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 I always wondered, why modern harpsichord builders adhered so strictly to the traditional design. After all, so much more is possible. I have to admit that I was guilty myself to the very same limited way of thinking, but the recently design series of furniture inspired me to choose for this format. Developping on a computer and afterwards building an instrument like this, is a very special and tough series of events. I loved to do it, and I would very much like to share it with you. Except some 'business secrets' of course. Every builder of musical instruments has those secrets and we like to stick to them. Here are some photographs from 'the making of'. In this case the making of the soundboard. More images will follow. 
The total soundboard after the individual boards are glued together.
Basic action: sanding down the soundboard, according to the specifications (I determined in this case).
With help of the thickness meter, the necessairy sanding can easily be determined.
Glueing the individuals boards (left) and the bridge after it has been bent (right).  This piece of duplex wood must be placed on exactly the right place between the bridge and the fixation point of the string. By this means the sound will be enriched by one of the first harmonic tones available. In other words: the duplex has to be tuned apart from the string itself. The size of the little piece of wood is made clear by the comparison with the match.
More information An instrument like this, is not something you buy easily by the Internet - like the furniture on this site by the way. So extensive information should be exchanged before any transaction. If you would like more information, please write a note here. For those who are not so familiar with these instruments: Italian means in this case: a clear light sound and build of the instrument. Amongst others this is achieved by adapted tension of the chords and by trying to let most parts of the instrument contribute to the sound. An Italian harsichord has traditionally no lid, but is packed in a seperate box for transport. This box is not delivered in our program, since most people put the instrument in their room and don't really carry it around. If needed, we can of course provide such a custom made box. To be clear: the images you see here are computer images from the original design files. Although thoroughly realistic, the ultimate images of the harpsichord will show (small) differences. As soon as we see the possibility, we will not only provide you with images of the build instrument, but also put a sound track of this harpsichord on this site. Special attention I am going to develop a UNIQUE feature for this harpsichord (not yet visible in the images): I will try to add a duplex function. This is far from a sinecure - that's why I prefer not to give any further explanation for the moment. If you don't know what duplex is, I only can tell you to come back later. I am in the middle of the development of this feature. The only thing I can say is: it is to make the sound fuller and richer. As far as I know, it has never been tried before on a harpsichord. I will explain later.
Material Wood: the best wood for sound boards available of Epicea (spruce) which grows high in the mountains. Furthermore a diversity of wood for the different purposes of a harpsichord: oak for stability, pearwood for dimensional stability, pine for lighter parts, etc.
Format Height 86 cm.; width front side 78 cm., width back side 34 cm.; length: 173 cm. Registers 8 foot with lute register; range: C – f3. |
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