Screwed-Up Harpsichords

Screws have been around for a long time. The Romans seem to have used them. Certainly they were used in Europe in the fifteenth century, to hold armor together, and by the sixteenth century in clocks. Wood screws seem to have been common articles by the mid-sixteenth century.

Modern harpsichords are full of screws. A jack bottom screw to regulate the height of the jack, a tongue screw to regulate the quill, a screw to regulate the damper. And capstan screws, and wood screws to hold the case together. Hundreds of screws.

Those who use all these screws, particularly for the jacks, brag about their 'fully adjustable action'.

Pity poor old Bach, who played on a harpsichord without screws. For although screws were used for many things, even the hinges of the harpsichords, none were used in the action of the harpsichord until the present century.

One somehow doubts that Bach, or Couperin--least of all Scarlatti--put up with anything less than perfection in the actions of their instruments. However did they manage without screws? And granted that they did, would they not have preferred the 'infinite adjustability' that the screw provides?

Infinite adjustability provides an infinity of wrong adjustment--and only one right one. There is one right position for the tongue, for the quill, for the jack. One right position of the jack below the string. One right position for the registers. Why not put things right in the first place, and leave them be?

Of course, a harpsichord is made of wood, and in wet weather the instrument grows a very little wider and a very little longer--even if you avoid plywood (which, believe it or not, makes them stretch and shrink even more). The soundboard rises and falls. And all this motion may indeed affect the distances between jacks and strings. True enough.

If the quills are long enough they will always reach the string. And if the guides are loose enough the jack will always repeat. And if the quills are cut correctly, the stagger cannot be lost. No need to feel sorry for the old boys. On the contrary, they would feel sorry for us always having to twist screws every time the weather changed.

At Zuckermann Harpsichords International, we envied the old boys their trouble-free actions, and decided to follow their example. We took away all the screws, and made the jacks ride freely in the guides, either by enlarging the slots in the lower guide, or by tapering the jacks. An added reward for doing things right is a noticeable improvement in tone--the string is released sideways instead of being lifted and dropped. We still have the screws, and we'd love to sell them to someone. But not for use in harpsichords. The old builders knew what they were doing.

While we were at it, we got rid of the screw-threads on our tuning pins. Why should one screw out a tuning pin when the tapered pin used by all the old builders comes out so easily--and doesn't destroy the wrestplank when you put it back in? We put on our bottoms with square cut nails--which hold as well as screws and save all that screwing.

Screws are wonderful things. Wouldn't want to make a watch without them. But they do nothing for harpsichords, save to screw up the action.