PDA

View Full Version : One of my first Clavichords



Russell Sansom
01-25-2011, 1:39 PM
I had the great privilege of making a living as a harpsichord maker 40 some years ago. I could have benefited from studying with someone who knew what he was doing, but that was pretty hard in the 70's. I started making instruments any way I could in my teens and it took a significant fraction of my free time through college.
Once I figured out woodworking --- somewhat later in my self-education --- things began to fall in place. After building several unfretted clavichords, and shaking off the Zukerman paradigm ( I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about ), I took some time to explore the fretted clavichord.
This is my first etude. If memory serves me right, the earliest strung keyboard showed up around 1310. This one is from a few years after that. I don't remember the precise image source I copied from, but it was a fairly credible woodcut and either a museum placard or a musical instrument text convinced me that it had been a real instrument.
So, here are a couple images. I've delayed putting this up because I'm besieged with other matters right now and don't have the proper time to enjoy a discussion here. I'd enjoy sharing what I know about all this. As I take up instrument making again, much the wiser after these years and with far better resources and hand woodworking skills, input is welcome.

A couple comments.
1) I wouldn't dream of using plywood in an instrument these days. Back then, clear flat plywood was an excellent source of affordable flat wood. Also, even the best harpsichord kits of the day ( Hubbard ) were using plywood.
2) Because of the tortured path the keys take, they have to be weighted.
3) The case of this instrument was 3/16" spruce I acquired from a shop that sold "west system" spruce for boat making. I built several Italian 2X8's with the same stuff and they sounded terriffic.
4) For sound, this instrument doesn't have a chance. There's not enough down-bearing. Our ears these days aren't attuned to the quiet, softish sound of a less-than perfect clavichord. ( if you want to hear an amplified one, listen to the Beatles "For No One" )
5) The shape is ugly. It has to be 1/2" taller than seems right because the keyboard has to slip in under the soundboard, then be elevated through the keyboard holes.

This guy has been under foot for some time and no longer serving a purpose. It's hard to send an instrument to the fireplace, but the time has come to retire this one. I figure I'll take some pictures for future reference and send it to clavichord heaven.
Questions and comments are welcome, of course.

Ernie Miller
01-25-2011, 4:11 PM
Russell

Welcome back to the harpsichord world. I've never built a clavichord (or an Italian), only French and Flemish instruments. I have, however, gone through the purposeful destruction of my first instrument. It took me a few years to go at it with a Sawzall, and I must admit I'm sorry I did. While I knew it was a terrible instrument at the time, I wish it was still around now (25 years later) if only to serve as some assurance that I've actually learned something in the intervening years. Think twice before you dismantle yours.

Ernie

Russell Sansom
01-26-2011, 1:59 AM
Ernie, I appreciate the advice.

I've recycled or burned half a dozen at this point in my life. I once built a 2 X 4' italian, just to try out the idea. Just like a normal Italian but only about 3 feet in length. I put a couple sets of my own jacks in it. It actually sounded great as I think all Italian's do, but was it was meant to be just a temporary sketch of an idea. It was crude in places that didn't matter and was too flimsy to consider as a usable instrument.
An organ player / choir master / partial patron just fell in love with it and said he had to have it. He even slipped over when I was out and told my wife I said it was ok for him to take it home for a while. I gave him one day --- which was about how long it was going to stay in tune --- then I drove over to his apartment and grabbed it back. That night the wife and had a very warm evening in the living room by the fire.

I love seeing my old work. But maintaining my own museum has always been a war between space and sentimentality. Good pictures give me all the self-validation I need these days. Time to make way for the new stuff!

Ernie Miller
01-26-2011, 9:17 AM
Russell,

I know what you mean about space. I have a completed instrument in the shop waiting to be picked up. Getting these things to Boston was easy when I lived in NY. Here in North Carolina, I have to wait until the Harpsichord Clearing House has a delivery somewhere near me. They pick the instruments up on their return trip. I sure could use the space.

What are you planning on building next?

Ernie

Marv Werner
01-26-2011, 1:48 PM
Hey Russ,

Right up front I'll confess that I know zero about clavichords, harpsichords, rip chords or even umbilical chords. However, I do recognize and appreciate good workmanship, whether it be wood working or metal working or other working.

If nothing else, the items you build do in fact embody certain skills that so many others might envy. You can certainly take much pride in that. It's not always what you build, it's what it represents as to your skill level and your desire to have learned those skills. That makes it special.

george wilson
01-30-2011, 6:32 PM
When I was working on a very early English piano,I noted that it actually used some hand made plywood to reinforce areas under the soundboard!!!! The plywood pieces were about 3" X 10",but they were definitely original,and hand made.

Ernie Miller
01-30-2011, 6:36 PM
In my many years as a piano technician I saw, and serviced, many new pianos with plywood soundboards. Almost all were Korean imports and, to the best of my knowledge, almost all have abandoned the practice.

george wilson
01-30-2011, 8:01 PM
You understand,I said under the soundboard,not the soundboard itself? Kohler and Campbell(sp?) used ply soundboards. I visited their factory in N. Carolina in the 60's. They had a 1/16" veneer of spruce over a thick poplar core. I wasn't too impressed with it. Their spruce was knife sliced,and of course every grain was somewhat shattered by the cutting process.

Ernie Miller
01-30-2011, 8:18 PM
You understand,I said under the soundboard,not the soundboard itself? Kohler and Campbell(sp?) used ply soundboards. I visited their factory in N. Carolina in the 60's. They had a 1/16" veneer of spruce over a thick poplar core. I wasn't too impressed with it. Their spruce was knife sliced,and of course every grain was somewhat shattered by the cutting process.

Yes George, I understood you meant reinforcement under the soundboard. I have never seen that, but working for Baldwin as I did, I saw mainly newer instruments. As for soundboards themselves, I found laminated soundboards a bit louder with a far less interesting tone. Companies that used laminated boards guaranteed their soundboards against cracking - some for as long as 50 years. Of course, you could make a soundboard out of metal (like John Challis did) and guarantee it against cracking for a lot longer than that. The question is - how does it sound? Henry Steinway said he was always amazed to find an older Steinway piano that didn't have a cracked soundboard.

george wilson
01-30-2011, 9:49 PM
They had a Challis harpsichord for playing out of doors in Williamsburg. It sounded like a beer can!!!! I met John Challis when he came to work on the harpsichord. I never met a more arrogant guy. His obsession was to make a harpsichord that would always stay in tune. Apparently disregarding the cost in tone,authenticity,and everything else. The soundboard was aluminum painted a metallic green color. I believe the whole instrument was metal inside,with a wooden shell around it. It looked like a Zuckermann!! I can't recall if it had a bentside,or was a rectangle with one part of a side lopped off.

As for the English piano,it was the earliest surviving English piano. A very small instrument,and I just cannot remember the name right now. I think it was a German name. I'm sure you know the name,Ernie. We had to go fetch it from a restorer up in Annapolis,Md.,probably in 1971. He had had it for over 2 years,I think,and had not communicated with Williamsburg about it at all. They were afraid they might find it in the city dump or something like that!! I THINK the name was Zumpe(?) It was about the size of a medium size clavichord.

Ernie Miller
01-30-2011, 9:59 PM
They had a Challis harpsichord for playing out of doors in Williamsburg. It sounded like a beer can!!!


;) This has to be the funniest description of a harpsichord's tone I ever heard - and I've heard a few.



As for the English piano,it was the earliest surviving English piano. A very small instrument,and I just cannot remember the name right now. I think it was a German name. I'm sure you know the name,Ernie. We had to go fetch it from a restorer up in Annapolis,Md.,probably in 1971. He had had it for over 2 years,I think,and had not communicated with Williamsburg about it at all. They were afraid they might find it in the city dump or something like that!! I THINK the name was Zumpe(?) It was about the size of a medium size clavichord.

I think you're right - Zumpe was a German who studied with Tsudi. He is credited with building the oldest surviving English piano in 1766. I think he only built square grands. Wish I could have seen it.

Ernie

george wilson
01-30-2011, 10:47 PM
I'm sure they still have in collections,Ernie. I think I saw it in the Wallace Gallery last time I was there.
Challis was in his 60's,I guess,and it was amazing to see him work!! He had a TERRIBLE case of Parkinson's(I guess) and his hands shook VERY BADLY. He used pocket watch screws on his jacks. He would take out a jack,and have it in 1 hand,and a jeweler's screwdriver in the other. Now,the jack was going RAPIDLY back and forth at least 1". Somehow,he would get his two shaking hands synchronized and get the screwdriver into the tiny screw slit,and turn it a little. It really was something to see!!

Marcus Hansen,my journeyman,studied at the N.Carolina School of Performing Arts. They had the WORST harpsichord I've EVER seen there. A Speerhawker(sp?) It was enormous,bigger and heavier than a grand piano. It had a DOUBLE DECKER soundboard!!! 2 levels. 1 for Bass,and 1 for higher registers. Its bridges were huge,and it had big 4x4's running underneath,and an open bottom.

It was suffocating to listen to. It sounded like it was inside a tight wooden box,with a little sound leaking out. This was in the mid 60's when it was there.

Williamsburg had another harpsichord for use inside the Music Teacher's Shop when I first got there. It was a Chickering. The same model had been played in the old movie "Hush,Hust,Sweet Charlotte. It wasn't the worst instrument I ever saw,but also tended to be built more like a piano than a harpsichord. It had leather plectra. I guess they didn't have a suitable plastic when it was made,and they didn't think quill was permanent enough. I don't know if they still have it. My harpsichord replaced it.

Marcus said he thought all pipe organists were megalomaniacs !! It might have been true in the case of E. POWER Biggs(was that his name?) I KNOW the POWER part is correct,because he always saw to it that the middle name was spelled out. I'm sure you remember the harpsichord that Challis made for him.

This monster had a full size PEDAL harpsichord mounted under its legs. I'm sure both top and bottom instruments had 5 choirs of strings. Challis bragged about how he managed to violate the laws of physics by making more than 1 thing occupy the same space,when describing the complexity of the instrument. This instrument looked like the smaller Challis we had,VERTICAL walnut veneer on the sides and all,IIRC. I'm sure it sounded like a larger beer can!!!

In the Governor's Palace,they kept,and probably still have,a Dowd,with an English style case. It was loaded,too,with 5 choirs of strings. Its tone was weak from all those strings bearing down on the soundboard. I think it had a Canadian spruce soundboard,which didn't help,either. I used to have to go along with Jock(who WANTS to be called Jock?) Darling,our music director,and tune the blasted thing when ever he went to give a concert. My ears were better back then,but the 2' choir was like trying to tune little stabbing needles!!! Especially when Jock didn't allow enough time,and the audience would come in,making noise and talking constantly.

One time I got lucky,about 1974,and went to a pawn shop I had known as a teenager,looking at guitars,after tuning, down at St. Luke's church in Norfolk(I think it was St.Luke's,the old one with the Revolutionary War cannon ball in the side of it)
where I bought a machinist's chest FULL of good tools for $100.00. I had just gotten my first metal lathe. It came in very handy. I had to get on a bus for the 3 blocks back to the concert place,it was so heavy to carry. We drove this huge gut bucket station wagon with the Dowd in back. I had to get it back to Wmsbg. through the Hampton Roads tunnel traffic after the concert. I was afraid of an accident with the Down in the back,and I hadn't driven that car before,but all went well,in spite of the sardine can traffic.

Surgery on my DOMINANT eye tomorrow morning. Not sure when I'll be fit to post!!!

Ernie Miller
01-31-2011, 11:25 PM
George

Hope your surgery went well.

Ernie

george wilson
02-01-2011, 10:00 AM
Right now I can barely see. My left eye is tantalizing me,watering up,and I must wait for it to get better.