Speaking of Harpsichords

Allan Gilreath agilreath@mindspring.com
Thu, 4 Dec 2003 20:47:49 -0500


Fred and the list,

I'm sure you're already aware, but I found today that splicing
harpsichord wire works much better with a square knot than with what we
usually use, a tuner's knot, in steel wire.

Allan
Allan L. Gilreath, RPT
Berry College - Rome, GA

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Fred Sturm
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 12:34 PM
To: dm.porritt@verizon.net; College and University Technicians
Subject: RE: Speaking of Harpsichords

Yep, a harpsichord can go as sharp or flat as 100 cents with humidity 
swings. Which can be disconcerting as well as string-breaking. BTW, no
need 
for much of a pitch overshoot when raising or lowering pitch. There's
only 
a very minor amount of settling. I have a single manual without
transposing 
keyboard that I rent out. Had someone who wanted 415 recently. I ran 
through it twice the day before - 1st time fast to 415, then a clean up 
(probably in the range of 5 cents lowering again). Then tuned after 
delivery, and it was just a normal fine tune. A couple strings did break

when I raised it again. Oh, well! But other than that, the raise went
about 
the same as the lower.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

--On Thursday, December 4, 2003 11:04 AM -0600 "David M. Porritt" 
<dm.porritt@verizon.net> wrote:

> Keith:
>
> All 3 of our harpsichords here have that "feature".  It's just an easy
> way to put the harpsichord at the historical tuning of 415 without
making
> any real changes.  The main thing to make sure you are tuning it to
the
> right pitch for the way the keyboard is set.
>
> A while ago I almost got caught in that the Harpsi was very sharp (+/-
> 450) but the keyboard was in the lower position.  Fortunately I
checked
> before I started bringing it up to 440 in the shifted position.  That
> would have broken a few strings!
>
> dave
>
>
> __________________________________________
> David M. Porritt, RPT
> Meadows School of the Arts
> Southern Methodist University
> Dallas, TX 75275
>
>
> ----- Original message ---------------------------------------->
> From: Keith McGavern <kam544@gbronline.com>
> To: <caut@ptg.org>
> Received: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 11:37:11 -0600
> Subject: Speaking of Harpsichords
>
>> Hello group,
>
>> I just tuned a 3 choir, 2 manual harpsichord that also has a keyboard
>> that can be manually shifted from left to right and vice versa, a
>> transposing feature I guess. Yes/No?
>
>> Anyhow, before I knew this shifting feature existed and that it was
>> already in its shifted mode, I was quite perplexed to figure out why
>> none of the notes I played did not line up with the tuning pins I
>> wanted to tune.
>
>> The tuning would have been a disaster if I hadn't found out in time.
>
>> For those unaware as I was, hopefully this little email will be of
>> some help to you in the future. For those of you who already know, I
>> see you smiling.
>
>> Best,
>
>> Keith McGavern, RPT
>> Oklahoma Baptist University
>> http://www.okbu.edu/
>> St. Gregory's University
>> http://www.stgregorys.edu/
>> Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA
>
>
>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
>
> _______________________________________________
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