MIMF

I actually will turn down the whole wheel thickness-wise to about 15mm. But the tapering of the rim would work, too.
The pear is going on just as described. Normally I would use something like between 3 and 4mm, but that's because the wheels on most gurdies are tapered. In this case, since the wheel is cylindrical, 2mm should be enough.
Now work today, as I was engaged in something completely different.

The wheel turned thinner, to about 15mm. The final truing up will take place when everything is finally assembled, both the circumference and the sides. (hopefully these only will need very slight touching up.) The pear strip is in place. I actually cut it some 3-3.5mm thick after all. It bends like a dream.
The wheel in position, with the shaft obviously far too long on the other side at this stage. And none of the screws are employed yet, not even the holes drilled. The whole thing is a very tight fit, but pushable by finger pressure.
And finally, the soundboard with the slot for the wheel cut out. The shape is a bit unusual, as the slight cutout at the back is normally not present. I did it simply because the unit joining the wheel and the shaft is made of wood, and hence quite a bit thicker than it would need to be if made from brass. So it needs that extra space if you want to be able to take the wheel out for repairs.
And obviously, the headstock or whatever you call it, is in place. Made from Red Beach, a native NZ timber. Macrocarpa would simply bee a bit too soft for a headstock, though maybe it could work. I just feel it would wear under the pressure from the pegs too fast. Red Beach is a kind of medium hard timber, comparable to walnut and similar.

Well, the wheel is trimmed, all screws in place, the end cut off and threaded for the handle. And that groove, dunno what is the technical name, cut into the shaft. The one that will have a thin steel plate riding in it, to stop any longitudinal movement of the shaft.
The soundboard with some of the bridges. The trompette will be of the Hungarian kind, you will see how it all works at the end. I glued these on before the soundboard goes onto the body as an experiment. I don't much like the pressure on the back when things are glued onto the soundboard afterwards. But I still need to glue on a couple of things, though these probably don't require as much pressure.
It is drying right now.
The soundholes, well, I thought there still should be some a bit more interesting than just a round hole. That's a bit boring. Hence the fancy design, that is still extremely easy to make, thereby keeping the price down.

The keybox starting to take shape. Bear with me a bit longer, it will become apparent later.

One of the sides of the keybox with the partitions glued in, not yet trimmed.
By the way, all the reddish pieces are made from rata, an extremely hard and dense New Zealand wood. I would hesitate making these partitions from most timbers, but with rata it's like using bone or ivory. The partitions are about 1mm thick.

Well, naturally I made a stuff-up. Or, rather, what I did is something that rhymes with "stuff-up".
That funny-looking bridge thingy the use of which is not yet obvious is simply too close to the (imaginary) string. Ditto for the bit that anchors the string. So I had to spend an instructive hour or so patiently carving away at the bridge, moving back the line of action (more will be revealed when the time comes for it), and adding another anchor for the string. Moving both about 5mm inland. I imagine what has happened is that I measured the distance from the edge of the wheel on the soundboard, forgetting that the string rides about 15mm higher, and a projection of that is not the same distance. Well, that's what prototypes are for, after all...
And one of the sides of the coming keybox. After sanding the projecting bits off. I imagine it is becoming obvious what it will look like eventually.

The keybox itself minus the lid is done. The corner joinery has been kept to as simple as possible, while making sure it will not fall apart. And also being quite precise.
I think the photos explain it by themselves. If there are any questions, out with them!
The last photo is the general view of the instrument with the keybox in position, but not secured. (It will be bolted down eventually)

The keybox is starting to aquire some tenants...

I decided to reinforce the semitone keys. The gluing area is not large at all, and, well, I simply don't know how strong the whole thing is. Hence the dowels. The dowels themselves are bamboo skewers, drawn through a drawplate (the kind used in wire making), down to 2.5mm exactly. Complete wit a small groove on the side to let excess glue out.

The rest of the keybox work.
The semitone keypads are boxwood, the diatonics walnut. Ebonising will be done by the old vinegar + steel wool technique.
The diatonic keypads have been made exactly the same way as the chromatics, just without the blocks to lift them up.

We are getting close...
The big jobs are more or less finished. From now on it's tying up the loose ends, mostly. There are still a few things to be made, but they are little fiddly things.

Finally, here's a clip made using the instrument:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHWm4ei0RkY
There probably will be one or two more.

Awesome! Will you make the plans available?

Jon, I really dunno. For one thing, there aren't any, at least not in any normal sense. I more or less make it up as I go along. Of course once I settle on a definite plan as such, I can draw up plans proper, but that is yet to come. There are quite a number of small changes I will introduce for the next one. (It seems I already might have an order.)

Another one posted. Called Miserly Lou, the well-known cousin of the even better known Miserable Les. What a family!...
Seriously, Misrilou. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUHbkh3C9CY
The trompette is rather impressive, I can only say that because I'm not the one playing. And no, there wasn't much practicing, so don't judge too harshly the playing itself.

Is the trompette that zinging. zapping sound? How does it get to be intermittent, unlike the drone strings?

The bridge is a floating one. It's continuously lifted off the soundboard by the pull of the wheel, and when this becomes weaker than the push of the wedge pushing the back of the string down, it slaps back onto the soundboard. The French version has a somewhat different engineering solution, but the result is similar. The speed variations in how you turn the wheel make the difference.