clavichord

[Alan McCoy]

Dennis,

Are the keys supposed to bottom out onto a key punching or something? The
keys on this one don't have a bottom, so it is just a springy feeling.
Because the pitch is dependent on keystroke, it is bending all the time. So
where in the keystroke do you tune?

As you can see, I am fairly clueless about these beasts. Perhaps because
this is only one of two that I have seen and I have seen nothing in print
about the technical aspects of them.

Thanks.

Alan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org]On Behalf Of
> Dennis Johnson
> Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 9:29 AM
> To: College and University Technicians
> Subject: Re: clavichord
>
>
> They are pretty straight forward.  I built and have a large
> one at home, which is what I prefer to play.  You won't find
> anything in piano supply houses.  The tuning process is
> obviously different depending on fretted or unfretted.
> There are preferences either way, but I much prefer the
> flexibility of unfretted.  It helps greatly for the tangents
> to be thinned and buffed clean. Not too sharp or too flat.
> Small adjustments can be made by bending but you like them
> to hit square, not unlike piano hammers.  There are a lot of
> junk clavichords too (like anything else) so evaluate the
> merits and potential before making promises.
>
> Dennis Johnson
> St. Olaf College
>
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