Chair Share: Chuck Mueller
Our Chair Share series continues with Chuck Mueller’s purpose-built F-horn Performance Chair. Rendered in mahogany with a maple threaded spool and lock ring, the chair’s gently curved back supports the musician while leaving room for the instrument’s large brass bell, which sits in the crook of arm and thigh when being played. A simple rubbed tung oil finish brings out the mahogany’s natural beauty.
A practiced woodworker, Chuck didn’t fuss much with the design; a quick pencil and watercolor sketch followed by computer drawings to guide its fabrication. He utilized mortise and tenon and dovetail joinery to attach the back and legs, while wooden dowels fasten the seat to its rotating base. He used a tap and die to carve the threaded spool/lock ring assembly, which flexes slightly while in use. The splayed legs provide ample stability, though Chuck recalls the happy dovetail jig miscalculation that resulted in six legs instead of three.
He made the curved top rail from bent laminated mahogany adorned with a laser cut inscription, “Musica Laetificant Cor,” a Latin phrase that means “music gladdens the heart.” We’d say that applies to his lovely chair, too.
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