I've been wondering for a while how historical name battens are fastened
in place. All the modern instruments I've ever seen have them screwed
down (or else they have a sliding nameboard a l'italiano). I don't
imagine historical instruments would have used screws for that though,
at least not until later in the 18th century. Did they just glue them in
place? That seems a little bit permanent to me... Though I guess they
wouldn't be taking the name batten off to transpose the keyboards like I
have to with my harpsichord (some day I'll cut the blocks so I don't
have to). Still, it seems that it's very handy to be able to get at the
keys easily for maintenance and regulation, and just to clean out the
dust that invariably accumulates. How did Ruckers do it?
--
Jon-o Addleman - http://www.redowl.ca