Clavichords

>I agree regarding harpsichords, but not with the general slight towards
>historical keyboards. I would be very curious to learn exactly what kind
>of a clavichord you have worked with to have arrived at such an opinion.

I have played a variety of clavichords, both fretted and unfretted,
including efforts by Thomas Ciul, several Zuckermann kits, and a Peter
Fisk, which I own.

>While many poorly-made instruments are so badly balanced in action that
>bebung is almost inevitable, the timbre of the instruments with which I have
>worked has been extremely rich, albeit intimately quiet overall. (A
>comparison of the clavichord with the ch'in is appropriate here). I have
>had no trouble tuning clavichords to ratios of seven and eleven.

Both Norman Henry and I have had little success with ratios above 5 on the
clavichord. However, I once had the opportunity to play a Challis
clavichord (such a work of art you cannot imagine), and I could see getting
7's on it. I would be very interested in hearing your 11-limit clavichord,
and I'd be happy to pay the cost of sending a tape with some samples on it
to hear the results. Say... what's a ch'in?

>And on a modern instrument, like the Wilson-Hackleman clavichord, it is a
>breeze.

I am dying to hear this thing! Everybody I asked in LA said it didn't
sound very good, tho...

>While in the US, I had a fortepiano in my apartment, and I had the
>opportunity to compare the ease of tuning it with a (well-known)
single->strung Boesendorfer Imperial and with a run of the mill
medium-sized >Steinway. All were tuned by ear to a (again well-known)
tuning with just >fifths and sevenths and then the tunings measured with a
strobe tuner. The >fortepiano was both the easiest to tune and the closest
to Just, the >Boesendorfer a respectable second and the Steinway a distant
third.

I am un-familiar with any single-strung Bosendorfer. Of course they are
well known for putting a hitch pin on each string... and for their
inferior sound...

It's far from clear what your strobe tuner was measuring. I own the latest
and highest-end Peterson model made, and my ear rarely agrees with the
wheel. I have no problem whatsoever tuning a Steinway to 9-limit JI by
ear, to a level of accuracy measurable only (maybe) by a Sanderson
Accu-tuner (I've never used one myself, but they do produce very nice
tunings).

>But I don't know how to even start arguing with someone who claims the
>difference between Equal temperament and meantone is hardly noticeable on
>a clavichord. Are you, sir, deaf?

Don't get me wrong, I love the clavichord. It is an instrument of great
sensitivity. But it is based on a bad idea: trying to start and stop a
string at the same place. If the string didn't stretch, you wouldn't hear
anything at all.

I can hear the difference between meantone and 12tET on my clavichord, but
the people I play the clavichord for cannot. They can, however, hear the
difference between these two tunings on my modern piano.

Carl