ABSTRACT
Eighteenth-century keyboard instruments comprise three main families differentiated by their means of tone production. Stringed keyboards include those wherein stretched strings are sounded by plucking (as in the harpsichord and spinet), striking (clavichord and piano), or, rarely, bowing (Bogenclavier). Organs constitute a second family, involving whistle-like flue pipes and pipes that incorporate vibrating reeds. Large church organs commonly have both flue and reed pipes; portable chamber organs often have only flues, but one variety, called the regal, is limited to a single rank of reeds. The third category, in which hammers hit resonant solid bodies such as bells, includes tower carillons and keyed glockenspiels.
