The original 1635 Ioannes Ruckers was until recently unknown and unique in its original disposition of a 2 x 8’, 1 x 4’ single. While the instrument is the same length as a standard Ruckers single, Ioannes made it 1/8th wider to make room for the extra register of strings. This extra width made it unnecessary to widen the case when its range was expanded at a later date, as was so common when these instruments were modernized in the 18th century.
I built my instrument in the style of a ca.1700 Parisian petite ravelment, by expanding the range to BB-d’’’ with French keyboard and adding decoration including pairing it with a popular contemporary Parisian table stand.
