Harpsichords

There are many different woods used in harpsichord construction, depending on whether the instrument is to be painted, as they often were in Europe, or whether the wood was to be finished naturally, as was often the case in England. This is not by any means an exhaustive list, but poplar, Canadian basswood and lime were often used in cases; lime for key levers, because it is very stable and you do not want them to warp; sorbus, maple and beech, being good for steam bending, can be used for the curved bridges over which the strings pass, and which transmit vibration to the soundboard to make it resonate. Soundboards are made of Swiss pine or sitka spruce. Wrestplanks, which hold the tuning pins, can be made of oak, sometimes with beech inserts along the line of the wrest pins. In the keyboard, naturals (which are black - the opposite of the piano) are often covered with some form of ebony slip, and box, holly, pearwood or bone can be used for accidentals, although in the past ivory was widely used. Jack bodies are made of beech or steamed pear, whilst the tongues holding the plectra are almost always of holly. The springs that return the tongues to rest were made of hog's bristle, but nylon fishing line is an adequate replacement today. Plectra can be plastic (Delrin or Celcon), or, traditionally, quill taken from the feathers of Corvids, Canada geese, swans, etc.
Harpsichord-making has not really changed much in 250 years; new materials have been introduced for jacks and plectra, but apart from that, the craft probably reached its height at that time. Although there was a revival in the UK about 50 years ago, it is now said that there is nobody under the age of 40 in the UK still making them - so the future looks a little bleak for instrument-making in this country; there are however younger makers in other countries.