> Dietrich wrote:
If we consider the pitch of a' - 415 Hz, I suspect that Denzil would
agree that 29.5 cm is "long", since he says in the article (quoted by
Andrew) that a c'' of  30 cm is to be strung in iron.
I wonder if there is any evidence of anything longer than this,
antique or modern, that would possibly work reliably...

I now nothing about pitches and scalings of German harpsichords, guess you are right for them at 415Hz.

For whatever it may help, French harpsichords have longer scalings, because pitches were lower. I have put together this information from different tables of

        http://harps.braybaroque.ie/Taskin_stringing.htm

        http://harps.braybaroque.ie/Taskin_stringing.htm#2

Columns below are:
Year, Present location, length of lower 8' c" in mm, Pitch (hypothetical) in Hz

1769, Edinburgh, 357, 400
1774, Brussels, 358, 400
1781, Boston, 344, 415
1782, Colares, 360, 403 (1)
1784, Edinburgh, 366, 387 (2)
1786, London, 330, 412 (3)
1788, Milan, 345, 420

(1) a low-pitch instrument, scalings almost identical to the 1769.

(2) a low-pitch instrument by Goermans: Taskin's refurbishment left unmodified Goermans's original scaling and stringing.

(3) a famous very small instrument.

If you leave aside the low-pitch and very small instruments,
in the two decades from 1769 to 1788 there is a scaling decrease and a pitch increase.

Happy new year!

CDV




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