A Florentine harpsichord from the Cristofori-Ferrini workshop,
FF,AA-g³ with 2 x 8'

This instrument is based on Leipzig no. 89 which I attribute to Ferrini's workshop (rather than Cristofori's) and Cristofori's 1722 harpsichord (Leipzig no. 84). It is made in the style "non levatoro di cassa" which we now usually call "false-inner-outer", although the full illusion of an inner instrument in an outer case was not strived for. I have made it in the late workshop style with a double-bentside construction, which Cristofori reported to Maffei (in his 1709 meeting with him) as enabling him to make new instruments sound as good as old ones. The stringing is brass wire and the soundboard is of cypress thereby conferring a characteristic quality of timbre that is not achieved with spruce/fir soundboards. This tone is particularly reedy and well focussed in the tenor and bass area, making the voices even more clearly separated and distinct. Cristofori is not known to have used any soundboard material other than cypress.

This harpsichord was made as a pair to the Cristofori fortepiano (seen here in its gesso ground and with a stand borrowed from the fortepiano; the inside of the case above the soundboard is due to be painted with Venetian red pigment, the outside green. The knobs for the transposing keyboard have not yet been fitted).

It is now clear that Cristofori's harpsichords also influenced Portugese harpsichord making. The 1785 Antunes harpsichord was evidently based on a Cristofori design and we may infer that the instruments Cristofori supplied to the court of King João V in Portugal provided a model which native Portugese makers then followed. This is an interesting insight into 18th-century Portugese harpsichord construction since until now we had only seen Cristofori's influence in the new fortepiano, which they also adopted. One of the features they incorporated was the appearance of a Cristofori double-bentside construction even though they only used the normal harpsichord bentside design!

Length: 2485 mm (including mouldings), width 1015 mm, height 235 mm.

Weight: 48 kg (including musik desk which folds down that is 660 mm wide to support 4 sheets of A4 paper).

The pitch is at 415 Hz with a transposing option to 440 Hz.

A transport cover is included and an extensive toolbag and spare strings. The instrument is designed to be transported upside down. There are two separate lid sticks, long and short.

Price: on application .