Well, to measure any instrument properly, it has to be disassembled to some extent. How else can one measure the balance rail, for example? This should be done with extreme caution, and only by those who really know what they are doing.

Greg


-----Original Message-----
From: Tilman Skowroneck <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 8:52 am
Subject: Re: Measuring antiques



On Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:58:52 +0100, Thomas Dent <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I'm only being slightly facetious. Why would measuring a harpsichord
>by any remotely competent method damage it?

Apparently this is no trick question. Here we go, then. One could ask 'why
wouldn't it'. 
Small wooden parts are easily dented or scratched by iron measuring tools,
and even the best among us occasionally drop stuff, so the policy of using
plastic measuring tools whenever possible does make some sense. This has not
necessarily anything to do with competence. Mishaps happen everywhere.

I'm being told, for example, that the labium of the famous Dordrecht
recorder was intact soon after the instrument had been found. As a Google
pictures search reveals, it is broken out now. It is unlikely that the
missing bit fell off just by itself. A reasonable guess is that someone's
calipers did that. 

...Unfortunately, plastic measuring tapes often seem to be grossly inaccurate...

Tilman 

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