Flemish Single Manual
This instrument is based on an original Ruckers single manual made in 1637.
The important speaking length of the strings and their plucking points have been
carefully preserved over the original compass of C-E/c3 (C-E being a short octave).
We have, however, enlarged the instrument to give a GG/d3 compass which will cover
music up to and including Bach, and the keyboard can transpose from A 415Hz to
A 392Hz or A 440Hz with the loss of the end notes in either direction.
There are two ranks of jacks working 1 x 8ft and 1 x 4ft choirs of strings with
a buff stop to the 8ft register. The 4ft can be replaced by a second 8ft choir,
in which case the front 8ft would have the Ruckers scaling. Like all other Johnson
instruments, the jacks are traditionally made with pear bodies and holly tongues.
The tongue return spring is a simple hog bristle, which has proved to be the most
successful way of working the action for three centuries, and the quills are made
from 1mm Delrin. The soundboard is made from finest quality spruce (Picea Abies) grown
in the Swiss Alps. The cases are made from poplar, lacquered to a colour of your choice
and gilded.
This design was the basis of traditional harpsichord building in the Low Countries from
the second half of the 16th Century. It survived with little alteration up to the late
seventeenth century, and indeed inspired the work of many great harpsichord makers in France
in the 18th Century. Ruckers instruments were very much sought after throughout the three
centuries. Makers such as Pascal Taskin were paid much greater fees for enlarging a Ruckers
than they could demand for their own work.