NEW/USED INSTRUMENTS FOR SALE — Keith Hill - Instrument Maker

1. Hill French Double manual harpsichord after F. Blanchet, my Opus 398 made in 2005, with a compass of FF - f’’’, transposing to A-440, Buff stop in the keywell, Ebony naturals, Bone topped sharps, Boxwood arcades, music desk, platform stand with five screw-in turned fluted legs. This is one of the most lavishly decorated instruments I have made. The owner of this instrument and the lautenwerk above needs to sell the instrument as quickly as possible. Hence, the price is $25,000.00 USD (roughly half of what this instrument is worth). The photos are below. This instrument was used to make recordings that are available on the Naxos label.

2. Hill Italian Single Manual Harpsichord after de Zentis - Opus 475 made in 2015, 2 x 8' in brass, GG - f ''' at A-415 with transposing to A-440, Buff stop, handstops on the wrestplank, Boxwood naturals, Ebony topped sharps, Boxwood arcades, built as a true inner case of Italian Cypress, pearwood jacks, walnut registers, parchment rosette, with walnut music desk. Does not come with an exterior case or stand. Price is $40,000 USD.

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3. Hill French Double Manual Harpsichord after Taskin Opus 383 made in 2005. Though built in 2005, I only finished this harpsichord in 2013 by decorating the soundboard, installing and finishing off the action and making a platform stand and music desk for it. It has yet to be painted and gilded. This harpsichord is unique amongst all the instruments I have made because the soundboard I used in it came from a Worel, 6 and one half octave, fortepiano made in 1835. I came to own this piano through a negotiation with a music school that had bought it for their students to help them understand the music of that period on an original fortepiano. However, the instrument sounded completely dead from middle c to the top note in the treble. To correct that problem, I took out the original soundboard, installed a new one and the instrument finally sounded wonderfully full, singing, and powerful in the treble as well as in the bass.

Since there was nothing wrong with the wood in the soundboard, indeed, being split and old, both being serious advantages for sound quality, I was eager to make a harpsichord out of the soundboard. As it turned out, it is perhaps the best harpsichord (meaning: being most like a fine original antique French harpsichord) I have ever made. Price is $69,000 USD. This harpsichord has yet to be gessoed, painted and gilded. Since doing that work in my present situation is not possible, I am offering to reduce the price of this instrument by 15% to $58,500.00, so whomever buys the instrument can have the gessoing, painting and decorating done by someone else.

Cristofori fortepiano Opus 444 made in 2012

4. Fortepiano after Cristofori, Opus 444 made in 2012. I made this instrument to show at the Boston Early Music Festival. This instrument will be my last fortepiano. One of the interesting peculiarities of the Cristofori type brass strung fortepianos is that they are pure, sweet and strong sounding, which makes them useful for playing the entire body of harpsichord literature as well as all piano music that will fit on its FF - g''' compass, as you will hear from the few recordings made when I was testing microphones and the Zoom recorder. Iron strung Viennese fortepianos tend to not sound so pure nor as sweet. Another curious feature of my double brass strung pianos is that they are amazingly stable in tuning.

Double strung completely in Brass music wire, this fortepiano is equipped with a true **"una chorda" that is activated by manually shifting the keyboard from left to right. The dampers are made to lift with a knee lever. This is one of the few pianos that I have made that I have had in my possession since it was made. Price is $40,000 USD.**

5. Harpsichord after the Colmar Ruckers, Opus 486, made in 2016. A double manual compass of GG (no GG#)- d''', and transposes to 440, has 2 x 8' registers, 1 x 4' register, Buff stop with the handstop in keywell, Pear wood jacks, ebony naturals, bone topped sharps, boxwood arcades, beechwood registers, Flemish soundboard decoration, antique style music desk, and double frame platform stand. Pictured below with a sound sample performed by Mark Edwards. Price is $ 54,000 USD. It was my intension for this instrument is to decorate the lid with a landscape painting in the style of Watteau. However, I can no longer decorate my instruments due to tremor in my right hand.

Professor Mark Edwards playing opus 486made after the 1624 colmar Ruckers on october 3, 2016 at the Oberlin conservatory in oberlin, ohio. — Professor Mark Edwards playing opus 486 made after the 1624 colmar Ruckers on october 3, 2016 at the Oberlin conservatory in oberlin, ohio.

6. Lautenwerk made in 2019 my Opus 519 Single manual, GG - e’’’, 2 x 8' strings in gut and 1 x 4' strings in brass, with 2 x 8' sets of jacks, and a three layer parchment rosette. It has handstops on the wrestplank, a music desk, and four screw-in legs. In this instrument the 4’ choir of strings are present for the “d’Amore” sympathetic resonance enhancing effect which creates a lovely halo around the sound, giving the impression of hearing the instrument in a cathedral. There are no jacks to play the 4’. This Lautenwerk is ready to be decorated. Below this photo are two shop recordings made of the instrument played by two different players. I originally intended for this instrument to have only one 8’ set of gut strings. However, last year, when I sold the Lautenwerk that I had made for myself, I found that I really enjoyed the sound of two 8’ sets of gut strings sounding together, partly because the result is incredibly loud…as loud as a modern grand piano. The instrument is a real “Laut” (German for loud) enwerk. Curious that the lute, also called a laut in German, is so soft sounding.

Price is $43,000 USD.

7. French Double manual harpsichord after the 1769 Taskin in Edinburgh, my Opus 497 made in 2017/2022, with a compass of FF - g’’’, transposing to A-440, Buff stop in the keywell, Ebony naturals, Bone topped sharps, Boxwood arcades, music desk, four screw-in turned legs. Every once in a while when I have the time, I build harpsichords to have on hand to sell to people who hate waiting to have their instrument built. This is one of those instruments. I made it with the extra 2 notes in the treble to cover the entire literature. Price is $49,000.00 USD (as is). This instrument is as yet unfinished being neither gessoed nor painted and gilded. It is otherwise ready to play in a concert.

8. An Italian Pentagonal Virginal after Ioannes de Perticis 1684 built in 2019 with my most recent acoustical technology student from Italy, Fabio Rigali. As part of his learning to apply all of my sound enhancing techniques, I agreed to make this instrument with him. This little virginal has a compass of C/E short octave - c3, boxwood naturals, stained oak sharps, carved trefoil keyfronts, wooden jacks, made out of Italian cypress, including the soundboard, tuned to A- 415. It is an ideal continuo instrument because it is really loud, charming, easy to move, and easy to play. The price for this virginal is: $11,000.00 USD.

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