>Thomas Donahue wrote:
>On those English harpsichords in which gauge 8 is marked three times when all others are marked twice, is there any evidence indicating whether the >middle gauge 8 marking is the highest brass string or the lowest iron string?

According to Grant O'Brien in discussing Culliford's use of this convention ('Criteria for the determination of original stringing in historical keyboard instruments: The cautionary tale of a 1785 Longman and Broderip harpsichord', The Historical Harpsichord, Vol. 5, p. 172): "it is not a priori clear whether the second gauge number 8 is the last note to be strung in brass or the first note to be strung in iron." However, in a footnote, he suggests that based on a comparison with the earliest Kirckman instruments where gauge mark 8 occurs four times and therefore there is no doubt about what each one means, one might assume that when it occurs three times in later Kirckman instruments, the middle one is likely to refer to the first note to be strung in iron.

as ever
Richard

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Note:  opinions  expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the  individual con-
tributors and not necessarily  those of the list owners  nor of the Uni-
versity of Iowa.  For a brief  summary of list  commands, send mail to
[log in to unmask]  saying  HELP .
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::