Harpsichord - Baptism Under Fire

[Phil Bondi]

Hi Clark

> You weren't tuning it with the pliers, were you?! @#$#, that would be
> like those types
> tuning pianos with these things...a tuning handle is cheap.

under the circumstances, I believe it was my only choice..a tuning lever has been
ordered.

> So who made this instrument, how many keyboards, registers, etc.?

1 keyboard - maybe 3.5 octaves - the maker was 'something' Pennsylvania - I don't
remember, obviously.

>Wire
> is obtainable,
> but so is knowledge and these things are pretty simple:

perhaps .. but under the circumstances yesterday, it looked like Advanced
Calculus.

> Key levers in the middle
> Key end pushes up jack
> Plectrum plucks string*
> Jack drops when key is released, tongue flips back to reseat plectrum
> Damper damps

Gee .. you make this sound like it's real simple .. perhaps it is .. thanks for
the quick lesson.

> *plectrum length and width is set in voicing, often these break and
> sometimes they can
> be adjusted either with a set-screw or by pushing out the plectrum
> slightly from the
> back. Some jacks are plastic and some are wood, some plectra are
> delrin, others quill.

..and this is the hard part - this Harpsichord will be used for Concerts only, so
my time learning the instrument will be on-the-job - not the friendliest of
situations, I think you will agree.

> end course.

hardly!

Rook