By 1986 the shop’s first German double-manual harpsichord was delivered to Jim Weaver, who indulged in maximum historical decoration, as these photos document. It was soon in circulation on a recording of Bach works for the Smithsonian label. Another major project that year for the Smithsonian was to make a replica action for the Dulcken fortepiano. Ten years of use since its restoration had begun to cause noticeable wear in certain action parts, an unacceptable situation in the museum world. The piano was so satisfactory musically that an increasingly popular solution for the preservation of mechanisms was chosen: making a truly identical copy of the keyboard and action to be used for playing. Even after restoring the Dulcken, doing the technical drawing of it for the museum, and making several reproductions, it was a humbling experience to make a “bench copy” of the original in the museum’s workshop.
Meanwhile, Chris Hogwood continued to use our first Schantz piano for major concerts, and there were now three more Schantz orders. Interest in our German design produced surge of harpsichord orders: five doubles and a single! With an expanding waiting list, as soon as the Dulcken action was complete, the shop took on its first specialized employee: a woodworker, shown here along with the first phase of the harpsichord batch.
This year also saw the beginning of a longtime association with another museum, now known as the National Music Museum, in Vermillion, SD. A huge collection with a wide range of instruments, it had recently started to acquire important European keyboards. Hugh Gough had mostly completed his restoration of “our” Germain harpsichord, and given the chance to own an 18th-century French harpsichord, they snatched it up. The musical finishing wasn’t quite yet concert ready, so they hired Barbara to come out and complete the work. We felt that our relationship with the Germain had come full circle. This was the start of another museum collaboration that lasted the better part of two decades, sometimes with multiple trips a year.
