The new harpsichord did have its first public outing a few weeks ago at our community playing weekend... and it held its own against much larger harpsichords! So, YAY for our little green harpsichord!

However, before the next major outing... and its first "real" concert in July, we have to fix up the way that the lid is attached to the body.

Currently, it is a two hinge affair... and this isn't uncommon, but the distribution of the weight for the hinges is not good... there is one in the middle and one near the tip end, which means the heaviest part of the lid (near the keyboard) is effectively unsupported and the distribution of weight between the two hinges is really lopsided with a heavy twist...

... and given that the harpsichord wasn't played for decades... it wasn't a problem!

And in our community event, we removed the lid completely from all the harpsichords... so, again not really a problem. ... and for most concert situations... it isn't a huge deal, but there is always the fear that it will fail at some point due to the twist... plus the unsupported section does get a bit rattly when it rebounds off the main body.

... but the real problem is that in our next concert, we have a couple of pieces where my wife hits the body of the harpsichord for a percussive effect. And she does it hard... not like the gentle love taps that other people do... she gives it a proper whack. And I'm not sure that the lid will hold up to that amount of vigour!

So, the hinge thing will need to be sorted before then... or we potentially risk a very public lid failure!

PS: If you are wondering what is sitting ON the harpsichord... I had a violin bow explode on me in a previous concert... nothing terrible, just very surprising when it happens! The stick is fine and undamaged, but the bow hair is held in place by a friction block, and when I was playing (obviously a little bit strongly...)... it popped out and the hair went everywhere! Again... surprising... and it even made the review!

Anyway... back to the hinges... I ordered a new set of hinges for the harpsichord lid. Three this time for better weight distribution and redundancy. Weirdly enough, it doesn't come with screws... so, have to go and find some wood screws that work for furniture... in hindsight, I should have gotten the bronze ones instead of the steel... the colour would work better... but on the other hand, this are functional things, and the hinges are on the non-audience side of the harpsichord!

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