Charles P.

Welcome to the board.

The instrument is without a doubt one of the thousands of slab sided 
harpsichords sold by Zuckermann in the late '60's. Cannot guess why the 
Zen-on label. The slab side Zuckermann's are not what is considered premium 
state of the art instruments, but have served many many people well and at 
$150, if you are prepared to repair any deficencies yourself, would be a 
most reasonable purchase.

If you are not aware, after the harpsichord fell from grace at the end of 
the 18th century, it was virtually unbuilt until the twentith century when 
the revival was begun with a number of years of largely factory built 
instruments, which were built in the piano tradition and with a considerable 
number of complex improvements. Musically these were not much like the 
traditional harpsichord. In the early 1960's a small number of builders 
began a concerted effort to return to the traditional harpsichord. Perhaps 
hearlded by the books of Russel and Hubbard and certainly announced by 
Zuckermann's book reviewing all the makers he could get data on... and being 
quite caustic to the factory modern builders. As part of the age many kits 
were produced by both Hubbard and Zuckermann. Your instrument is one of the 
earliest of the Zuckermann's, which originally in kit form sold for about 
that $150. Its principle criticism, as I understand it, is that, while 
rejecting the overweight/over-complexity of the factory models it, by 
retaining screw adjustable jacks and plywood it did not go nearly far 
enough.

None the less that instrument has started many persons interest, the 
construction of those kits started a number of builders careers, and they 
have been much enjoyed.

Gerald 

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