A Practical Guide to Quill, 2020
My first attempt to put a harpsichord in quill, more than forty years ago, was not successful. The feathers were promising (crow), but the jacks were plastic and I had never heard of oiling. In the end, I sheepishly redid the instrument in Delrin. However, the idea that somehow quill must work and that it must be better than the modern plastics lingered in the back of my mind. After all, quill had satisfied some very demanding musicians for three centuries. Then twenty-five years later, goaded by clients and encouraged by colleagues’ success with quill, I tried it again. Of our last thirty instruments, only three have been voiced in plastic, and many older instruments have been revoiced in quill. Yes, the learning curve has been rather steep, both for us and for our clients, but most of us will now agree that it does work and is better than the modern plastics.
This brief guide represents the current practices of our workshop. It is intended both for those whose instruments are already voiced in real bird quill and for those intrepid enough to try doing it themselves.