A SHORT MAINTENANCE MANUAT

for

WILLIAM DOWD HARPSICHORDS

William Dowd
Oetober 1981
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PREFACE

For someyears now I have been worklng on a large

and, I hope, fai.rly complete book on the maintenanee of
classical harpsiehords, but as the volume grows so
does the infornation and subj ect natter to be included,.
I 8trr therefore, offerlng this Iittle pamphlet as a stop
gap treasure for our owners, fully aurare of its limitations
and failings. For everything explained, there is much trore
left unexplalned. Yet were it not severely curtalled, it
would take too mueh tlme from the larger work. I tried to
set down the outllnes of a good, regulatlon on not nore than
five sheets of paper. It was barely possi-ble, but it could
only really be understood by members of our own shop or
people closely associated with us. This pamphlet then is
about the smallest that will be.generally useful to our
nore mechanlcal owners. The unmechanical should put it
1n the hands of their local piano teehnician who could
then approaeh the harpsichord less timidly. Fi-na11y,
mechanj-ca1 descriptions do not make for easy reading;
therefore read it seated at your harpsichord. If you
observe while you read, nany sticky passages will
become obvious.

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 TABLE Otr' CONTENTS

Page

I GENERAT CARE

A Moving 1
B Placenent 2
c Humidity 2
D Finish 3

II. KEYBOARDS

A Pinning 5
B Stuck Keys 5
C a Keyboard Reuoval 6
D Transposition 7
E The Coupler 7
P Cleaning 7

II1. REGISTERS

A Slide l,lotion 8
B Handstops 8
C Leathered S1ldes 8

IV. JACKS

A Tongue s 9
B Tongue Springs 10
c Regulating Serew 10
D End Pin 11
E The Qui1l t1
F' Danpers 1L
u Drawing 16

V. STANDARD REGULATINO PROCEDURE

A Tune t7
B Ghost t7
c Volcing 18
D Jack Hei ghts and Plucking Timings 19
E Jack Rai 1 22
F Dampers 23

vI. TUNING 2L

VII. CHANGING A STRING 25

 I. GENERAL CARE

A Moving

When being moved, William Dowd harpsichords can

be carriedr or rider oo their bottom, spj-ne sider or
keyboard end; the last a necessary positlon for nost
elevators. The nore recent instruments, those with
handstops and a nane batten inlaid in a rabbet ln the
nameboard, can even ride safely upside down, making it
possible to use a mlni station wagon wlth the front
passenger seat renoved or folded down. Make sure the
jack rail is seourely hooked. Reasonabl-e jarring fron
road rumble uil1 not hurt it, and the padding of the
cover should be sufficient for station wagon or moving
van trips. Extra padding should be used to protect the
lid if things are lald on top of it or if the harpsichord.
is to ride upside down. For nornal trucking or ai.r freight
it must be crated.
Trestle bases cone apart easily wlth'bedbolts.
To reassemble, the long stretchers have matching dots
to the trestles to determine which end is which. The
moulding on the lower stretcher goes outsid.er o? toward
the bentslde. Keep the bedbolts tight. If there is
pfay, the trestle will sway, rounding over the ends of
the long stretehers. It will then tend to sway even
with the bolts tight.
Instruments on trestle bases, even without casters,
can be s11d along floors (ff you donrt c&re about marking
the floor), but instruments on Louis XVI bases must be
carrled. Carryi-ng a harpsichord around a room or stage
does not affect its tuning as it would that of a piano.
 B. Placement

One of the nost frequently asked questi-ons by new

owners concerns the placenent of the harpsichord in the
room. With most nod.ern .sua1l houses or apartments there
is little choice. Interlor wa1ls are traditionally con-
sidered better than exteri-or, but r.rith reasonable insul-
ation and storn windows I see little dlfference. The one
stringent rule is to keep the lnstrunent away fron a
source of heat. If lt ls placed near a radiator, the
radi-ator must be turned off; 1f over a hot air register,
the register nust not only be closed at the floor, but
lts duct should be elosed at the furnace. One of the
nost dangerous places a harpsiehord can be is in an
old-fashioned sma1l eonservatory practi.ce rootr with
uncontrollable heating.

C. tiUruidity

The ideaL relattve humldity for a harpsichord or

any wooden nusical instrument 1s 50fr, but this ldea1 ls
only realized in certain forturiate museuns with very
expensj-ve equipment. The second ideal is to have a
constant hunidity, whatever it is. For practical pur-
poses the instrument i-s reeelving exeellent care if the
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humidity range stays between 30% to 7Afr. Wood expands
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and contraets most at the extremes of the humidity seale;

from 30fr to 707 it does not move much. All sorts of
humidifiers are now on the narket from relatlvely inex-
pensi.ve hand-fiLled nodels, adequate for most rooms, up
to very sophisticated models that humidify an entire
building, are connected to the plumbing and are self-
tending. Dehunidifying is more difficult. Alr-eondl-
tioning, if it removes water from the ai.r, is he1pfu1.

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It should be pointed out that high humidity is far less
dangerous to a harpsichord than extrene dryness which
can cause serious shrinkin.g and cracking . ;
The soundboard is designed to have a erown, i..e.,
it is higher under the bridge than elsewhere. The board
will rise and, faI1 with changes of humidity, being higher
when damp. One nay have the experi-ence of losing sotre
key dip during very hunid weather as the qui11s are
farther fron the strings. Some compensatory adjustnent
nay be necessary. Sections V:D and E on jack heights and
jagk rail height will explain how.
When the weather becomes humid the piteh will rise.
0n the east coast of the United States, where the hunidlty
change from winter to sumner is great, the pitch can go up
more than a semi-tone from spring to midsunmer. Should
one leave the .harpsichord unatt.ended during this period,
lt should be tuned d.own a senoi-tone to avoid und.ue strain
or possible stri-ng breakage.

D. I'1ni sh

Our earlj.ei painted instruments weie finished wlth

sprayed nitro-ce11ulose laequer, and the gold-1eaf bands
and nouldings are unprotected by varnish on top. Fron
the mid-1970 | s on the maj ority were brush-painted with
oi1 'paint, and the gold has a spirit varni-sh over it for
protecti.on. In either ease, do not wax, oilr or use
furniture polish on pai.nted harpsiehords; these will just
make sticky messes ready for fingerprints. painted sur-
faces are best cLeaned. with a damp eloth or sponge, even
using a Ilttle mild and non-abrasive soap or detergent.
Veneered cases with an oiL finish shouLd be oiled
fron time to ti.me using boil-ed linseed oi1 slightly
thinned. with turpenti.ne. Apply the oil earefully and
in sma]L amounts for it has a genius for slopping over

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where you dontt want it. Then buff ith 4/0 steel wool
and dry thoroughly with paper tovels, bei.ng especially
careful to dry in cornors and, the qulrks of mouldlngs. ;
A resldue left ln these looks awful when it has dried.
A particularly dry and crazed.. finlsh benefi.ts by betng
sanded sith 400 wet or d.ry papel ln oil, before steel
uooling. All sanding oT steel woollng should,, of eourse,
be done in the directlon of the gr.aln. Oll-soaked paper
towels, sandpaper and steel wool are very flammable and
prone to spontaneous eonbustlon. They should elther be
burned or soaked ln water before belng thrown ln the
traEh g!g!]g. the house.
Faney veneered cases that are French pollshed should
be treated like lacquered and pelnted cases or they can be
lightly pollshed uith lemon oLI.
Soundboards can be cleaned. by scrubbing rith a paint
brush through the strlngs and then bloulng or sucking the
dlrt out with a bellows or v.a@uun eLeaner. Do not do
this Just after tunlng.

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 II.' KEYBOARDS

A. Description of Pinning

The keys of both manuals have pins at the balance

rail and guide pins in the baek rai1. (Note: Instrunents
before No. 72 have front-rai1 rather than back-rai1 pins
ln the English tradition. ) These pins work in unbushed.
mortises punched into the wood key stock. The balance
pins not only position the keys from front to back but
keep them erect. A key that 1s leaning over can be
straightened by slightly bending its balance pin to one
side or the other. The back pins guide the keys, and
the spaelng between keys can be adjusted by bending then.
The fronts of the keys are made leve1 by insertlng shims
or rrpunchingstr of paper or card under the cloth balance-
rail punehings. There is no front rail to stop the k"y
dip. Key dip is determined by the jack hitting the jack
rai1, and its adjustment will be diseussed 1ater.

B. Stuck Kevs

The most frequent c&use of stuck or sluggish keys

is a tight mortise at the balance-rail pin or back-rai1
pin. Howeverr $ou must first make absolutely sure it is
the key itself that i-s sluggish or stuck. The same effect
ean be produeed by a malfunctioning or improperly lnserted
jackr or a keyboard which is not firmly to the right or
left in one of the transposing posltions. Then hold the
key between thumb and forefinger and work it up and down,
pushing to the right and left. Should this treatment failr
remove the keyboard and determine whieh morti-se is at fault.
(ft is more often the hack-pin morti-se.) Very cautlously

5
 renove wood from the tight mortj-se with a voici-ng knife or
a sna11 flat Swiss fi1e. The mortise should be free but
not sloppy. ,

The second most froquent cause of stieking keys is

interferenee betueen them. The cure is .either the bendlng
of balance or baek pins, the removal of key lever material
by filing or planing, or a eonbi-nation of both. Correct
diagnosis is essentlal before proceeding. The keyboard
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nust be renoved.

C. Kevboard Removal

1. The upper keyboard ean be renoved easl1y.

Unscrew the name batten and lift out the keyboard.
The jacks wilL hang on thelr dampers.
2. The lower keyboard is now exposed and can usually
be worked on in p1ace. The batten between the keys is
easily removable, and one should remove the jacks on the
keys being worked on.
3. To remove the lower keyboard:
a) Put the lower.registers orlr 'sb that the jacks
will hang on their dampers when the keys are removed.
b) Remove .the screurs which hold down the key
frame or the noulded front rail. These screws on the
underside of the harpsichord ean be identified by brass
countersunk washers.
c ) Slide the keyboard out.
lr. When replacing the keyboards, make sure the backs
of the key levers are down and that no jack has fa1len
through. Slide them in sentl-y, and if any resj-stance ls
net r.rith, find out why. It is usually a jaek that has.
falien through or a key. that !r" risen ln baek.
5. If the keyboards are to remain out of the instrunent
for some time, it is best to remove all of the jacks. Thls
protects the dampers from being cut ln or curling excessive-

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1y while hanging unsupported on the strings.

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 D. Transposition

When sliding the keyboards it is essential that

no key be depressed 1n front or the key fever will hit
the jack under whieh it should slide. Plaee thunbs on
the sides of the key bloeks under the end keys and
slide gently.
Instrunents often collect dust and. other naterial
under the keyboards, and when they. are noved on their sldes
t

this junk gathers along the bass side of the lor.rer key
framer prev€nting the keyboards from sliding properly to
the left. When this happens the stuff must be removed,
whieh usually necessitates the remsval of the keyboard,s.

E The Coupler

The lost the coupler dog and the upper

motlo.n .between
key shoulrl be kept to a ninimun, but lt should not be so
tight that an upper key tr.ritches when the coupler is
engaged. Fornerly we adjusted the, coupler with nore lost
moti.on and set the upper 8r jaeks higher (See Section V:D).

F Cleanins

Both the ebony and. the bone or ivory can be cleaned

with -a damp (not wet) cloth, and. then dried by buffing
with a dry c1oth. For a thorough cleani-ng, the keyboards
should be removed and the keys taken off the fraues.
Very dull or worn ebony can be brightened up with linseed
oil applied very sparlngly, polished with lr/0 steel wool
and then completely r.riped dry. The same treatment can be
used on the pearwood arcades. The keys should, of course,
be removed from the frames for oiling, and great care nust
be taken not to slop oi1 on the basswood key levers.

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 III. REGISTERS

A. Slide Motion

The notion- of the slides is adjusted by the capstan

screws in the slide ends. These capstans have a No, 10-32
thread or 3Z threads per inch. Therefore one conplete
turn of the capstan represents an adjustment change of L/32n,
A quarter turn, the most one can nornally turn at a time
with the slide in the instrunent, is l/]-z9tt, or .008n.
We sha1l speak of the slide motion i.n terns of quarter
turns of the capstans rather than glving aetual d.lmensions.

B. Handstops

The pivot screws. of .the stop l.evers must be kept

tight, adding friction to resist the tend.ency of the
d.anpers to push the slide off. This ls especially true
of the l+t stop where the dampers nornally eone off the
stri.ngs when the register is di-sengaged..
The stop levers should not touc.h the sides of the
mortises through the nameboard, especially in the gg
position. If one does, renove it and bend it s1ight1y,
to center it in the mortise.

C. Leathered 51ldes

If a jack stieks, or is sluggish in the slide,

move lt up and downr pressi-ng it gently agai.nst the
leather, being careful not to enlarge the nortise too
nuch. If the mortises are badly worn, and the fit of
the jacks is sloppy, the slides should be removed from
the instrument and sent baek to the shop for reLeather-
ing. When replaced, a thorough regulation will be needed.

8
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 Worn leather nortises can sometines be i.nproved
by the following method: Make a block of. hardwood with
a squarer snooth end that just fits the wooden uortise on
the und,erside of the slide. Itlith the slide upside down
against a hard, smooth surface, snartly rap the block
lnto the. mortlse, squeezi.ng out the leather.

IV. JACKS

A. Ton ES

Dowd tongues have one of two types of plvot.

Those used before l97l+ have a ,033rr axle pin of plated
brass i later ones are of a snap-in type wlth trunions
noulded to the tongue, flttlng holes in the jack.
Sone earller instrunents have had the new tongues fitted
to the o1d jacks by drl11ing out the ol-d axfe hole wlth
a No . 53 d.r111.
Tongues of elther typ" should fit loosely on their
p5,vots. When th.e tongue sprlngs are not engaged, the
tongues should dangle freely. If they do not, a little
forceful working back and forth while twlsting the tongue
with the flngers usually frees then. If this treatnent
fails, the tongue nust be renoved and the ho16 reamed
or cleared.
To remove the snap-in tongue: Push the top of the
tongue backwards so its spring snaps through to the front
of the jack. Then spread the jack sides and twist the
trunl.ons out of the pivot holes. The older tongue is
renoved by pushing the axle pin out from its snaller
end. Part of the pin taper has.been left to facilltate
using the sane pin agaln. The pivot hole in the tongue
can be reamed. with a reamer mad.e from an extra pin rolled
und.er a fiIe.

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B. Tongue Spri.ng

The tenslon of the tongue spring can b'e adJusted,

by gently pressing and bendlng 1t between the blade of
a J eueler I s screr.rdrj.ver and the f orefinger or thunb of
the hand holdlng the serewdriver, To do this, the
tongue nust be backed out of the jack wlth the spring
proj ecting forward.. The spring can then be snapped back
I into position behind the jack with. the tip of the screu-
driver. The correct tensi.on should be just enough to
return a freely-operating tongue firnly against the
regulatlng Bcrew.

C. Regulati-ng Screw

The regulating screw adJusts. the slant of the tongue

in the Jack and therefore the lap of the quill on the
strlng. It is E! a volcing serew and is not lntended to
effect variations of volune. Its purpose is to help the
technician even the qui1l- Iap if it has changed through
unequal expansion and. contraction of the. slide and the'
string band. Fornerly, when plectra were of leatherr or
plastic qui11s uere cut bluntly and with 1lttIe 1ap,
snall vari.ations 1n lap could be perceived as changes of'
volume. But long, thinly-cut quiI1s with consld.erable lap
are dynamically insensitive to small changes of 1ap.
Instrunents Bo voiced stand in regulation extrenely we11,
even with fierce changes of climate. Regulating screws,
intended as an aid to the technieian, hecome a eurse when
the owner grlnds then in and out in vain attempts to alter
the voicing. We have, therefore, abandoned them in our
'recent instruments where the tongue positions are fixed.
The correct position for a regulating serew 1s halfway
through its total, reasonable notion: the middle of the
cone point of the screu should be halfway d.own the bevel

10
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I on the tongue. Thj-s read.justment should always be made
before requilling.

D. End Pin

l The end pin or screw 1n the botton of the jack

adjusts'the Jack length and thereby the dlstance of the
quil1 below the strlng. Its thread is No. 2-56 whlch ls
an adjustnent of .018tt fbr one eonplete turn. The older
l Dowd jack has a long end pin.whlch also serves as the
lower bearing in the guide. These long pins can build
up a deposit whieh nakes the aetion feel sluggish. They
should. be wiped clean fron tl,ne to tine with a dry rag.

E The Quill

This discussion will be restricted to plastic qui1I.

Our qulIIs are made from sheets of Delrin extruded under
consj.d.erable pressure. It is much stronger and lasts
longer than noulded Delrin. Replaeement stock should be
obtained from our shop.. We provide Delrin in three thlck-
nesses! thick (.025n) for the. lowest two octaves of the
8' bass, medlum (.020n) for the renaind.er of the 8t, and
thin (.015tt) for the entire lrt. The thick is color coded
uith a black mark, the necliun is plaln, and the thin is
narked red. (Note: Before we used the thin stock for
the lrt, we narked the mediun stock red. Identlfication
should be easy for the thin stock is far too feeble for
any part of an 8r register.) Delrin is provided ln strips
about l/8n wide. If one has a fu11 sheet, the 'direction
of thg extrusion must be determined, and the strips of
qul11 cut out in this direction. Since an extruded sheet
is rol1ed when manufactured, the curve is the direction
of the extrusion.

11
I
I To replace a qui11:

I 1. the o1d qui1I by backing it out. Grab,

Remove
the o1d qui11 near the surface of the tongue (t/lZu) with

I sma1l, smooth-jawed, flat-nose.p1i-ers. Holding the tongue

firmly forward in the jackr push the qui11 backwards.
If the qui1l has broken off almost at the tongue, trim lt
flush with a volcing knife and punch it out with the snall
j eweler I s screwdriver.
I 2. Adjust the regulating screw to 1ts center posltion,
looking at the screws of cther jacks near it for conparison

I It will frequently be found to be serewed out, or high,

because the flrst thing an inexperienced person does when

I a quil1 brea.ks is screw the tongue farther forward.

3. Check the tongue spring tenslons
lr. Cut the edge of the nelrin strip to & 1ong, tapered
I point (Drawing 1). With the.flat-nose pliers, insert the
pointed strip through tt-e back of the tongue, ths concave
side of the curve up. See that the 1ui1l 1s projecting
tI straight out from the front of the tongue and press it ln
very firmly. The quil1 nortises of the newer tongues are
trapezoidal. The angl.ed sides of these mortises hold any

t reasonable thickness of. qull1 stock flrmly. The older

mortises are rectangular, and any thiekness other than
.025rr must be driven in very tightly to hold.
I 5, To cut the new qui11 to its proper length, the
sllde should flrst be put into ghost position. If one is
I only replacing & few qui11s, the ghost posi_tlon can be
found with the handstops of the 8r and l+t registers. If

I nany qui11s are to be replacedr or the entire register is

to be requilled, the off capstan should be turned out to

t ghost with the handstop gl=f . The upper 8t being locked gr

the off capstan must be turned in until the register
ghosts when the slide is wedged gl!.
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I t2
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 After the ghost is determl:ed, the end of the qui11
is cut off,.bit by bit, until it ghosts.. The qui11 is
cut off with the voi.clng knlfe against a voj.cing block
whlch supports the qui11. The jack ls held upside d.own.
The qui11 is cut para1le1 to the string but at an angle
fron underneath of roughly 60 degrees. (Drawing 2)
6, The sides of the qui11 are shaped with the knife
to remove any roughness and to make the tip l/3Zn to 3/S4n
wide. The si-des should be straight, or slightly concave
but nev'er convex. (Drawing 3) 0bserve from above the
qui11s adjacent to the replacement.
7. The qul11 is finally voiced by shaving its
undersj.de while supporting 1t with the voicing bl-ock.
It should be thinned un.til its volune. of . tone is equal
to the notes adjacent.to it. Tle shaving should be done
in an even taper from tongue to tip. The quiI1 should
flex in a smooth par.abolic curve. If only the end bends,
it is too thin at the tip and too thick elsewhere i it
will break at the tip. If it is thinned out evenly in
thickness and paral]e1 to the top surface, it will bend
as though it were hinged at the tongue and will break
there. This also happens if thin stock is used too low
in the bass where no voj-eing is necessary. (Drawing lr)
The experiertced voicer cuts to length, shapes the
sides, and voices simultaneously, but it is best that the
beginner follow the steps above or else he is like1y to
cut new quil1s too thin and too narrow before the length
I

I
is correet. If one euts a qui11 too softly, it can often
be rejuvenated by pushing it thrcugh from the back and
cutting to length again.
8. After voicing a new qui11 or quills, one nust
check'for rrhangingtr. rtHangerstr are qui11s that will not
passr or frescapefr the string on the return. A well-
regulated jack and properly eut qui11 should work under

t3
the worst conditions; that is, lf the jack is lowered
s1ou1y against a damped string, it must escape. True
hangers are caused by a roughness on the underside of ;
the qui11, a sluggish or tight tonguer of, a tongue spring
that is too strong. False hangers axe caused by d.ampers
that touch the string before the qull1 escapes (i.e.,
too low) or jacks that are too long.

F. DamppsE

lhe daupers are made from standard strips of piano

key bushing cloth. The older jacks use medium or rrBtl
thickness; the neu jacks use thin .or rrArr thj.ckness.
Danpers are the most perishable part of the harpsichord
action and should, be replaced frequently' especially in
the bass of the Sl.regi.sters. Every two years ls not
too often for a much used consexvatory or school
instrument. Great care should. be taken, however, for
badly cut d,ampers are worse than the worn out, profes-
sionally installed dampers they replaced..
The strips of cloth are drawn through the danper
slots in the jacks until.they are a blt too 1ong. They
are sliced cff in back and cut off squarely in front to
the correet length. An experi-enced person can draw the
strip exactly to. length and merely slite it. off behj-nd,
The strip must be absolutely horizontal; otherwise' it
will not wprk properly when the slide moves on and off.
The correct length for the 8r dampers is a trifle longer
than halfway betr.reen. the close pairs of strings.
(Drawing 5) The 8r dampers should danp the string when
thg slide is off but should not interf.ere with the
adjacent string. One checks by playing that string
and listening for interferenee.

Ll+
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T The length of the. /+r damper is trore critical.
Usually it cannot damp when the slide is.off, and this
effect of undanped, sympathetically sounding l+t strings
is preferred. by nany players. When.on, however, the
d.amper eomes quite close to the 8r string above lt.
Very 1ittle clearance is necessary, but if insufficient,
one hears it. The outward edge of a l+t danper is beveled,
rather than cut s!lu6.re, to help increase this clearance.
A squared section is left at the bottom of the danper to
strengthen it. (Drawing 6)
Danpers should be set as high as possible, while
sti1l remaini-ng in firm contact .with the strlng. The
end pin should always lightly touch the key. If dampers
are set too }ow, they may cause false hangers, and they
will aLso.we&r out faster. Single-edge razor blades
against a suooth hardwood block &re excellent for
cutting dampers. Flat-nose pliers are indispensible
for setting heights.

L5
 G. DRAWINGS

o Direction of Cu r/ @

or

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@ *\

Good Bad

o oo
@ @
o

15
 v. STANDARD REGULATION PROCEDURE
FOR WILLIAM DOWD HARPSICHORDS

A. Tune

It is almost impossible to regulate an untuned

instrument but if neglected too long' some prelininary
adjustments may be necessary before it is posslble to
tune. Deternine the normal or most used pitch of the
harpsiehord (trt> or lrlr0) and make sure a transposing
keyboard is in the correct posltion. For voicing pur-
poses, equal temperament is by far the best, because it
is the only truly chronatic teuperament and 1s therefore
harmonically ambiguous.

B. Ghost

Eaeh register 1n turn should have its off position

changed to the ghost position. (See Seetions IIl:A and
IV:E-4r). If the ghost is very unevenr pick an average
ln the mld range. Also check representative regulating
scre$, settings throughout the range. For example, if
the maj ority of serews seem to be high, set the ghost
position a bit forward and turn the regulatlng screws
in to a more median posi-tlon when ghosting. Warning:
Rearrange the jacks in their proper sequence before you
start. Often checking the numbers of the top and botton
few jacks will be sufficient. Few things are more frus-
tratlng than diseovering misplaced jacks after a regula-
tion is completed. After setting the register in ghost
posltion, Bo through it jaek by jack and check the
ghosting. If quills are too 1ong, cut a trifle off;
if too shortr push them through a bit. When you have
pushed a qui11 throughr fou may have to recut it to
length. Do not attempt to push it back; it will

t7
 becone loose. If regulating screws are present, use
then sparingly to ghost. If the screw has to beturned
too far., resort to the knlfe. .

C. Volcing

When a .register ls ghosted, it can be volced.

First the on position should be checked. Screw the g
capstan out until the slide ls barely locked (but not
erushed) in to ghost posltion. Then turn the gg cap-
stan tn llgg quarter turns. Another nethod is to use
a shin of thick (.025tt) Delrln. When the on to ghost
distance 1s sorrect, the shin should, be a snug slip
flt between capstan and cas6. Such a shin is very
useful to wedge the upper 8t s1lde fron ghost to g,
since there is no handstop.
Loud notes are shaved down. Soft ones are boosted
by shoving the qul11 through and cutting it back, or by.
repl-acement. To check eveness of vol-une, chronatle
scales should be played evenly in diff.erent rhythns and.
tenpi. Use a slightly det,ached (not staccato) touch.
A legato touch tends .to cover the note following.
Start and stop the scales. at different places to avoid.
establishing a tonallty and 1ts concomltant harmonic
rhythn with strong and weak beats. Transposing the
keyboard will expose any uneveness caused by an uncon-
sciously assuned tonality.
. The purpose of voicing is to nake the volume leve1
of adJ acent notes equal and to establish a good nusical
balance between bass and treble. It is hoped that the
original voicing net these modest requirements and fur-
ther hoped that the technieianr s purpose is to return lt
to that state. However, a llgoodtr voieing job to one
person may be frridiculously softff to another, rrcruelly

I
18
I
I
:i

loudtf to yet another, and rridiotically out of balancerl

T to a fourth criti.c. This lack of agreement and want of
t
I

compassion for di.vergent opinions is a disease of our ;

trade. Nevertheless, nany owners have.legitinate requests
t for a change in voieing from the one they were presented
with and the technici-ans should accomodate thern.
To reduce volune is eomparatively sinple. A sma1l
I diminution can be made by reducing the on to two quarter
turns--but no less t Even with two quarter turns the
I

wlnter-sunmer regulatlon w111 be a 1itt1e less stable

than with three. 0therwise, volume is taken down with
the knife to the desired leve}. Sometimes an owner
desires to take down only a seetion such as the bass
while leaving the treble aloner or to soften one
reglster conpared to another.
t Increasing the volume is nore difficult. A slight
lncrease can be nade by advancj.ng the s1ide, cutting
baek to a new ghost and revoi.cing. 0ften thls is suf-
ficient, but.the quills should not be shortened too
much. Also, 1f this is done, the dampers w111 have to
be cut baek. Any great increase in volume w111 require
a eonplete requi11i.ng, a job that requires considerable
experience. Normally the instrunent should be returned
to the shop for requilling.

D Jaek Heir'hts and Pluckins Timlnss

The plueking times of the several registers and the

separati.on between them is extremely important to the
feel of an action. The plucking time of a jack is a
function of its length, which in turn determlnes how
far the qui11 is below its string when at rest. If a
Jack is too 1ong, its qui1l will not escape below the
string; if too short, it will not pluck before the key
reaches bottom. If the qui11s of the three reglsters

19
tt are placed an equal distance below the string, 'the
plucking order will nornally be: lrt , lower 8 | ,
I upper 81. The l+t goes flrst because j_t has very thin
qui11s. The upper 81 1s 1ast, being delayed by the
lost motion inherent i-n the coupler. Our normal regula-
!t tlon of plucking timings up until L97 4 simply regularized.
thls order and inereased the separati-on between the regis-
ters: the l+t uas made to pluck as earIy. as is saf e1y

t possiblei the upper 8r as late as is safely posslble;'

and the lower 8l was plaeed j.n between.
To achieve a good heiglt re3ulation of any order,
I one starts with all of.the jacks at a zero position
with the qul11s rrdead underil the strings. A qui11 is
I dead under when it is as close to th.e string as possible
but will sti1l escape r.rhen slow1y lowered past its un-
t sounding stri.ng. T.o regulate the .lrt , 81, upper 8t order,
the l+t end pin ls screwed in j/lr of a turn to make it

t safely as high as possible. The lower 8t ls screwed. in

1 L/2 turns and the upper 8r three.full turns. These gr
positions are not neeessarily definitive, but with a nor-
I nally v.oiced instrunent they shouLd be close. The limlt
for the upper 8r, whieh .should pluck as'Iate as possible,
t is reached if it does not pluck through the coupler before
the lower key bottoms. There must be some key dip left in
I the lower manuaL after the upper 8l plucks,. otherwise the
touch will become very heavy with the actual feeling of

t compressing c1oth. The test, with jaek rail in p1ace, ls

to pfay a chromatic scale on.the upper 8r alone through
the eoupler, using a light, even touch. If any note in
I the register 1s too late, it will be felt instantly.
It i.s certainly possible that the upper Br jaeks could.
I be even shorter than the prescribed three turns under and.
sti11 play easily. It ls al_so possible that one section
I of a reglster may require nore or less turning of the end

I
20
I
 pins than another. Should one particular jack require a
markedly different end pin adjustment from 1ts neighbors,
cheek its voicing and lap. Now set the final lower 8l
length betveen the l+t and upper 8 | . With all registers
on and the manuals coupled, depress each lower key s1ow1y.
There should be three even plucks: [dee - d.ong - dang.lf
It should not be obvious that exact timings depend on
voicing 1evels and balances between.registers. They are
also affected by Jack rai1. helght which is.discussed 1n
,the next section. The fornula: lower 8r - 1 l/2 turns
under, /rr - 3/1, turn under' upper 8r - three turns under
should be sufficient 1n most cases, but check it by play-
ing each key.
Another plucklng order, used on most Dowd harpsichords
after l97l+, places the l+t in the middle between the upper
and lower 8rs. (Note: A few ln ]-973 and 1971+ have the
l+t last.) The fornula for. this order ls: lower 8r
1 turn under, /+l - 5 turns.und.er down to middle C increas-
lng to 6 turns in the tenor and 7 turns in the bass, and
the upper 8r - 3 turns under. The procedure for regula-
tion is identical, except that the l+t and lower 8r are
reversed. Set the lower 8.1 on.e turn under. Set the
upper 8r and check it through the coupler as before.
Final1y, set the l+t in between by playing each key
s1ow1y: trdong - dee - dang. rt A middle plucking l+t can
be changed to pluck first but the reverse may be more
difficult, for it may be impossible to turn the l+t end
pin j-n far enough. Thls should only be attempted with
caution after trying representati-ve notes throughout the
reglster. If the plucking order is altered, the dampers
must be completely reset.

2t
 A conplete regulatlon of jack heights is seldom
neeessary unless the instrunent has been through a
traunatic cllnate ehange or is belng requilled. Usually
the following slnple check. is sufficient:
1. The flrst plueking register ls as high as ls
safe--no jacks are so hlgh as to hang, nor ls there too
nuch lost notion before the pluck
2. The upper 8r plucks as late as is safely possible.
3, There is sufficient separati.on between the three
reglsters.
Two 8r single nanual harpsichords are regulated with
the back 8r flrst--l turn .und,er and the front 8r last--
3 or /+ turns under. A final caution: If the height
regulation is done in very hunicl weather, add a half turn
throughout to compensate for the eventual sinking of the
soundboard when the instrunent drl'es out. If possible,
check the regulation again during a d.ryer period..

E. Jaek Rail

'The height of the jack rail controls the key dip,

whlch ls deslgned to be about 5/16rr on the lower nanual
and L/l*tt on the upper. These dlmensions can vary a
1ltt1e, to the taste of the player. However, the limits
are as follows: not so deep that a finger toubhes the
naturals when d.epressing a sharp at its front end, nor
so shallow that there ls insufficient space for good
separation in the plucking tines. Jack rail height
and key dip nust be considered while one is regulating
the jack heights and tlmings. A powerfully-voi-ced
instrunent needs nore key dip than a weakly-voiced one.
. Dowd jack raj.lsr before 1971, have ends with
t
mouldings that are mltred to the case sides. They are

22
t
I unadjustable and are regulated with shins of card,
veneer or tape under the felt. The thick red felt used

stay 1n place wlth frLction. If it does not, staples or

tacks may be used. After 197t., the Jack rails are butted
to the case and are adjustable. They are padded with
three layers of flanneJ tac.ked or s.t,ap1ed in. Sonetines
there ls a partlal layer of flannel over the upper 8r
jacks or upper 8t and 4t jacks. These adjustable jack
rails only need to be shl.nmed. to correct a bow or warp.
Should the key dip be correct at both ends but too deep
or shallou in the eenter, the jack rail is bowed. up or
down. Under the Jack rail hooks there are blocks holdlng
the hook staple. They ean be adjusted for helght by
renoving them and adjusting the screlrs underneath. Jack
rails wlth only one hook have a tenon.at the bass end
fltting j-nto a nortlse ln.the ease. The jack rail can
be adjusted to the tenon,with shins of card between the
t tenon and jaek ral1.

t F. Dampers
Danpers are now adJusted,for height and length
according to the directlons und.er Section IV:F above.
Check that danpers are not too high by plucking each
string with, the point of the jewelerr s screwdriver
T while the register is on and the keys at rest. Check
also to see that the dampers are not too 1ow by touching
each key lightly with registers off. The jacks shouLd
nove alnost immediately with .vlrtually no lost motion
betueen the baeks of the keys and the end pins. Check
for damper lnterference between the 8 I registers by
havlng both registers 9II, with the nanuals .uncoupled.
Pl-ay each note of each register and listen for at least
one second. Any interference will be heard. For inter-
ference between the l+t and the 8r above it, first play

23
I
I the 4r; when lts tone has dted away, play the 8r while
lettlng the l+t d,amper pass the 8 r strlng . .

A11 of the above proeedures.nust be done in the

given order, for the later steps d,epend on the previ.ous
ones being well done. One eannot set d,anper helghts on
jacks that have not been regulated for height, nor set
tinings on unvoiee.d jacks, etc. 0n1y tining and jack
ralI height should be done together because they are so.
I interdependent. Even if a thorough regulation i.s urllec-
essary but the timings are.or:tr or€ should quickly check
through the ghostlng and voicing first. Doing each step
ln order. carefully 61 times will result in a good regula-
tiont doing steps A Z.on each jack before proceeding
r.ti11 alnost always produee a regulation that both soundg
and feels uneven.

VI. TUNING

It is not within the scope of this pamphlet to

describe the various temperanents and directlons for
setting them. There now exist.nany excellent works
describing them. A few pointers on the mechanics of
tunlng nay be useful:
. 1.. Play the interval being tuned often. One
only hears beats for about the first two or three seconds
after whieh they become inaudible.
2. Move the tuning hammer smartly to make the string
slide over the bridge and nut. The three portions of the
string (after length, soundi.ng length and wrest plank
length) nust be in equal tension for the string to stand
in tune. If the tension is changed very slowly, the
string tends to hang .on the bridge or nut.

2/+
 3. Cone up to pitch rather than fa11 down to it.
If the string is sharp, drop beloi.r and then cone up.
In ny experlence the string slides better coning up.
Sone tuners dlsagree with this, and it is eertalnly
counter to plano tuning practice, where a string is
brought a halr sharp and then Jarred to pitch by
poundlng on the key. Pianos, however, with thelr heavy
strings, double-plnned brldges, and agraffes have far
I Bore friction than harpsiehords.
l+. If , when you turn tb'pin, there is no pltch
change, stopt You are on the wrong pin and are about
to break .a strj.ng.

VII. CHANGING A STRING

1. Renove the wrest pin by turnlng it out counter-

elockwise. It 1s thread.ed,.
2, If the pln seemed Loose, cut a lll6r to L/ Ln
strip of 100, rag paper (tfre edge of a do11ar bill ls
perfect) and insert tt lnto the hole as a-shi-n.
3. Select the proper string for the note, consult-
ing the stringing List, and hook the loop over the
hitch pin. If lt is a l+t string, make sure the string
is threaded between the proper pair of 8r strings before
hooking it .to the hiteh pin. If in doubt, observe the
adJ acent l+t strings.

26
 5. Put end of string through hole in wrest pin.
1eft, and while naintaining tension on the string, ro11
the pin between the thumb and forefinger of both hands
to wrap the string in neat coils around the pin.
6, Just before reaching the hole in the wrest
plank, tilt the wrest pln to make the last coil spiral
down. Insert the pin ln the hole (beside the paper shim,
if present) and drlve the pin into the hole with a hanner
to the height of its neighbors.
7. Make the downdraft of the new string from nut
to pin equal to the others by adjusting the final spiral
coll, and bring the string to pitch. It w111 need several
tunings to stay there, especially if it is brass.

26.