A new begining ...

It's 2012 and I am about to start the construction of my second harpsichord - this time from a Paris Workshop kit supplied by Gerald Self - like the previous Zuckermann kit this is a Neapolitan style Italian instrument. The two instruments are similar in many ways, but there are also some significant differences.

The most obvious visible difference is that the Zuckermann Neapolitan is what is known as an "inner" harpsichord - an instrument with a fairly thin, light weight case and no lid that, traditionally, would have been placed inside a larger and heavier outer case.


In contrast, the Paris Workshop instrument of the so called "false inner/outer" design where there is, in fact, only a single case but one which retains the appearance of a separate "inner" instrument sitting inside of an "outer" case.

The Paris Workshop Neapolitan instrument is more fully described here.

Both instruments have two 8' choirs strung in brass. very similar compasses (51 notes C-d3 for the Zuckermann instrument, 49 notes C-c3 for the Paris Workshop instrument), very similar scaling and, of course, very similar internal construction.