I don’t generally worry about the top end of the 8’ bridge, because it is captured by a piece of molding along the cheek. It doesn’t have hitch pins, but it seems to always be there, and I always figured that was the reason. The bend in the bridge probably is wanting to unbend, and that is there to keep it from happening.
On the bass end, there is a similar stop gap in most harpsichords, where there is a tail portion of the hitch rail that helps wedge the bass end of the curved side rail, and also a piece of “decorative” molding along the spine, which holds the tail portion of the rail in place.
Neupert seems to have omitted both those pieces of “decorative” molding, which is a little worrying. I never cared for the model of the hitch pin rail being glued mostly to the soundboard. Hard wood to soft wood, and bearing a good bit of tension seems like a recipe for disaster. It should be glued to the rim as well, though that joint may tend to fail.
All in all, I think there is ample cause for concern. While those hitch rails have never seemed a problem on the few Neuperts I have dealt with over the years (and one over a period of nearly 40 years), if the joints on yours are failing, I’d hate to stand behind simply gluing it back to the board. I’d feel happier attaching it to the rim, perhaps glue and add a couple screws, both to pull it tighter and to make a tighter glue joint.
On the treble end, I don’t see anything to be gained by filling the gap, unless the shim was glued both to the back of the rail and to the rim, again perhaps with a screw reinforcement.
This is all pure speculation on my part, not having run into it.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm@unm.eduhttp://fredsturm.netwww.artoftuning.com
Original Message------
Yup, Fred, a can of worms it is. It appears that since the last time I examined this harpsichord a week ago, the 8' hitchpin rail decided to to start moving. Last week it looked solidly attached both to the rim tail and the soundboard, today there was a gap between it and the rim, and the back side of it appeared to be lifting (see photo). So I unstrung that section, and a little pressure with a Jorgensen clamp cleanly broke the glue joint and I was able to lift that section out. But a 2 inch section of the soundboard also appeared to have come loose from whatever it was glued to underneath, and the bass end of the bentside section of the 8' hitchpin rail had also come loose. I chiseled some of the loose soundboard section free, so as to be able to work glue under it with a feeler gauge and clamp it down, so there will be something solid to glue the rail back onto tomorrow. I also glued and clamped the bass end of the bentside section of the 8' hitchpin rail both to the soundboard and the rim at the same time.
Before doing that, however, I rechecked the treble end of that rail after unstringing that section, because there is also a gap there between the rim and the rail but the rail appeared to be solidly attached when I examinedit last week. Applying sidways pressure with a Jorgensen clamp to close the gap does appear to narrow it slightly, but when downward pressure is applied to the back side of the rail (closest to the rim) there is no movement at all, suggesting that the rail is still firmly attached at its bottom there. At the front edge the glue joint appears to be solid - no poking with the thinnest feeler gauge made any headway underneath. However, since pressure toward the rim makes the rail move slightly in that direction, wouldn't string tension make it move in the other direction? Would it make sense to glue a shim into the gap between it and the rim, to prevent that possibility?
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Israel Stein RPT
P.O. Box 68141
Jerusalem, Israel 9168002
510-558-0777
istein248@gmail.com
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