Harpsichord dabbling...

[Israel Stein]

At 08:08 PM 10/18/2007, Anne Acker wrote:

>Dear Ric,
>
>How would you like the idea of harpsichord builders "dabbling" in 
>piano work?

Anne,

Interesting that you should use such an analogy... I actually did run 
into such a case in the mid-90's, back when I was living and working 
in Boston. This is when the harpsichord builder Erich Hertz fell on 
hard times and started dabbling in some piano work here and there to 
help make ends meet. It wasn't pretty, I had to clean up after him a 
couple times... And at one time (here in California) I was asked to 
testify in a small-claims suit against a harpsichord builder who 
replaced a pinblock on a piano - and swore in court that he made sure 
that every tuning pin had at least 20 lbs. of torque on it!!  But 
then again there was a piano tuner in Boston who took on a 
harpsichord job and "corrected" the tuning pin height and the string 
coils for starters, and then installed front pins and felt punchings 
in the poor instrument (it had rear guides...)

All I can say is that at least the "dabblers" here on this list ask 
about things they aren't familiar with... That's worth some credit, I think...

Oh, by the way...  I would advise against using harpsichord wire - 
from whatever source - that has been lying around since before 
Tuners' Supply went out of business. I have some of that vintage, and 
it is too brittle to make a loop out of... (some day I'll toss it...)

Israel Stein



>Harpsichord voicing and regulation are earned skills, just as hammer 
>voicing or piano regulation are.  I'm hoping that "dabbling" was a 
>playful and not serious choice of words there.  Perhaps the plumber 
>would like to dabble at piano tuning while he's in the house anyway 
>with wrenches?