SERVICES

All aspects of harpsichord restoration, including structural repair, voicing and stringing are undertaken. Re-voicing can be in quill, delrin or leather plectra (if appropriate). Aside from the many C20th instruments repaired, Fergus has worked on three Kirkman harpsichords and a C17th spinet by Charles Haward.

The soundboard of a Rubio instrument undergoing crack repairs.

 

1973 Rubio harpsichord undergoing major repairs

 

Graebner copy under construction

 

Harpsichord after J.D.Dulcken - Antwerp 1745. Made for Penelope Rapson, director Fiori Musicali

 

Harpsichord after Johann Heinrich Graebner,
Dresden 1739.

↑ Skip to top

Between 1972 and 1986 Ferguson Hoey produced more than 40 instruments. These ranged from small brass strung English spinets through to numerous two manual instruments based on French, Franco-Flemish, Flemish originals.

A manual harpsichord made by Ferguson Hoey in 1979 after Franco-Flemish models. In 1980 the Times critic Paul Griffiths wrote of this instrument: "One mark of a good harpsichordist must be that he justifies his choice of instrument, that he does not waste its specialqualities nor make one long for the fuller presence of a piano.........the alacrity in rapid figures and ornaments would have flummoxed any piano, but a perfect response in the new Ferguson Hoey harpsichord."

Single-manual Flemish harpsichords were modelled on a variety of examples by makers such as Moermans, Ruckers and Dulcken. Perhaps the culmination of this period came in 1983 with a large German harpsichord copied from the 1739 J.H. Graebner instrument at that time in Schloss Pillnitz, near Dresden .

Harpsichord after J.H.Graebner, Dresden 1739. This instrument is the property
of the Marquess of Cholmondeley and is housed in Houghton Hall, Norfolk.

After a break from instrument making of 25 years, during which time he has been involved in restoration, research and working modern pianos, Fergus is returning to his musical roots and once again accepting commissions for instruments.

Institutions that have purchased Ferguson Hoey instruments include The Music Departments of the Royal Holloway College, London; Queens Belfast and Cork (Eire).

Among the harpsichordists and organists owning Hoey harpsichords are Christopher Stembridge, Timothy Roberts, Penelope Rapson, Ivor Bolton, Gerald Gifford and Kim Marshall in the USA. The distinguished tenor Gerald English owns one of three in Australia.

Performers who have used Hoey instruments for recital work or recordings include Christopher Hogwood, Trevor Pinnock, Maggie Cole and Gustav Leonhardt.