[CAUT] FW: WiTTmayer Harpsichord

Fred Sturm fssturm at unm.edu
Sat Dec 18 17:03:39 MST 2010


On Dec 18, 2010, at 3:02 PM, Edward Sambell wrote:

> Probably the worst  example was Sabbatil of Vancouver , Canada, but  
> they did change eventually.


Yes, Sabathil does take the cake for bridges and stringing, and for  
use of foam rubber all over the place (jack rail, buff stop). I have  
one from the 70s that has 16', 2 8' and 4'. All the strings go to  
hitch pins on a metal rail on the bent side (actually straight),  
meaning the four foot strings go through slots in both the 8 foot and  
16 foot bridge, then attach to a screw protruding on the bottom side  
of the hitch pin rail. I always shuddered to think I might some day  
have to replace one. Worse even than the Neupert design, which is  
pretty bad. It's a monstrous big instrument, with next to no volume. I  
used to tune it every year for a New Year's party, but it's been a  
while, so I can at least hope it has disappeared from my life. Nah,  
it'll turn up again.
	I do have a Sabathil from the 90s as well, that is really not so bad.  
Much closer to being a real harpsichord. So they did learn something.
	In the pictures below, you can barely see the 4 foot jacks. They have  
a screw protruding upward, to hit against the foam rubber of the jack  
rail. And you can see the top of the dampers. Next to impossible to  
get one out, because the damper is on a metal slide, and it won't  
slide, hence you have to move strings out of the way. You can see the  
foam rubber is turning yellow, about to disintegrate (thankfully it is  
played very little, or that would have happened long since).
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Twain
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