Regulation and Repair
In addition to servicing my own instruments, I regularly do maintenance, voicing, restringing and repairs on harpsichords and clavichords made by builders in the U.S. and Europe. Though I prefer to do major repairs in my workshop, I do on-site visits around the New England area and nationally, as travel and lodging arrangements permit. I also offer on-site training in basic harpsichord maintenance for music school piano technicians.
Harpsichord Maintenance Course
Developing a course on early keyboard maintenance has been on my mind for many years, simply because the need is so clear. Tuning these instruments isn’t so much the problem for piano technicians or teaching assistants, but the frequent maintenance required for early keyboards takes training in techniques and materials that even the best piano techs don’t have access to.
Beginning in 2017, I conducted weeklong summer courses in harpsichord voicing and regulation at the North Bennet Street School in Boston. There is a lifetime of experience I would like to squeeze into a five-day class, but my focus is on the vexing areas of harpsichord maintenance: voicing, regulation and replacing strings. Whether students are experienced piano techs or simply harpsichordists who need to get a better handle on wrestling their harpsichord into shape, my aim is to send people home confident in their knowledge and ability to make a harpsichord to sound and play reliably.
The course covers: requilling wood and plastic jacks with Delrin plectra and an overview of working with quill; assembly of wood jacks and repair of plastic jacks; how to set plectra length and voicing levels, carving plectra, coupler adjustment; regulating a three-register instrument, and setting key dip and touch; and an overview of harpsichord wire metallurgy and how to loop and replace wires.
It is my hope that eventually this course at the NBSS or elsewhere will develop into a broader offering in the field of maintaining—and even making—early keyboards of all types.