Tortuga Early InstrumentsContemporary Harpsichord Making
The field · a checked directory

Everyone still making harpsichords, and where to find the parts.

A living harpsichord world is smaller than it looks and larger than you’d guess — a few hundred builders, a handful of parts houses, a scatter of societies, and the museums that keep the originals. Every link below was fetched and checked in July 2026. Where a maker has retired or a firm has closed, it says so.

If you bookmark one site

Carey Beebe Harpsichords

Before this directory, there is hpschd.nu. The Sydney technician Carey Beebe maintains both the field’s best free technical library — tuning, stringing, voicing, quill replacement, humidity, moving — and the worldwide maker directories this page draws on, with defunct firms honestly annotated. It is the hub the rest of us orbit.

hpschd.nu →

Builders at work

Living workshops building new instruments to historical models — plus a few dealers and agents who keep them moving. Grouped by continent; a generous sample of an active trade, not a complete census.

Builders · North America
  • John Phillips Harpsichords

    Berkeley, California workshop founded in 1975; over 120 new harpsichords built plus a dozen antique restorations. Our inaugural spotlight maker.

  • Owen Daly Early Keyboard Instruments

    Salem, Oregon; building harpsichords and clavichords with traditional materials and methods since 1977 (Italian, French, and North-German Mietke/Zell models).

  • Paul Y. Irvin — Early Keyboard Instruments

    Portland, Oregon maker and technician of 40+ years, some 70 instruments built — from spinets and virginals to double-manual harpsichords, plus clavichords and fortepianos.

  • Tomlinson Harpsichords

    Craig Tomlinson, West Vancouver, BC — harpsichords, virginals, clavichords and fortepianos with virtually every part made in-house since 1984.

  • Anne's Harpsichords

    Anne Acker: US builder, restorer and dealer, and the North American agent for The Paris Workshop kits.

  • Henry Lebedinsky — The Harpsichord Shop

    Pacific Northwest sales, rental and service of historical keyboards, and the exclusive USA sales agent for Craig Tomlinson.

  • Byron Will Harpsichords

    Oregon builder of Italian-style thin-case and other historical harpsichords.

  • Keith Hill Harpsichords

    Noted American maker and acoustician; also teaches instrument acoustics and maintenance workshops.

  • Wolf Instruments

    Thomas and Barbara Wolf — harpsichords and fortepianos after historical models.

  • Gerald Self Harpsichords

    Texas-based maker of historically styled harpsichords.

  • Sheppard Keyboards

    Norman Sheppard, Madison, Wisconsin — hand-built harpsichords and fortepianos alongside piano service.

  • Clavecins Yves Beaupré

    Montreal maker building French- and Flemish-style instruments.

  • Borys Medicky Harpsichords

    Ontario, Canada — harpsichords after historical models.

  • Sørli Lautenwerke & Harpsichords

    Steven Sørli — gut-strung lautenwerke as well as harpsichords.

  • Ernest Miller Harpsichords

    Chocowinity, NC two-person shop in the Flemish and French traditions since 1985 — and author of The Harpsichord Project eBook (HTTP-only site).

  • Richard Kingston Harpsichords

    Celebrated American maker; the CBH directory lists the workshop as no longer in business, but the site remains a reference.

Builders · Europe & beyond
  • Atelier Marc Ducornet

    Paris (Montreuil) workshop building professional harpsichords, and the parent atelier of The Paris Workshop kit line.

  • Atelier Von Nagel

    Historic Paris atelier founded by Reinhard von Nagel, long associated with French concert instruments.

  • Cembalobau Matthias Griewisch

    Master maker near Heidelberg, Germany, in his own workshop since 1989.

  • Detmar Hungerberg

    Hückeswagen, Germany — harpsichords, clavichords and fortepianos after historical models.

  • J.C. Neupert

    Long-established Bamberg firm — a pillar of the 20th-century revival — now building historical copies including a Hass double.

  • Clavierwerkstatt Christoph Kern

    German workshop building harpsichords and other historical keyboard instruments.

  • Denzil Wraight

    Maker and leading scholar of Italian harpsichords and virginals, with extensive research on his site.

  • Kennedy Harpsichords

    Bruce Kennedy, American maker in Italy, known for acclaimed Flemish and German concert harpsichords.

  • Bizzi Harpsichords

    Family workshop near Milan designing instruments in the tradition of the masters — and the only maker producing its own strings.

  • Tony Chinnery Harpsichords

    Florence-based maker of harpsichord and early fortepiano replicas used on many recordings.

  • Jukka Ollikka Harpsichords

    Prague-based maker of harpsichords and clavichords after historical models.

  • Bečička, Hüttl & Šefl

    Czech workshop of three makers building historical keyboard instruments.

  • Titus Crijnen Harpsichords

    Spain-based Dutch maker building Ruckers, French and other historical models.

  • Chris Maene

    Belgian workshop famous for historical keyboard copies, including Ruckers, and period-piano projects.

  • Klinkhamer Harpsichords

    Amsterdam workshop building and restoring harpsichords and fortepianos.

  • Henk Klop

    Dutch workshop building harpsichords and the continuo organs widely used by early-music ensembles.

  • Andrew Wooderson

    Bexley, Kent — Italian and Ruckers-model instruments, plus hire, servicing and one-day maintenance courses.

  • Andrew Garlick Harpsichords

    British maker of French-style harpsichords.

  • Peter Barnes Harpsichords

    British maker whose site also hosts a directory of UK makers and technicians.

  • Robert Deegan Harpsichords

    Long-running Lancaster, England workshop.

  • Alan Gotto Harpsichords

    Norwich, England maker of harpsichords, spinets and virginals.

  • Colin Booth

    Somerset maker and recording harpsichordist, now retired from building, with remaining instruments and recordings for sale.

  • Robert Duffy Harpsichords

    Builder of Italian-model harpsichords and clavichords on historical lines.

  • William Horn Cembali

    German builder whose site includes documented essays on restoration and the "Bach harpsichord" misattribution.

Building it yourself

Kits, plans, and measured drawings — the on-ramps for the first-time builder and the reference shelf for everyone else.

Kits

Note: Hubbard Harpsichords’ kit line (French double after Taskin, Flemish single after Moermans, English spinet after Baker Harris, Ruckers virginals) was a mainstay for decades; the firm’s site went offline in late 2025. Its bentside-spinet kit is documented on The Workshop page via archived pages.

Plans & measured drawings

Parts & supplies

The jacks, plectra, wire and hardware that a build actually consumes. The plastic-jack supply has thinned in recent years, which is why the hand-jack makers below matter.

Jacks, plectra & keyboards
Wire & strings
  • Malcolm Rose — strings & wire

    The benchmark historically accurate iron, brass and copper music wire, drawn in Lewes, England; production continues under Rose’s daughter since his death in 2022 (HTTP-only).

  • Simon Chadwick — historical wire

    Retail source for small quantities of historical music wire, including Malcolm Rose wire.

  • Stephen Birkett P-wire (information)

    About the research-grade "P-wire" historical iron from the University of Waterloo; ordered directly from Birkett, who has no storefront.

Societies, journals & forums

Where the trade argues, publishes, competes and sells to itself.

Societies, journals & community
  • British Harpsichord Society

    Free-membership UK society publishing the e-journal Sounding Board, with practical pages on acquiring instruments and UK collections.

  • Historical Keyboard Society of North America

    Publishes the refereed Early Keyboard Journal and runs the Jurow harpsichord and Aliénor composition competitions.

  • Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies

    Founded 1979, now based at Cornell — conferences, concerts and publications on historical keyboards.

  • Western Early Keyboard Association (WEKA)

    US West Coast association presenting early-keyboard lectures, recitals and events.

  • Early Music America

    North American early-music umbrella organization whose magazine regularly profiles harpsichord makers.

  • The Galpin Society

    Publishes the annual Galpin Society Journal of original research on instrument history and construction.

  • FoMRHI

    Fellowship of Makers and Researchers of Historical Instruments (founded 1975); downloadable Quarterlies full of maker communications.

  • The Lute Society

    Home of Andrew Atkinson’s candid project report on reconstructing a c.1590 workshop "using original methods."

  • Harpsichord & Fortepiano Magazine

    UK print magazine (now under Peacock Press) covering all early keyboard instruments, their music and players.

  • The Diapason

    US keyboard monthly carrying a regular Harpsichord News column.

  • ORFANTO — Fonds voor Historische Klaviercultuur

    Antwerp fund for historical keyboard culture — the 2022 renaming of the venerable Ruckers Genootschap (founded 1969).

  • The Jackrail

    Active discussion forum for building, playing and repertoire of harpsichords and early stringed keyboards.

  • World Wide Keyboard Bank

    Long-running classifieds listing harpsichords, spinets, virginals and clavichords for sale by country.

Museum collections

The originals — the instruments every modern copy answers to. Most of these publish their harpsichords online.

Collections with important harpsichords

Learning & reference

How to care for one, how they were built, and where to read further.

Reference & education

Know a working maker, supplier, or collection that belongs here — or spot a link that has gone stale? Corrections and additions are always welcome.