One of the things that happen to straight slots that have a lot of "traffic," so to speak, provided they always were fitted with quill, is that they assume a curved shape over time, which becomes quite noticeable after, say, 30 years or so. Which makes me think that one has to look at the historical evidence very closely indeed before making any absolute statements in either direction.


Tilman

On Sat, 2 Jan 2016 21:55:29 -0500, Rodney Myrvaagnes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>The 1683 Obici virginal has original jacks afik. the mortice punches are
>curved above and below. I have no theory about this. It has never had
>anything but bird quills in it.
>
>--
> Rodney Myrvaagnes
>  [log in to unmask]
>
>On Sat, Jan 2, 2016, at 10:58, Domenico Statuto wrote:
>> And by the way, is the curved slot a historically ascertained feature?
>> I am asking because as many of you know I own an italian antique (1699)
>> with more than half of the jacks/tongues original, and they have
>> rectangular slots, so I wonder...

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