RoseIntroduction
About the Instruments
The Maker's Background
spacer
The Instruments
Italian Harpsichords
Flemish Harpsichords
French Harpsichords
German Harpsichords
Clavichords
Prices
spacer
Selecting a Model

P.O. Box 1163
Lemont, PA 16851
(814) 234-4407
dmaple@adelphia.net
spacerDoug Maple Harpsichords
The Instruments

Flemish Harpsichords

Selecting a Model | Prices

Virginal after Lodewijk Grouwels, Middelburg, 1600.

spacer Virginal after Lodewijk Grouwels, Middelburg, 1600
Click on the image above for an enlarged, detailed version.
For those persons seeking a small four-octave instrument I offer this unique virginal by one of the Flemish makers outside of the Ruckers family. The instrument is of the close-plucking, or spinett, type, but the sound is much less nasal than most of the other examples. The soundboard ribbing is different from the usual Ruckers system, resulting in a resonant and slightly dark sound. The crisp and clear speech of the instrument makes it ideal for most of the early repertory. A recommended option is a keyboard with two split sharps to fill out the short octave, providing notes that are necessary for English music. The original instrument had a child virginal, now lost. If desired, a child based on contemporary instruments can be supplied.

spacer Detail of Keyboard
Detail of Keyboard
Click on the image above for an enlarged, detailed version.
Specifications:
C/E-c3 (45 or 47 notes), A-370 (original) or A-415. 186 x 50 cm (73 x 20 in).
I have also examined 16th-century virginals by Karest, J. Grouwels, Bos, Van der Biest, and Hans Ruckers, and would welcome inquiries for these instruments.

brown line

Harpsichord after Couchet, Antwerp, ca. 1650.

Around the middle of the 17th century, Ioannes Couchet started to break away from the usual conservative Ruckers models, and began to build instruments with extended bass compasses, and alternate dispositions. This example from the Metropolitan Museum was originally a large single, 8' 4', descending to FF, but sounding a whole tone higher than what we now consider to be the "normal" pitch. The instrument can be had with the original keyboard and pitch, but most players will prefer a GG-d3 compass pitched a tone lower. The original was rebuilt into a double-manual instrument in the 18th-century Flemish style, with dogleg coupler and nasal lute register.
Specifications:

Single: FF,GG,AA-c3 (A-466) or GG-d3 (A-415), 8' 4' or 8' 8', buff. 219 x 87 cm (86 x 34 in).

Double: FF-c3, 8' 8' 4', buff, lute, dogleg coupler. 229 x 87 cm (90 x 34 in).
brown line

Selecting a Model | Prices