Hubbard Double Manual Harpsichord Flemish clavichord

Pricing & History

Sold for
Start Free Trial or Sign In to see what it's worth.
Sold Date
Source eBay

You are bidding on a rare and vintage Hubbard Double Manual French/Flemish Harpsichord!! This harpsichord is in unfinished condition, and will need assembly/restoration to be 100% playable again. The upper keyboard is missing 3 keys, which can still be purchased from Hubbard. The inside wood of the keyboard section is still unfinished (was going to be painted red). T are only a few tongues/plectrums to replace, which are included the box of parts. T are also a few cracks to the spruce sound board, which will need to be repaired before attempting to fully string this old beauty up. The black finish has some great checking/wear to it! This instrument is built from an early 1970s Hubbard Harpsichord kit, and was purchased from the Musical Dept. of a University. I am not certain if it was assembled at the Hubbard factory, however the construction of this harpsichord is of very high quality. Included is a box full of extra harpsichord parts ie: wire/jacks/felt/plectrums/screws/tuning pegs/weights/tongues..etc.. This instrument is approx. 8ft in length, and very heavy, making local pickup preferred. Buyer must arrange all shipping/freight details, and pay all s+h costs if you need it shipped. Sold as-is condition. **All reasonable offers considered** Please email with any questions or picture requests >>> BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY OTHER AUCTIONS <<<Frank T. Hubbard (15 May 1920 - 25 February 1976) was an American harpsichord maker, a pioneer in the revival of historical methods of harpsichord building. Born in New York, Hubbard studied English literature at Harvard, graduating with AB, 1942 and AM, 1947. One of his friends was William Dowd, who had an interest in early instruments, and together they constructed a clavichord. This connection, with his interest as an amateur violinist in violin making and the location of his library reading stall near the stacks holding books on musical instruments, led to Hubbard's interest in the historic harpsichord. While pursuing graduate study at Harvard, Hubbard and Dowd both decided to leave to pursue instrument-making. In 1947, Hubbard went to England, and became an apprentice at the workshop of Arnold Dolmetsch in Haslemere. Not learning much about the historic harpsichord, he went to Hugh Gough in London in 1948, with whom he worked for a year. During this time, he was able to visit the collections of early keyboard instruments around Europe and study instruments of historical makers. He studied the viola da gamba with Edgar Hunt at the Trinity College of Music in order to get the subsistence allowance that the G.I. Bill offered, though with his instrument-making, he had no time to practice. Historical harpsichords He returned to the USA in 1949 and founded a workshop with Dowd building harpsichords on historical principles, rather than the 20th-century modern (now known as 'revival') style practiced by virtually all professional makers, such as Robert Goble. They found work performing restorations of harpsichords in public and private collections which helped them improve their own practices of design and construction. In 1958 the partnership ended and Hubbard formed his own workshop on the Lyman estate in Waltham, Dowd opening a larger workshop in Cambridge. From 1955–1958, with a Fulbright Fellowship, American Philosophical Society Grant and Belgium American Educational Foundation CRB Fellowship, he was able to examine many more instrumental collections in Europe. From 1967 to 1968, he set up the restoration workshop for the Musée Instrumental at the Paris Conservatoire. In the 1970s, he taught courses at Harvard and Boston University. At the time of the publication of his book, Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making, in 1965, Ralph Kirkpatrick wrote that "he unquestionably knows more about the history and construction of harpsichords than anyone alive today". He developed a harpsichord in 1973 based on a Pascal Taskin instrument of 1769 which was sold as a do-it-yourself kit, semi-finished. For this endeavour, he was partnered by Lawrence C. Erdmann. By 1975, approximat... read more

Items in the Price Guide are obtained exclusively from licensors and partners solely for our members’ research needs.

Flag item for content or copyright

If this item contains incorrect or inappropriate information please contact us here to flag it for review.

If you are the originator/copyright holder of this photo/item and would prefer it be excluded from our community, contact us here for removal.