Bill Sampson
07-08-2004, 11:11 AM
Long.
It has been said, that if one does not stretch beyond their capacity to complete a task, regression occurs. There were many days during the eight months of constructing this project that I knew it was "beyond my capacity."
It is now completed and I trust it meets the standards of many of you on this forum.
It is a very accurate reproduction of an eighteenth century French Double harpsichord designed by Pascal Taskin and has grand concert quality sound.
Some background: A very special lady in the church we attend wanted to give a gift in memory of her late husband, who was very musical. It was decided that a harpsichord would be an appropriate gift. The problem was, the componet kit cost $14,000 and to have the harpsichord company construct it was another $14,000. That much was not available. It was at this point I was asked to build the unit for the church to save the additional $14M. My first answer was NO!! Well...
Many boxes containing about 3000 parts arrived at my home on Oct. 1, 2003, and work began that day. I knew what a harpsichord was, but I certainly didn't understand the mechanics of the piece. Needless to say, the learning curve was slow. Construction began on the bench, stand, and the music stand. The keys had to be set, matched, balanced and installed on pins in the key frames. The first picture is my wife marking the key notes so after each dissassembly, I could put them back in order. The second picture is about 4 months into the project. I started keeping a log of progress and time spent, but finally decided that the important item ,was the reason the piece was given, and it didn't really matter about the time.
When the case was nearly completed, I sent it to Atlanta to have it strung and voiced. A local physician in Atlanta, Adam Decker, who also builds harpsichords, did this work for us. While that was being done, I completed construction and painting of the stand and bench. Picture 3. After 5 weeks in Atlanta, picture 4 is the evening the unit was retruned to my home. The unit was tuned again, and Adam began playing. The piece came alive and the sound was worth every hour spent during the previous 8 months.
The last picture is the completed unit. I guilted the case with gold and the unit was deliverd to its intended place at the church.
Sorry the verbiage is so long, but I couldn't get 8 months work in two sentences.
Bill Sampson, Richmond
It has been said, that if one does not stretch beyond their capacity to complete a task, regression occurs. There were many days during the eight months of constructing this project that I knew it was "beyond my capacity."
It is now completed and I trust it meets the standards of many of you on this forum.
It is a very accurate reproduction of an eighteenth century French Double harpsichord designed by Pascal Taskin and has grand concert quality sound.
Some background: A very special lady in the church we attend wanted to give a gift in memory of her late husband, who was very musical. It was decided that a harpsichord would be an appropriate gift. The problem was, the componet kit cost $14,000 and to have the harpsichord company construct it was another $14,000. That much was not available. It was at this point I was asked to build the unit for the church to save the additional $14M. My first answer was NO!! Well...
Many boxes containing about 3000 parts arrived at my home on Oct. 1, 2003, and work began that day. I knew what a harpsichord was, but I certainly didn't understand the mechanics of the piece. Needless to say, the learning curve was slow. Construction began on the bench, stand, and the music stand. The keys had to be set, matched, balanced and installed on pins in the key frames. The first picture is my wife marking the key notes so after each dissassembly, I could put them back in order. The second picture is about 4 months into the project. I started keeping a log of progress and time spent, but finally decided that the important item ,was the reason the piece was given, and it didn't really matter about the time.
When the case was nearly completed, I sent it to Atlanta to have it strung and voiced. A local physician in Atlanta, Adam Decker, who also builds harpsichords, did this work for us. While that was being done, I completed construction and painting of the stand and bench. Picture 3. After 5 weeks in Atlanta, picture 4 is the evening the unit was retruned to my home. The unit was tuned again, and Adam began playing. The piece came alive and the sound was worth every hour spent during the previous 8 months.
The last picture is the completed unit. I guilted the case with gold and the unit was deliverd to its intended place at the church.
Sorry the verbiage is so long, but I couldn't get 8 months work in two sentences.
Bill Sampson, Richmond