As we all know, historical harpsichords were long (with the possible
exceptions of some virginals and spinets, meant to save space and money, not
for "professional" use). The reasons why they were so long have always been
known:
1) A smaller instrument can only accommodate a shorter soundboard, which
will fail to provide "deep bass" to the lowest notes of the instrument.
2) If you shorten the instrument the vibrating string lengths in the bass
range need shortening. This implies thicker strings and their sound is not
good. Wound strings were in their infancy, and besides they would soon
"grind down" the quill plectra.
3) Anyway harpsichords were not meant to be moved around as many are today,
because they were ubiquitous.

So for example a typical double-manual French 18thC harpsichord was about
230cm long, with a soundboard in its longest section being about 180cm long:
it is no coincidence that this approximates very well 1/4 of the wavelength
of GG at the average pitch of the time. And indeed in these instruments the
bass is excellent down to GG, while the FF lacks "boom". These instruments
are perfect for solo Baroque music, going often down to GG but very rarely
down to FF.

However, in continuo work, a harpsichord plays often down to D and less so
to C: to have a boomy D is good enough: this requires a soundboard that
resonates a fifth up from GG, thus only 2/3 the length: the 180cm can be
reduced to 120cm, saving a huge 60cm from the total length of the
instrument. Add to this that for a portable light continuo instrument it is
fine to have one manual only, and you save a further 10cm.

Conclusion: you start from (say) a French-model instrument, you modify it
for one manual only and reduce the range to be chromatic from C up, and
instead of 230cm long, for the same bass quality, you now need it to be only
160cm long. Impressive isn't it? And with the reduced range it will be also
narrower and lighter.
The French (or Flemish) model has the advantage of the 8+4 disposition,
better suited than the Italian 8+8' when playing in an ensemble especially
for "Northern" European music.

We have seen above in "2)" and "3)" why historical makers did not produce
this model. Today these reasons no longer hold: we just need wound strings
and Delrin plectra for the extreme bass, and we get a fully-sounding
instrument that is however much cheaper to make and also very easy to carry
around in a family car and move in and out of a concert room.

I very rarely play continuo nowadays. If I did frequently, I would order
such an instrument.

I hope our distinguished makers and continuo players will find this an 
interesting topic for discussion.

Best
CDV

http://play.braybaroque.ie/


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