[CAUT] Harpsichord popping strings

[Jim Busby]

Hi,

I'll show my ignorance here because I only have 4 harpsichords, and only one transposes, but don't all "transposing" harpsichords go from A440 down to A415, and then also to A392? I've always thought that A415 was basically to accommodate German period instruments and the A392 to accommodate French composers and the corresponding instruments . (Lully, Couperin, etc.) Do most transposing keyboards only go down one note? What about the French? (Please don't answer that <G>) And is the "upper" always A440?  You harpsichord guys cut me some slack here. This is certainly something a CAUT should know.

Thanks.

Jim



From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Dennis Johnson
Sent: Monday, October 11, 2010 3:21 PM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Harpsichord popping strings

Hi-

That means also when you are in the 440 position key #1 uses wire #2.  Unless the builder added one more unison set at the top then last note in the treble will not have any wire to puck so no sound.   When I first came here the harpsichord was in the low 415 position but tuned to 440 so they could get all the notes.  That could explain a lot.  If this is the case, let them know that excessive tension can also cause warping and sticking registers- or worse.

good luck,

Dennis Johnson
________
On Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 2:46 PM, Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu<mailto:fssturm at unm.edu>> wrote:

On Oct 11, 2010, at 1:42 PM, Paul T Williams wrote:


You know, the action is transferable to a lower pitch.....maybe we've been tuning it all these years at too high of tension????? I'll look into that as well.

If the action is set to the left, with the spacer to the right, it is in low pitch position. And vice versa. So if the spacer is on the left, it should be OK at 440, but not if the spacer is on the right.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu<mailto:fssturm at unm.edu>
"Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it." Brecht


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20101011/15887f3b/attachment-0001.htm>