Harpsichord, Zuckermann, Burton or Jones Clayton?

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  • Опубліковано 27 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 70

  • @Rollinglenn
    @Rollinglenn 6 років тому +49

    Levers are called “stops”. They turn on or off the different plectrums which pluck different sets of strings. The mute as you call it is called the lute stop which makes it sound like a lute. That particular instrument has (2) 8’ or unison pitched stops - using terms that come from organs. Bigger harpsichords have strings pitched an octave higher and another an octave lower. Many have 2 keyboards so that a player can jump from one keyboard to the other to change the volume without changing stops. I hope this is helpful.

    • @John_Weiss
      @John_Weiss 6 років тому +1

      Plus, the set of jacks closer to the nut have a more "nasal" sound, and is often called a reed-choir. The jacks further away - and closer to the bridge - would be considered the "more regular" choir.

  • @takemyjobpleeez
    @takemyjobpleeez 6 років тому +19

    It's a Jones-Clayton, built by Richard Jones, in Los Angeles, in the 1960's. He was one of a few makers in the USA, when he got started in the 1950's. Other than that, there was Hubbard and Dowd, Julius Wahl, John Challis and Jean Claude Chiasson. The German factory instruments (Neupert, Sperrhake, Wittmayer) were still ruling supreme, even in the USA. Most of Richard Jones output was confined to the west coast. The white jacks, and the black damper jacks, are original, but the beige ones are Zuckermann replacements. The first generation of Jones-Clayton jacks, were truly horrible little devices that defied any sort of adjustment. Jones did use a square name plate. Other "Jones" characteristics on this instrument are: the square (not slanted) tail, the hinges, music desk, red felt bushings around hitch pins, and the buff stop rail, all point to it being a J-C harpsichord.

    • @ThePianoforever
      @ThePianoforever  6 років тому +3

      Thanks so much! I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but it reminded me of Zuckermann kits I had seen in the past, hence the title.

    • @takemyjobpleeez
      @takemyjobpleeez 6 років тому +3

      Other's have thought the same. Here's something about that, I just found on the Harpsichord mailing list:
      2-19-1999 "Hi Owen, everyone-
      We've discussed Jones-Clayton harpsichords here before, but let me tell you
      what I know of them.
      Richard was a very solitary builder in Los Angeles whose work was well
      formed before the real advent of historical instruments. The derivation of
      his building philosophy is fairly clear. His aim would appear to be to take
      the advantages of the old Z-box and take measures to correct those
      instruments' shortcomings, mostly by providing the instruments with a
      decent scale, plucking points, etc.
      Accordingly, all the J-Cs I've ever seen were built on an inner plywood box
      which serves as the true structural frame, having the sound board mounted
      on top, and the sides all around. Most if not all J-Cs have a bentside,
      which improves their aesthetic in all dimensions.
      Dick Jones also felt that hpscds should be inexpensive, and his were among
      the least expensive ever offered. Only Sabathil built'em cheaper, far as I
      know, and you got an awful lot less for your money. And I mean an awful lot.
      As Owen points out, he used adapted piano keybds, which limited what he
      could do with action right from the start. Once Delrin became available,
      his jacks began to make some sense; prior to that his plectra and jacks
      were really awful. My J-C double (his op. 2) had nylon fish leader for
      plectra. Talk about anemic sound!
      Incidentally Leonhardt played this instrument on one of his first American
      tours, at USC in LA.
      Today Dick's instruments would look pretty bad next to the work of many
      makers on this list. But I would say this for Dick Jones: He built an
      honest harpsichord to a very low price, and enabled many people who would
      otherwise not have done so to own a real harpsichord, much better-playing
      and better-sounding than, say, a Neupert of the time. They were fairly
      comparable to some of the Burton kits which came along a bit later. My
      Jones-Clayton worked and played well the whole time I owned it, and gave me
      the feeling (after getting rid of my Sabathil) that I had a real harpsichord.
      Richard died in Los Angeles about eight or ten years ago. Varda Ullman was
      a friend of Richard's. "
      Joseph Spencer
      The Musical Offering
      2430 Bancroft Way, Berkeley CA 94704 USA
      (510)849-0211 - toll-free 888-BWV-1079

  • @FiddlerSteve
    @FiddlerSteve 6 років тому +19

    2:48 Keyboardist can't tell difference between trumpets and saxophones...

  • @jamesryan6224
    @jamesryan6224 6 років тому +3

    You are awesome, buddy. Thanks for being a part of my existence.

  • @rikspector
    @rikspector 6 років тому +16

    What a great sound.......Really evokes another era.
    James back in 1959 I was a music major Freshman in college and we had the privilege of seeing and hearing the great harpsicordist, Wanda Landowska. She was eighty years old and died later that same year, but her technique was wonderful. She played on a huge harpsichord which, i believe was constructed for Her.
    Thanks for the demo.
    Rik Spector

    • @johnmuller4014
      @johnmuller4014 5 років тому +2

      I met Denise Restout at Landowska's house, which was noted as a museum. She played some Couperin for us.

  • @WarrenPostma
    @WarrenPostma 6 років тому +7

    That Davy Jones bit works better on Harpsichord than I ever would have thought. It sounds suddenly very old, like it would have been heard in a tavern in Bruges in 1610.

  • @ZaneCCooper
    @ZaneCCooper 6 років тому +4

    The mute stop is also known as a "buff" stop. The idea is to make the sound more like that of a lute.

  • @crankjazz
    @crankjazz 6 років тому +3

    Did you find the hidden drawer with the tuning fork in it? Harpsichords are tuned to either A415 or A420. The fork dictates which. :-)

  • @sebastianzaczek
    @sebastianzaczek 6 років тому +2

    2:56 as far as i know the jacks are not attached to the levers of the keys so they always bounce up a little When you hit the Key. The Bar is there partially to prevent the jacks from bouncing and making a sound When hitting the levers of the keys again (if that makes sence, i don't know if this is correct but that's what i think the bar is for)

  • @izzy1563
    @izzy1563 4 роки тому

    Very nice. I think I may try to find one in NYC to try out. Maybe Juilliard has one. I like to play 17c pieces. Would like you to compare harpsichord voices on electronic keyboards or a harpsichord and a Clavichord. Was trying to find them to compare at B&H but I think their Yamaha’s are back ordered right now. Really want to compare in person if possible. Thanks for finding so many interesting instruments.

  • @dees3179
    @dees3179 6 років тому

    So glad to see you get to play with one of these.

    • @ThePianoforever
      @ThePianoforever  6 років тому

      I will have more videos coming up with a Harpsichord soon.

    • @dees3179
      @dees3179 6 років тому +1

      @@ThePianoforever that's excellent. I shall look forward to it.
      I haven't been around UA-cam much lately so I have loads of your videos to catch up on.
      It's like my own advent calendar!
      Thanks for all your hard work.

  • @johntaliaferrothompson6052
    @johntaliaferrothompson6052 6 років тому +1

    Mr. James I saw most of the Harpsichord It key is from F to E. But this one is C to D. May I ask you if the Harpsichord key is from F to E so the F is in which octave and the E too? I also don't exactly know where's the Middle C on the Harpsichord. How many octave does an Harpsichord have and what is tuning of A(Piano is tune in A 440Hz) in the Harpsichord because the Harpsichord is a period musical instrument.
    The Harpsichord & Clavichord is a Baroque musical instrument could it used to play popular music like funky groove on the Clavinet?

  • @steve154life
    @steve154life 5 років тому +1

    Harpsychord are one of my favorite

  • @temptress123
    @temptress123 6 років тому +1

    I could imagine hearing 'Silent Worship' played on that.
    'Coventry Carol' too

  • @sifridbassoon
    @sifridbassoon 4 роки тому

    I noticed in the Bach that you were doing finger substitutions! Good boy! I'm guessing you had to pick that up when you were studying organ.

  • @hairtiecoocoo
    @hairtiecoocoo 6 років тому

    Love your videos. I thought that the harpsichord had the black and white keys switched, ie the flats/sharps were white and the full keys were black. Am I wrong on that?

  • @johnshick4303
    @johnshick4303 4 роки тому

    its an amalgamtion of different ideas from some old instruments most likely. if you want to check out a good and common kit harpsichord the zukerman flemish single is a great place to start, also the upgraded z box can sound pretty good.
    you are correct about the dynamics problem and for performance purpses you would use a combination of agogic accents and spaces to shape phrases. a note held slightly longer than is neighblor is perceived to be louder by the audience, this technique should be fundamential in harpsichored and pipe organ technique but sadly these days it seems not many are aware of it.

  • @georgehaeh4856
    @georgehaeh4856 5 років тому

    There's a resemblance to a Zuckermann Flemish that began in the 70s. There's been significant development since. For nomenclature, jacks sit on the keys, the tongues swivel in the jacks and hold the plectra. The jackrail keeps the jacks from departing.
    A skilled player can modulate the volume. Couperin wrote L'Art de toucher le clavecin. Jouer=play was not used.
    In one YT of Scott Ross' Leçons particuliers a student is admonished not to play like a sewing machine.

  • @radiorexandy
    @radiorexandy 6 років тому +3

    Very interesting video. The answer to your question is 22 times you said the word plectrum(s).
    I'd like to hear you play some full-length pieces and not just snippets of pieces.

  • @johnshick4303
    @johnshick4303 4 роки тому

    it liimits the key dip and hold the jacks from flying out
    they are reffered to as the front eight and the back eight there is or should be a slight but noticable diference in the tambre of two sets. usually the front eight that is the one whos jsck are closest to you sound a tad more nasal the the back eight.

  • @brandonburrell8517
    @brandonburrell8517 6 років тому

    This puts me in the mood for Christmas.

  • @takemyjobpleeez
    @takemyjobpleeez 6 років тому

    It's a Jones-Clayton, built by Richard "Dick" Jones, in Los Angeles, in the 1960's. The bulk of his out put, was pretty much confined to the west coast. He was one of the few, besides Julius Wahl, Dowd and Hubbard, that were building back in the '50's. The giveaway, is the music desk, the red felt bushing around the hitch pins, the buff stop tabs, the lid hinges, the HORRIBLE jacks, and the separate damper jacks (Dick Jones described them that way, himself, before he designed them!) all point to J-C. The Italianate tail shape, as well, also says "Jones-Clayton"....and yes, the name plate is square!. (The white jacks and black damper jacks, are original. The beige ones are probably Zuckermann replacements.)

  • @Renshen1957
    @Renshen1957 6 років тому +1

    Perhaps neither a Burton nor Zuckermann. Burton have/had 5 octave compasses, Zuckermann (Z-Boxes later Historical based models) different compass (the Flemish model came with one more key BB in the bass), neither maker had a separate damper jacks as in this instrument, but had the dampers on the each jack. Burton Harpsichords came with Burton design jacks with integral plectrum tongue ejection molded assembly. Zuckermann jacks do not have top adjustment screws after the 1970s.

  • @southerncrescent1401
    @southerncrescent1401 6 років тому

    Thanks for sharing this video of the Harpsichord. I've seen one in a museum but never been able to touch one. I was wondering about the option of sounding one or two strings. I know that on some of the Hammond tonewheel organs that had a second chorus generator (such as the Hammond BC, D, and concert E) that was slightly out of tune and some of the more expensive accordions have a Musette tuning, also called “wet” tuning, where two or more sets of reeds are intentionally tuned slightly off pitch from each other, giving a vibrato effect. I suppose with this harpsichord, that is an option since you have a choice to pluck one or two strings. If I had one of these, I would more than likely have one of the strings a few cents out of tune to obtain a vibrato effect.

    • @ThePianoforever
      @ThePianoforever  6 років тому +1

      Pipe and reed organs often have a similar effect, known as a "vox celeste" stop, which activates a set of pipes that are slightly sharp from all the rest. On a harpsichord, tuning one rank of strings would probably give it a similar effect, and if it didn't, it would be easy to put it back in tune.

  • @organist660
    @organist660 6 років тому

    thanks for this interesting video. I fell in love with the harpsichord. when I heard it in my music lesson from bach. a lovers concerto.

  • @moldenburg909
    @moldenburg909 5 років тому

    I totally mist this video somehow. I love the harpsichord. It’s such a amazing instrument. Beautiful.

  • @mimoochodom2684
    @mimoochodom2684 6 років тому +1

    Fantastic!

  • @steve154life
    @steve154life 5 років тому

    I have a hammered dulcemer a bowed pasaltry and am giting a clavichord .i would like to a harpsychord but do nat haft enough room

  • @John_Weiss
    @John_Weiss 6 років тому +1

    That "bar" over the jacks is known as the jack-rail. The jack-rail usually has some means of securing it into place so that it doesn't bounce like that.
    Although, in this case, letting the jack-rail bounce may be intentional, to help pianists who are trying to learn proper technique for playing a harpsichord. You can always tell when a pianist is playing a harpsichord on a recording, because it sounds like a tickertape machine is running in the background! That's the jacks *whack!*ing against the jack-rail.
    Harpsichords don't require the massive force that modern pianos require to play. The player's wrists should barely bend or move up and down, if at all. The strings have a low enough tension that you can "pluck them through they keys" with just your fingers.
    But that harpsichord was NOT in tune! Oh, it wasn't totally out of tune, but it definitely needed tweaking.

  • @johnshick4303
    @johnshick4303 4 роки тому

    there is not a main set its just the front eight and back eight and yes the front eight is more nasal

  • @sk8rjer
    @sk8rjer 6 років тому +3

    Wow...very interesting to say the least!! God Bless...

  • @binkyrcd
    @binkyrcd 6 років тому +1

    sounds nice..

  • @sugarpacketchad
    @sugarpacketchad 6 років тому +1

    That was nice!

  • @bernardofitzpatrick5403
    @bernardofitzpatrick5403 6 років тому

    Dude, I am totally in love with this little instrument - "if music be the food of love play on" ! omg to own one ! Davey Jones tune rocks, rocks, rocks - esp on this little beauty ! :-)

    • @sifridbassoon
      @sifridbassoon 4 роки тому

      check eBay. they have a lot of used instruments for sale, and there are some companies who use eBay as their sales platform, so they offer new instruments as well. The Zukermann instruments are very cheap (for a keyboard instrument). I have a Zuckermann single manual (I go back and forth about buying a double manual, but then I think about having to tune double the number of strings!)

  • @hori166
    @hori166 6 років тому +7

    Interesting video, well done intro. It's not a Zuckermann. They never made wood finished cases but rather went for the historical decoration. The jacks are not Zuckermann, and the keys are standard Burton feature.

    • @Renshen1957
      @Renshen1957 6 років тому +4

      Zuckermann did make wood Finish Walnut and when to historical painted later.

    • @takemyjobpleeez
      @takemyjobpleeez 6 років тому

      It's a Jones Clayton harpsichord

    • @Lifecomesfromwithin
      @Lifecomesfromwithin 6 років тому +3

      There was an early Zuckerman straight side that was natural wood as the other guy said they went to the historical patterns a little later

    • @John_Weiss
      @John_Weiss 6 років тому +4

      @@Lifecomesfromwithin Yep. I actually built a (badly) partly-constructed Zuckerman "straightside" harpischord [as they were called].
      When I say partly-constructed … someone had started it and left it on top of some cabinets in my high school. I asked if I could finish it during my senior-year, got permission to bring it home, and worked on it with my father, who had a full woodworking shop in our basement. I had to get replacement parts: the instructions were gone, some of the jacks were missing, and the soundboard was cracked. And whoever started it had put the inner-case together wrong.
      When I tried to contact the Zuckerman Harpsichord company, I first reached David Way. He sounded very arrogant and was a complete douchebag to me. In contrast, when I next spoke to someone, it was Mr. Zuckerman himself, who was absolutely delightful. I believe *he* contacted *me* after I wrote the company asking for advice. He was excited that some H.S. senior was trying to complete an old straightside kit, gave me encouragement, advice, and recommendations for what replacement parts to order. Lovely person, Zuckerman.

  • @Lifecomesfromwithin
    @Lifecomesfromwithin 6 років тому

    Using one string or two strings lowers and raises the volume and for some reason they gave you a choice of which string to leave on. Harpsichords come out of all different Minds. Oh Bach did use the vibrato on the clavichord by the way but not all the time. Looks like it was made in the fifties sixties or early seventies. If you can take the name board off and look on the back of it it might be there. That's where it is on mine! Mine's from 72 . a copy of one from the 1600s like yours is there. My keyboards reversed color and longer nicer to play nice and clunky. Needs restoration.

  • @mattmilford8106
    @mattmilford8106 6 років тому

    You are having way too much fun!

  • @jamieredden554
    @jamieredden554 5 років тому

    Love this!

  • @EElgar1857
    @EElgar1857 6 років тому +2

    One plectrum, two plectra.

  • @mister-amazing
    @mister-amazing 6 років тому +1

    Great playing. Does the action feel similar to a piano? Is it any harder to play?

    • @Lifecomesfromwithin
      @Lifecomesfromwithin 6 років тому +2

      Depends on how strongly it's quilled. Bach recommended lightly quilling a harpsichord with only one set of strings to teach children on so they would not be discouraged. It can be quite difficult to depress the keys of one that is very heavily quilled plucking four strings at once but that's what Bach had to do to cut through some orchestras. I think he would leave the ends of the crow feathers completely untrimmed and solid sometimes. First the key rattles a little and you can actually feel the plectrum pressing against the string and you feel like you're at the bottom, and then you push a little harder and it plucks the string and falls into weightlessness again as if you broke something it's weird. Bach said to play it with a grip like the talons of an eagle

  • @thememorytravelerReset
    @thememorytravelerReset 5 років тому

    I very much enjoy your videos

  • @Ice_Karma
    @Ice_Karma 6 років тому

    I believe those are saxophones in the background, not trumpets. ;3

  • @johnshick4303
    @johnshick4303 4 роки тому

    I am guessing this is a kit instrument there seems to be no sound hole either, not zukermen the jacks are to clunky
    nor a hubbard
    the maker probably never signed his front board. it looks like someting from the sixties or early seventies.

  • @excavatoree
    @excavatoree 6 років тому

    Am I the only one old enough to think of the Adams Family?
    If anyone is interested, here's someone playing "The Doors" on a harpsichord instead of the usual electric keyboard:
    ua-cam.com/video/zJsdzXA7dfk/v-deo.html

    • @ThePianoforever
      @ThePianoforever  6 років тому +1

      When I was back in Tennessee, I recorded Light my Fire on a harpsichord! The video will be coming out in the future, I'm way behind at the moment!

  • @steve154life
    @steve154life 5 років тому

    U play tha song's beautifuly

  • @takemyjobpleeez
    @takemyjobpleeez 6 років тому +1

    A very similar Jones-Clayton instrument: ua-cam.com/video/lotA9srsp_g/v-deo.html

  • @johnshick4303
    @johnshick4303 4 роки тому

    the bench has nothing what ever to do with this instrument early harpsichord were set on tables and played standing up/ They were not normally tuned to an equal temperment either but one of many so called mean toned temperaments.

  • @TheCynedd
    @TheCynedd 6 років тому

    Yay! Thanks, James - I finally got my harpsichord video!

  • @EElgar1857
    @EElgar1857 6 років тому +3

    This kind of harpsichord is of very poor quality, and NOT based on any historical example.

  • @TheMadisonHang
    @TheMadisonHang 4 роки тому

    they keys look soo close to a piano

  • @steve154life
    @steve154life 5 років тому

    My grandma haz a organ and mt daughters great grandma haS a player piano, and a electric ari organ kinda waz like a giant harmonica

  • @claymationwaves
    @claymationwaves 5 років тому

    Harpsichords are better