[CAUT] Harpsichord Jacks

[Ed Sutton]

Paul-

A few more suggestions.

The Harpsichord Clearing House supplies replacement Burton jack tongues with 
the molded-in plectra. If that's what your Dupree has, it's your cheapest 
fix.

The Zuckerman retro kit is a set of registers and jacks to re-fit the old 
Zuckerbox instruments. They work well, in my experience, and will sometimes 
fit other instruments than Zuckerman.

Ed Sutton

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dempsey Jr., Paul E" <dempsey at marshall.edu>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Cc: <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 11:14 AM
Subject: [CAUT] Harpsichord Jacks


> Hello All,
>
> I have a private customer (a church) that has a Dupree Harpsichord that 
> has had only cursory maintenance and use over the years.
>
> The current Choirmaster wants to use it on a more regular basis.
>
> It has apparently been inexpertly voiced sometime in the past and the 
> majority of the plectra have been trimmed too short. Also the existing 
> jacks have no tongue adjustment screw so you can see the problems. These 
> jacks also are the type that the plectra is an integral part of the 
> tongue, so if a plectra breaks, the entire molded tongue/plectra/spring 
> must be replaced.
>
> We are exploring the idea of replacing all three ranks of jacks with a 
> type that has a replaceable tongue with a replaceable plucker and a top 
> screw adjustment.
>
> I have contacted the folks at Instrument Workshop in Oregon. They only 
> have a proprietary jack that they sell to builders. $3.00 a piece and we 
> need 180. They do not fit our existing jack slides so those would need to 
> be replaced as well.
>
> Does anyone know who else to contact? Here or abroad?
>
> Thanks
>
> Paul E. Dempsey, RPT
> Piano Technician Sr.
> Marshall University
> Huntington, WV
> 304-696-5418
> 304-617-1149
>
>
>