I have a Dolmetsch from 1967 and the owner wants it playing again. It is of course well built although not historic and in pretty good shape. It has leather plectra, many of which are broken off due to age. (I had one of these situations with a Speerhake and it needed about 10 plectra so I replaced the tongues and used “boot leather” to make new plectra.) In the case at hand I think I need to replace all 4x57 plectra.
I had a couple of questions:
Does anybody know how the leather was originally attached to the tongue? As in the Speerhake case they seem to be glued. A lot of fussing does not loosen them
As such, I would like to remove the old tongues and replace them with slotted ones to receive Delrin or similar plectra. I don’t see any easy want to preserve the old tongues and probably more trouble in the long run.
Are there any issues with such a replacement as regards breaking of strings? Of course I expect a different sound but with a few test cases the owner is quite happy with the sound.
Is it necessary to replace the tongues in order to use Delrin? I’m under the impression the usual technique is to plug the hole for the leather with a wooden stick, leaving a narrow slot that will accept a flat plectrum.
In fact I’ve done this before even more simply by just cutting off the leather plectra flush with the tongue, soaking the leather with thin CA glue to harden it up, then punching through it with a craft knife blade ground back in width to mimic the size of a typical Delrin plectrum.
Thank you Borys.
I agree that replacing the leather with a slip of wood makes sense but the leather is in there pretty tight–hence I wonder if it is glued in. I will play with a few more jacks to see if any want to “move”. I like the idea about hardening the old leather–as long as that holds it may be the simplest solution here.
cheers
Fritz
It is not clear to me whether you want to replace the plectra or change to Delrin. I have one leather rank on a Hubbard, and love it. The British seem to have had more instruments with leather than the rest of Europe, but on that point I defer to my more informed friends.
Wolfgang
Just for your information, I have a Dolmetsch 53 key spinet, quilled in leather, in the shop now. I’m not certain of its age but the serial number is 1093. It needed a number of plectra replaced which I did with “vegetable” tanned leather (from Tandy Leather, here in the USA) which I assumed was as close to “oak” tanned leather as I was likely to find nearby. Everything went quite smoothly. The original leather plectra were press-fit into their tongue mortises. Removal and replacement was easily done. Just my experience on this, the first Dolmetsch I’ve yet seen.
All the best, Fritz, as you work the puzzle(s) your Dolmetsch is presenting you!
I think you are referring to the beautiful peau de buffle register, as per Taskin et al. I don’t believe Hubbard used 18C style buffalo leather, but its a very nice stop in any case.
The leather used in revival harpsichords, apart from being horrible, is quite a different thing.
You might find out by drilling two holes through leather with a drill diameter smaller than the width of the leather, such that a lot of the leather is gone but without damaging the wood. If it is not bonded you should be able to remove the remaining leather.
Wolfgang
I will fuss with some jacks today to determine whether the leather is not glued and readily removable. My original attempts were precursory and somewhat influenced by my difficulties with the Sperhake that I worked on. I will report to the group on my results.My goal is to both replace the leather, which is breaking, and possibly replace it with something easier to obtain and maintain.
So I will probably lean towards delrin, shiming the tongue mortises as Bory’s did. Perhaps having one of the 4 ranks in leather would be a nice touch—I see no need to preserve the exact sound of this instrument and would like something that the owner could appreciate.
RE: “… leather used in revival harpsichords…” - AMEN!.
Difficult to maintain and not (in my opinion) having a good sound–perhaps from its age.
I will make an admission here–I have never learned the art of shaping leather “quills”. In the few replacements I have done, I cut strips of leather to the appropriate size to fit the tongue mortise, and then cut a straight angle at the plucking end, finally threading thru the mortise and cutting the end off. As a final step I try–but only try with little success- to get the nice curved shape of the original using a well sharpened exacto knife.
I used “boot leather” from Lisa Sorrell. I would be interested in hearing from anyone with better experience in working with leather “quills”.
thanks Alan.
This is a 2 manual, 61 note instrument number 621.
I believe it is from 1967. I cannot find much information on the Dolmetsch company–I might assume this was built in the Chickering factory–Arnold Dolmetch was deceased in 1940.
I do not know if it was tuned to A440 and prefer not to break/restring things as I expect this may have been done before. The low strings have the loosely wound doubled over strings which I think are used in clavichords.
From what I have read, I would assume when Arnold was alive he used early pitches.
I will let you know how I proceed when I get back to better examining the plectra-
Fritz
Wolfgang
I will fuss with some jacks today to determine whether the leather is not glued and readily removable. My original attempts were precursory and somewhat influenced by my difficulties with the Sperhake that I worked on. I will report to the group on my results.My goal is to both replace the leather, which is breaking, and possibly replace it with something easier to obtain and maintain.
Fritz, three years ago I posted a long doc re my leather search. It did not have a lot of response, but I’d send it to you if I had your personal email. It is as a bit long for the Jackrail site, I think. The long and short of it is that I have a reasonable supplier in the US for the Baker (oak)leather from England, that Martin Spaink had tested extensively as being nondestructive, as well a leather via David Van Ness in Cerrito, CA (vanness@compuserve.com), which I now prefer. He had written me
"Yes, I have some leather that I can send to you. It is Italian shoe-sole leather – so it has a lighter color than what you’ve used in the past. But it works for me. I ordered it online from:
Thank you Wolfgang. That would be much appreciated.
It always amazes me how very small and subtle differences in material properties are as important in instrument building as they are in a building something like a space probe–and makers 300 years ago knew all these properties!
Some added information here-I got to my shop and examined the Dolmetsch jacks more carefully. Indeed the leather is not glued to the tongue. I pulled 4 today just to check–so I can easily remove them with a simple board with a hole to support the jack. Now I can focus on using leather, or maybe Delrin for some of them.
|