I have always wanted a harpsichord. This had seemed an impossible dream, as prices have been way out of my range. However, the advent of Ebay has changed this. I recently obtained a two manual harpsichord for about £300 at Ebay auction. The instrument is structurally sound but requires work to bring it to playing condition. These pages are intended to be a record of that process.
Firstly I will describe the instrument as purchased.
The instrument is a Post-war Double Manual Harpsichord. It is marked below the rose as Kemper Lubeck. I can find no reference to Kemper as a builder of harpsichords, although there are several references to an organ building firm of this name working in Lubeck in the early 70's.
The instrument is 7 ft 7 ins long, 3 ft 2 ins wide, has a traditional bentside and fish tail. It currently stands on three very spindly legs!
The naturals are African Blackwood and the accidentals ivory topped. The compass is four and three-quarter octaves AA - f3 double manual with shove coupler. There are 2 x 8ft and 1 x 4ft stops.
The casework was described by the seller as walnut, as a reputable instrument retailer I bow to their superior knowledge, to me the veneer appears rather light and unfigured to be walnut. The base is solid timber and the general structure of birch ply. The soundboard could be spruce about 1/4" thick, it is constructed of narrow boards glued side to side in the traditional manner.
There are four jack slides although only three are populated with jacks. The jacks are of acrylic construction with Delrin plectra. About 20 jacks are missing altogether. The instrument is strung in steel wire, except for the bottom octave which is in brass. About 1/4 of the strings are missing, mainly in the upper part of the compass.
