On Apr 15, 2010, at 2:27 PM, rwest1 at unl.edu wrote: > Can anyone give me information about the status of Sabathil and > Neupert harpsichords? Are the companies still building > harpsichords? Do they do rebuilding? Are the instruments worth > rebuilding? A small university nearby has one of each brand. The > Sabthil is totally non-functioning and the Neupert registers are > trapped in the gap. I'm not sure I want to tackle either. Who > works on these hybrid harpsichords? > > Richard West Both still in business: http://www.sabathilandson.com/ http://www.jc-neupert.de/e/ Neupert does restoration. Don't know about Sabathil (email and ask). Whether they are worth rebuilding depends a lot on the particular year and design. I service two Sabathils, the more recent of which (mid 90s) isn't too bad. The earlier one (probably 70s) is one I wouldn't consider rebuilding. Among other things, they used foam rubber for such things as the jack rail and the buff stop, not to mention utterly ridiculously difficult design - string levels for the 4', 8' and 16' are about an inch apart from one another (that 16' bridge is enormous), all the smaller strings go through notches in the larger bridges (4' strings go through notches in both 8' and 16') to reach hitch pins in the metal frame. An utter nightmare to do any work on, let alone a full restoration. Neupert has also changed design, toward historic principles, over the years. Regards, Fred Sturm fssturm at unm.edu http://www.createculture.org/profile/FredSturm http://www.youtube.com/fredsturm http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/FredSturm
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