bridge and key set were taken from the Mark I to save building time.

It came with a stand that was painted black and bolted onto the thumb pianos back. This stand was primarily for display, but it also allows sound to transfer to a table, wall or door for an interesting effect on the sound, while still being held above the surface in playing position. This sometimes leads to buzzes when in contact with a surface, so it could use some kind of a hard rubber pad which would allow for better transfer, hopefully without dampening the sound too much.

Pocket Thumb Piano

This thumb piano was meant to be small enough to fit in a large jean or cargo pocket. It has eight tines so it can play one full octave of a major scale. The ironically curvaceous form was inspired by the notoriously boxy second generation scion xB.
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