Piano
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A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are pressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys—with th
Steinway Vienna 002
Piano droit Weinbach
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The 1726 Cristofori piano in the Musikinstrumenten-Museum in Leipzig
Harpsichord
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A harpsichord is a keyboard instrument that makes its sound by plucking a set of strings. In a harpsichord, depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn lifts one or more
Piano
…creating stringed keyboard instruments with struck strings. By the 17th century, the mechanisms of keyboard instruments such as the clavichord and the harpsichord were well developed. In a clavichord the strings are struck by tangents, while in a harpsichord they are mechanically plucked by quills when the performer…
This harpsichord is the work of two celebrated makers: originally constructed by Andreas Ruckers in Antwerp (1646), it was later remodeled and expanded in a process called grand ravalement by Pascal Taskin in Paris (1780).
An early diagram of a vertical harpsichord (clavicytherium) by Arnault de Zwolle, c. 1430
Harpsichord by Christian Zell, at Museu de la Música de Barcelona. From upper left to lower right: a bridge (supporting the far ends of the strings), the jack rail with the action (jacks) underneath, two nuts (supporting the closer ends of the strings), interleaved with two rows of tuning pins, and finally the keyboard. As with all harpsichords, the action itself is mostly hidden by the jack rail when the instrument is being played; only by removing the jack rail (or indeed, by extracting a jack) can the details of the action be observed.
Sound board of a harpsichord with Chladni patterns