How are the strings sounded in a spinet?
Oval spinet is plucked relatively closer to the bridge, which emphasizes higher harmonics. Cristofori enhanced the difference in plucking points by placing the plectra on opposite sides of the jack in the two choirs, as seen in the detail figure below. In playing the oval spinet, the player selects a registration; that is, the particular choirs (longer strings, shorter strings, or both together) that will be sounded when a key is depressed. Cristofori accomplished this end with an ingenious mechanical arrangement. For the keys that play the near row of jacks (closer to the player), the mechanism works like this. The portion
Spinet half of the gaps are four millimetres instead of ten makes it possible to crowd more strings together into a smaller case. The disadvantage of the paired design is that it generally limits the spinet to a single choir of strings, at eight-foot pitch, although a double-strung spinet by John Player is known [Morris – references below]. In a full-size harpsichord, the registers that guide the jacks can be shifted slightly to one side, permitting the player to control whether or not that particular set of strings is sounded. This is impossible in a spinet, due to the alternating orientation