So I guess then that Sabathil only went to the foam rubber in the 70s. That is a nasty problem (foam becomes hard and begins to disintegrate after a couple decades), as they used it for the jack rail (with three very distinct levels, about 3/4" different for the 4, 8, and 16' jacks) and the buff/lute stop rails, and I think somewhere else. Very thick, so a bit of a problem to come up with a usable replacement (probably a strip of wood covered with felt - but for the jack rail that means three strips of wood custom sized)). The monster from the 70s I have worked on is extremely heavy in touch, and has very little power/carry. A bunch of pedals for all the register changes, with an extraordinarily complex mechanism (fortunately it had no problems).
I would just concentrate on "making it work" and call it good enough. I'd prefer a Zuckermann straight side (kit instrument of that era): more volume, far easier to service. Probably not as pretty, though. Sabathil made nice cases, good woodworking. The later instruments, 90s, have a better tone, not ideal but acceptable.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
"Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it." Brecht------Original Message------
Great photos Fred. Thanks for posting. Ours I think is a '69 or so an old timer here tells me who said it was here when he was a student in the '70's. You're right, it stays in tune well, but sounds horrible. Not like the Benn and Tyre I cared for at UNL. Did you get a chance to look at the Benn when you were there for your all day seminar? Very pretty.
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Paul T. Williams RPT
Director of Piano Services
School of Music
813 Assembly St
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
pwilliams@mozart.sc.edu -------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 09-18-2014 14:47
From: Fred Sturm
Subject: Sabathil harpsichord
You can find some photos of a 1994 Sabathil I uploaded here. Contrast it with photos of a 1973 Sabathil here. Both are 2 manual instruments. I am very happy that the owner of the 1973 hasn't called me in nearly 10 years. The 1994 I tune every year or two, and "fix what's broke" (broken string, sticking jack, etc.) It has been a pretty reliable instrument. Not a great sound, but it functions and stays in tune.
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Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
http://fredsturm.net
"When I smell a flower, I don't think about how it was cultivated. I like to listen to music the same way." -Federico Mompou
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-18-2014 14:25
From: Fred Sturm
Subject: Sabathil harpsichord
I have a Sabathil of that vintage in my customer base. Not that troublesome to deal with. The jack registers are aluminum channel, and on mine have had a tendency to bend a bit and catch a couple jacks in the middle of the keyboard sometimes. The dampers are a pain, as their "sleeves" are very hard to slide on the jack body, so it is hard to adjust them and hard to remove them (removing is necessary in order to voice, as the damper "straddles" the plectrum). The 4' strings going through slots in in the 8' bridge is a standard Sabathil procedure. They did the same with a double manual with 16' strings, so the 4' strings went through two bridge slots. It means the "waste" length is many times the speaking length, interesting for tuning. The metal plate does make the tuning more stable, though. You are lucky it is fairly recent vintage, as the earlier, 1970s version had foam rubber everywhere, including lute stop.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination." - Einstein