LIST OF NEW AND USED KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS FOR SALE

It has been over 6 years since most of the instruments listed here were made. Some folks would have said at the time that my prices were too high such that they were out of reach for most harpsichordists. I have not raised my prices at all during that time during which the economy has now either caught up with or surpassed what I was asking back in 2015. I still see no reason to raise my prices for most of the instruments on this list.

If you have read about the closing of my shop in Michigan, then you should know that that decision was prompted because my lease ran out. I am in the process of arranging for myself a workshop in my home in Nashville to continue making instruments though on a reduced scale because I now have only space enough for working on one instrument at a time here in Tennessee. Also, I will be spending more time with violin making. But if you have a desire to have your Hill harpsichord upgraded acoustically, I am happy to be of service to undertake that work for you.

Keith Hill

(SOLD)French Harpsichord remade in 2019 by Keith Hill. Compass: FF - g3, 2 x 8’, 1 x 4’, buff stop, ebony keys with boxwood arcades, wooden registers, plastic jacks, and a tuning hammer. This harpsichord was originally made from a kit in 1976 by John Phillips. When this instrument came into my shop, I found it to be in excellent condition considering its age, so I undertook to install a new soundboard into it for the owner. You can hear from the recordings recently made of this instrument that it has a powerful yet focused sound with a strong blooming characteristic. Because I re-engineered the framing when I had the soundboard removed, the instrument, currently tuned to A-440, this instrument holds it tune and pitch to an extremely high standard of stability. The instrument is sold as it is, as you see it. The price for the instrument is $20,000.00 USD.

Harpsichord made from a kit in 1976 with a new soundboard made by Keith Hill in 2019

2. Hill Lautenwerk built in 2011 - Double Manual, 2 x 8’ choirs of gut strings, my opus 441. This instrument has a compass of GG-e’’’, A-415. It began having only one 8’ set of strings with 2 registers of jacks, one plucking close to the nut and the second set plucking more in the middle of the strings in the treble.

The price for this instrument is $49,500 USD

3. Hill Clavichord -after Hubert Opus 452 made in 2013. This instrument is currently located in Europe. The price in Euros is 14,000. In today’s dollars is approximately $15,000.

HILL CLAVICHORD OPUS 4. 52. MADE IN 2 013. MADE AFTER HUBERT. WITH AN. EXTENSION IN THE BASS (DOWN TO AA). CURRENTLY LOCATED IN EUROPE.

4. 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. Price is $40,000 USD.

Opus+471+Italian+Harpsichord.jpg

5. (SOLD) Hill Italian Single Manual Harpsichord after de Zentis - Opus 549 made in 2021, 2 x 8' in brass, FF - g ''' at A-415 with transposing to A-440, 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. Price is $45,000 USD.

Italian Harpsichord after de Zentis 1658 with compass extended to FF - g’’’ made in 2021

6. Hill Flemish Double Manual Harpsichord Opus 551 after the 1640 "Ahaus" Ruckers that Leonhardt used in his Froberger recording. It has a FF - f''' compass, 2 x 8’, 1 x 4’, Ebony naturals, Bone topped stained sharps, boxwood arcades, French style coupler, pearwood jacks, wood registers, 4 screw-in legs, simple music desk, with Flemish papers on the interior case, painted and gilded on the exterior and interior lid and molding. I am still working on this instrument. It is one of the very last harpsichords I built in my Michigan workshop. Will post a recording and photo as soon as possible, meanwhile, the following recording of one of my earlier Ahaus Ruckers instruments can be heard below. Price will be $ 47,000 USD. This instrument is as yet unfinished being neither gessoed nor painted and gilded. It is almost ready to play in a concert. Once I have it in a concert ready state, I am prepared to sell this instrument in its current state of unfinish for a 15% lower price.

You can hear the original 1640 Jan Ruckers in this recording.

Here is Jean Rondeau playing Rameau on my Opus 194 made back in 1983/4, which is based on the Ahaus Ruckers.

Jean Rondeau joue Les Sauvages de Jean-Philippe Rameau Vous souhaitez être informé de tout ce qui touche la musique classique sur ICI Musique et sur ICIMusique.ca? Abonnez-vous à notre infolettre classique : http://goo.gl/YALXHZ

Froberger - Toccata II - Blandine Verlet,1989 played on a Hans Ruckers II,1624 (Colmar)

7. 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.

Photos and recorded sound samples of this harpsichord will be posted as soon as these are available. I have uploaded the following recording of my brother, Robert Hill, playing the Taskin harpsichord I made for him in 2000, my opus 345.

Cristofori fortepiano Opus 444 made in 2012

8. 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 and so have tinkered with the action to perfect the voicing and touch. Price is $50,000 USD.**

9. 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 $ 64,000 USD. It is my intension for this instrument is to decorate the lid with a landscape painting in the style of Watteau. Since that would increase the price, I have decided to wait in case someone wishes to buy the instrument without a lid painting.

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.

10. 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.

11. 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. This instrument is as yet unfinished being neither gessoed nor painted and gilded. It is otherwise ready to play in a concert. I am prepared to sell this instrument in its current state of unfinish for a 15% lower price.

12. French Double manual harpsichord after Blanchet my Opus 552 made in 2022, with a compass of FF - f’’’, transposing to A-440, Buff stop in the keywell, Ebony naturals, Bone topped sharps, Boxwood arcades, music desk, four screw-in turned legs. Similar to the Ahaus Ruckers Double listed above and the previous Taskin listed above this instrument, they were the last harpsichords that I made in 2022 in my Michigan workshop. I have since moved my shop to Nashville, Tennessee. Price when it is completed will be $48,500 USD.

12. 5 Octave clavichord after Hubert made in 2022 my Opus 553 , FF - f’’’ compass, double strung in Brass, fretted, Boxwood Naturals, Ebony sharps, Boxwood arcades. This is probably my last clavichord. I will post photos and recordings of this instrument when I have finished it in Nashville. It looks very similar to the photo below of my previous clavichord which sold last year. Price when completed will be $24,000 USD.

Hubert Clavichord Opus 489 made in 2016.jpg

13. An Italian Pentagonal Virginal after Ioannes de Perticis 1684 built in 2019 with my most recent acoustical technology student from Italy, Fabio Rigali. I personally would never make one of these very limited instruments because of the short octave but for the 16th and 17th century literature enthusiast it is perfect. So as part of his learning to apply all of my sound enhancing techniques, I agreed to make this instrument with him. This charming instrument, and I do have to admit it is really charming (I admit to never really having enjoyed meantone tuning or short octave limitations…I hate running out of notes and not being able to play in all keys). 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, easy to move, and easy to play. The price for this virginal is: $13,000.00 USD.

Rigali Italian Pentagonal Virginal after G. Pisarencis 1684.jpg