Burton Franco Flemish harpsichord

Description

Burton Franco Flemish harpsichord. Condition is “Seller refurbished”.
BurtonFranco-Flemish Harpsichord
This harpsichord was built from a kit in the 1970s by a Tom Brown (no additional information available). The instrument is solid and shows no signs of any structural issues. Most importantly there are no cracks in the soundboard and no separation of the hitch-pin rail from the case or separation of either the 8’or 4’ bridge from the soundboard. All joints in the case are well made. The jacks have been adapted to use Hubbard tongues that take Delrin or Celcon plectra. It has two 8’ choirs and one 4’ choir. The two 8’ choirs use a single string plucked at different points to create a difference in sound quality. This arrangement allows for the player to choose between either of the two 8-foot or combine one or the other with the 4-foot choir. The case is natural wood with a medium-light finish that shows some signs of wear. The touch of the instrument is very satisfying, with a nice light and quick action, and very nice moderately shallow key dip. This instrument has rich warm tones standard with classic French harpsichords of the era. It has a 6-octave key range up from F. It would be a very good choice as an entry level or student instrument as is reflected in the price of $2,000 o.b.o.