[CAUT] Fw: Zuckerman harpsichord kit

[Fred Sturm]

On 9/3/06 9:45 PM, "Barbara Richmond" <piano57 at insightbb.com> wrote:

> 
> Hello harpsichord experts!
>  
> While I was working on a piano at a church, the music director asked me if I
> knew anything about harpsichords.
>  
> "Well...after five years at IWU, I was fairly decent at servicing the ones
> they had."  
>  
> He lead me into his office and explained that someone had donated a 78"
> Zuckerman harpsichord, not totally finished (of course).
>  
> Hmm, there was piece of elastic spanning over the 4' jacks to help them
> return.  The 8' jacks are in a box somewhere.   :-)
>  
> I do not claim to be an expert when it comes to harpsichords, though in the
> past I've been able to get them to play fairly well--that means all the notes
> work & sound pretty even and the touch is mostly even.
>  
> I took a quick look at the keys and they are mighty tight.  And then I pulled
> out this jack.  Maybe screw adjustments aren't authentic, but I find them
> handy and there aren't any on these jacks.
>  
> I have some harpsichord literature around here somewhere which I am fully
> capable of reading--but my question is this:  Is it possible to get these
> jacks to perform well?  Is there any other information or advice I need to
> work on this instrument?
>  
> Thanks so much,
>  
> Barbara Richmond
> 

Hi Barbara,
    Yes, they can be made to work just fine. I don¹t like the design,
myself, but it is very common out there and workable. I¹ll give one piece of
technical advice about jack length: you can lengthen by using strips of
self-adhesive paper. Stick to one side, pull around the bottom, stick to the
other side, speaking about the narrow part of the I-beam cross section. If
this isn¹t clear, let me know and I can find a photo and post it. Otherwise,
it is next to impossible to get something to stick to the bottom of these
jacks to lengthen them (others without screws usually have a more solid
bottom).
    David Way (who later went by D. Jacques Way), the guy who purchased
Zuckermann from  Wally Zuckermann (and is now deceased) liked to say that
you should keep screws out of harpsichords so they didn¹t get ³screwed up.²
Claimed you got it right and then it stayed that way. Obviously he didn¹t
live where humidity changes ³a wee bit² from season to season.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

PS If you¹d like, post me privately and I will send you my harpsichord class
handouts.
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