Can anyone explain to me the pedals on a harpsichord?
My guess is that it is a lute (buff) stop stop that was activated on a register you didn’t have engaged at the time. Or if you had a 4′ 8′ 8′ registration with a lute stop on one of the 8’s it may have been subtle enough not to notice. Frankly, I’ve never seen a harpsichord with pedals. Every one I’ve seen to date has had draw knobs or slide controls to slide the jack rails and set the registration. The lute (buff) stop has always been activated from the lower end of the keyboard and registration from the high end. … the only exception to that rule has been a Baldwin Solid Body harpsichord. That instrument only had one set of strings, and pickups over the strings were activated by electric switches. Edit: Another thought, although it is usually accomplished with a removable cheek block, a pedal might possibly be used to transpose the instrument (415 / 440) by shifting the keyboard over one key width. It would have to be a locking mechanism, though, and operating by pedal would involv
