In my research, I've found that another name which has been applied in the past to instruments of this type, i.e., hammer-action keyed zithers, is "pandalon". I adopt this name, because it has fewer syllables than other ways I've tried to name these instruments. I purposefully steer away from anything related to "piano" and/or "forte", even though this is technically a pianoforte. I wish to emphasize the difference between this dulce-melos hammer action, and the actions of any of the instruments which have been called pianos or pianofortes or fortepianos, since about 1700. The sound of this instrument, if I am successful, should be a lot closer to that of the hammered dulcimer, than to anything which has "piano" in its name.
At the same time, I am also building a small 15-note dulce-melos action, as an attachment to my existing 2-octave zither; that project (see separate blog) will let me prototype and refine aspects of the action (i.e., the keyboard, and the mechanism attached to the keyboard), before building the action for the larger instrument. I will construct the basic frame of the large instrument, or what I call the "harp", leaving a gap for the action. The action will be a separate project unto itself -- and if I don't like the action, after I build it, I may choose to replace it wholesale, perhaps even with a harpsichord action.
Probably the compass will be E2..E6: i.e., the low E of a guitar, up to the e''' 4 octaves above that, often the highest note on electric guitars. Many harpsichords, fortepianos, and other archaic keyboard instruments, tend to have compasses which begin on F or G, if not C. E is less common. However, I am a guitar player; and there are other benefits to this E-based compass, such as E2 is the lowest note of the average male voice (by no coincidence correlating with the guitar). But the real reason is, I have determined that E2 is the lowest note I can reasonably get, using iron strings, without incurring inconvenient length to the body of the instrument (it will be rather long as it is). Harpsichords reach lower notes in shorter spaces, by using brass strings, at least in the bass (and also, in most cases, by foreshortening the bass notes, but I am avoiding that entirely, as a basic design principle). However, I want to use iron across the entire compass, so that I can fit an electromagnetic pickup to this instrument. (I may also put piezo elements on it in different places, and mix the different types of signal in different proportions.)
If the sound and versatility turn out to be what I hope they may be, I intend to make this instrument one of my main melody sources, in the new type of music I am creating. Bass and other sounds will be provided from other sources at the same time; in particular, often from simulated pipe organ played on my pedalboard. So the relatively limited compass of this pandalon, the lack of deep bass notes, is expected to be compensated by the rest of the "ensemble"; instead the priority is for an expressive instrument with singing tone and lots of harmonics, to play the upper lines of the music. I.e., a role very similar to the one which a guitar would fill: so again, the "guitarish" compass seems right.
One important element of stringed keyboard instrument sound to me, is the damper pedal. I.e., it is important, both that individual notes have dampers available for articulation, but also that the dampers can be globally disabled, for that harp-like (or dulcimer-like) sustaining sound. I differ with the current popular opinion on harpsichords, in that I think harpsichords should also have damper pedals; and I have some novel harpsichord action designs which provide this (and I am aware of the past efforts along these lines). Damper pedals -- or other means to disable the dampers -- have always been a part of the pandalon tradition. My pandalon will of course have a damper pedal. As a practical matter and for portability, the instrument will be built as a flat "tabletop" unit, with a separate optional stand. So, my plan is to make the pedal a separate, detachable unit which sits on the floor, connected to the instrument with a flexible bicycle brake cable.
In addition to the damper-lift pedal, there will be a number of hand-stops to modify the sound in different ways. Basically, any kind of gadget which significantly changes the sound in some way which is likely to be musically useful or interesting, I want. Likely candidates are some or all of: buff stop (leather or felt touches the strings close to the end, giving a muffled or pizzicato sound); moderator (cloth strip moves in between hammers and strings, giving a muffled tone similar to -- but different from -- the buff stop); sitar stop (small metal pieces move into position such that they touch each string near the end, giving a buzzing sitar-like effect); bassoon stop (paper or parchment touches strings close to end, giving a different kind of buzzing effect which is not much like a bassoon but still a useful tone); octave harmonic stop (curved wooden piece slides over and brings metal pins into contact with one of the two strings in each pair, touching it at the centerpoint, thus effectively fretting it at the octave). Additionally, there will be stops or a selector lever to disable one of the two string choirs at a time (by muting farther from the end of the strings; both strings will still be hit by the hammer), for tuning or for different tone quality. And, there will be a hand-stop to latch the damper pedal down, i.e., dampers always-off: the essential "pandalon sound".
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