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The 1731 Krickhof English Bentside Spinet.
There are two ways to build a harpsichord: The Italian way in which the whole instrument is assembled on a pre-made bottom,
and the Flemish way in which the case is assembled first, with the bottom boards attached at the end.
Early English instruments were of the Italian variety. The first sign of change came when Herman Tabel,
a Fleming, moved to England at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
Although his impact on English harpsichords was minimal, two of his apprentices, Burckardt Tschudi
and Jacob Kirckman change that by becoming the two biggest producers of harpsichords in the eighteenth
century. Tschudi (later spelled Shudi) produced more than 1100 instruments while Kirckman,
his great rival made more than double that number.
Shudi opened his own shop at the time of his marriage in 1728, it being speculated his father in law financed
the venture.
For the most part, spinets were made the Italian way till the end of the harpsichord era, while harpsichords
began following the Flemish method in the 1740s.
Until the discovery of the Krickhof spinet, dated 1731, the earliest known spinet made in the Flemish manner
was one by Balthazar Zopfe, made in the late 1740s, now in the Colonial Williamsburg Collection. It is not
known where Krickhof learned to make harpsichords, but his spinet of 1731 is a well constructed and well
designed Flemish-style instrument. Its direct descent from the Ruckers tradition can be seen in the way
in which the upper level frame-braces were hammered into place and nailed without glue.
The Krickhof was repaired in 1950 by Alec Hodsdon of Lavenham, Suffolk, England. His work consisted
of replacing the jacks, replacing several (presumably damaged) key levers while retaining the original
key covers, thus rendering his repair invisible and repairing the tail end of the hitchpin rail.
In 1979 I was asked to work on it. I was able to retrieve the removed wrestpins and jacks I also
removed the leather plectra from the Hodsdon jacks, substituting Delrin ones. This time I restrung
it with ZHI low-carbon wire.
In 2002 I removed part of the bottom to repair a soundboard split at the bass end of the bridge,
during which I photographed the unique Flemish nature of the construction. Since I was obliged to
unstring it to reglue part of the hitchpin rail (using hot hide glue) I restrung it on this occasion with
Voss wire which I have found to have a superior tone in shorter iron scaled instruments. I also replaced
the Delrin plectra with Celcon which I have found to produce a pluck more akin to that of real bird quill.
In its present condition the instrument is playable, though not reliable. Additionally, the tone has lost
much definition over the years.
It could be restored to excellent playing condition, though to do so would be rather controversial.
(Museum curators frown on such work). To restore it properly, the soundboard should be soaked out,
flattened and the varnish removed. Once reinstalled it would be sized with thinned hide glue as it was
originally.
Additionally, the lower jack guide would be repaired (easily accomplished with the soundboard removed)
and new jacks, pierced for real bird quill.
Thus refurbished, it would both work and sound much as it did when it was made in 1731.
Peter W Redstone
Harpsichord, fortepiano and spinet Maker
Former Musical Instrument Conservator to the
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
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