Upper Registers Installed

The final, and trickiest part of the harpsichord registers is to install brass capstan screws in both the bass and treble ends to allow for adjustments left and right to align properly with the lower registers and to ensure that the jacks travel perfectly straight up/down (squarely). Here are the upper registers and their capstans. To adjust you simply insert a nail or other thin stiff object and turn the screw, but you need to turn the capstans at both ends simultaneously. They are pre-fit fairly snugly so in order to move them you might have to remove the registers (through the little ‘window’ on the bass side), make the adjustment(s) and reinsert. This is the only way to get to the upper registers once all the strings are in place. In the bass capstan picture you can make out that there is a small piece of wood fit into the side of the case, which can be removed.

Bass Capstans for adjusting registers left/right

Treble Capstans for adjusting registers left/right

Here are a couple of pictures of the ‘window’ during the earlier construction phase.

Register Window – from inside case

Register Window – Spine Side of case

And here I am adjusting the alignment of the upper and lower registers so that the jack will travel straight up and down.

Adjusting The Upper and Lower Register Alignment with a Square

Only a bit of final cleanup of the register slots and I will move onto building the stand.