[CAUT] harpsichord information

[David Doremus]

Ed, I think it is Bakelite, I care for a little one here that stays 
beautifully at pitch. His brass bridges were marvelous constructions. 
But, the sound is little better than a Neupert. That was a time of 
discovery in historical instrument making, a lot of learning was going 
on. In a way it's more interesting than the current 'more accurately 
historical than thou' attitudes.

--Dave

   New Orleans


Ed Sutton wrote:
> The Challis is something of a historical instrument in its own right. 
> One I worked on had a cast aluminum frame, aluminum wrestplank, wood 
> soundboard with brass tubing bridge. Later he went to aluminum 
> soundboards.
>  
> It was mechanically sound, and not unpleasant, but was boring compared 
> to more historiacally founded instruments. It didn't have the change 
> of color from register to register which is such a delight in a good 
> small harpsichord. The Challis was even and bland, as I remember it.
>  
> The jacks were machined out of some kind of hard plastic (bakelight?) 
> It had separate damper jacks. I wondered if the jacks would hold up 
> much longer.
>  
> I might as well admit I replaced the leather plectra with delrin. 
> Challis would have shot me, but it didn't make much difference in the 
> sound.
>  
> Ed S.
>