In this room you can discover various stringed keyboard instruments.

Harpsichord
The harpsichord is a keyboard instrument covered with metal strings with a wing-shaped case. The strings run straight away from the keys and are more or less an extension of them. Since longer strings are needed for the low notes than for the high ones, the wing shape lends itself to the case.
The tone is produced by plucking the string with a plectrum, which usually consists of a bird's feather quill. The harpsichord, like the spinet and the virginal, is therefore classified as a "keel piano".

The plectrum is movably mounted in a vertical wooden rod, the so-called "jumper", and is located below the string in the rest position. The jumper rests on the end of the key and is guided in a rake. When the key is depressed, the jumper lifts at the other end and the pick plucks the string. The plectrum is inserted into a movable tongue. When the key is released, the tongue moves backwards so that the pick can slide past the string without touching it again. A spring on the back of the tongue pushes it back to its original position, so that the key or action is ready to be struck again. The string is damped by a damper flag.

The volume of instruments with keel action cannot be changed by the keystroke. For sound contrast, a harpsichord therefore usually has several strings per key, tuned either according to the note pattern (eight-foot register) or at octave intervals (four-foot register, if an octave higher).
A series of strings is called a "stop". The individual stops can be turned on or off independently. On instruments with two manuals, this allows simultaneous or rapidly changing differences in timbre and volume.
The point at which the plectrum strikes the string can be closer to its endpoint or farther away from it. Proximity results in a nasal sound, while greater distance results in a fuller, more fundamental sound. Accordingly, instruments can be found in which a string has two differently positioned jumpers and thus pick points.

Clavichord
The clavichord is a keyboard instrument covered with metal strings in a mostly rectangular case. It has a very simple mechanism. A metal pin flattened at the top, the so-called "tangent" (from Latin tangere = to touch) sits at the back of the key. When the key is pressed down at the front, the tangent touches the string, setting it in vibration and at the same time serving as a limiting point for the vibrating string length. To the left of the tangent, strips of cloth are woven between the strings. They dampen the part of the string to the left of the tangent and, when the key is lifted, the whole string.

This simple mechanism allows to influence the tone even after the key has been struck. By pressing the key several times, the string tension can be changed, creating a vibrato effect called "quivering". The volume of the clavichord can also be varied by striking the keys harder or harder.
The clavichord sounds soft. This is due to the fact that the string excitation occurs at a vibration node. To increase the volume, therefore, two strings tuned to the same pitch often form a common group.

The clavichord evolved from the monochord, the most important medieval measuring and demonstration instrument in music. Here the string length ratios and the resulting different pitches were illustrated on a single string. Following on from this, on the clavichord several keys sometimes share a common string or pair of strings. The different pitches then result from the tangents of the neighboring keys touching the same strings at different points. These instruments are called "tied" clavichords. Especially in the 17th century, clavichords were made with three-key bindings. If, on the other hand, each key has its own string or pair of strings, it is called a "fretless" clavichord.

Fortepiano
The fortepiano was developed from the harpsichord around 1700 by the Florentine instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655 - 1731).
Cristofori built a mechanism into a grand piano-shaped instrument in which the strings are excited by small hammers. The strings run straight away from the keys, roughly parallel to the long wall of the instrument case.
The initially dainty fortepianos were fitted with ever stronger strings and increasingly larger hammers during the 19th century. They were given larger cases and more stable constructions. Finally, today's concert grand pianos with cast iron frames were created, which are capable of filling concert halls of considerable size with sound.


The Stein and Streicher families of piano makers
Johann Andreas Stein, the first important member of the Stein-Streicher family of piano builders, was born on May 6, 1728 in Heidelsheim near Karlsruhe, the son of organ builder Johann Georg Stein (1697 - 1754). After initial training with his father, he went to Strasbourg in 1748 to apprentice with the organ and instrument maker Johann Andreas Silbermann (1678 - 1734). From 1749 to 1750 he worked in Regensburg under the organ builder Franz Jakob Späth (1714 - 1786).
in 1751 Stein succeeded the late Augsburg city organ builder Johann Christoph Leo (1675 - 1749). During his time in Augsburg, he achieved great renown and national fame. His fortepianos were highly appreciated by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791). The Augsburg Intelligenzblätter bear witness to his inventiveness. Johann Andreas Stein died in Augsburg on February 29, 1792.
Already in the last years of Stein's life, the workshop was managed by his daughter Nannette, born on January 2, 1769, with the help of her brother Matthäus Andreas (1776 - 1842). After the death of their father, both continued to run the workshop in Augsburg for two more years in accordance with their mother's will and then moved to Vienna together with another brother, Friedrich. There they maintained a joint workshop under the name 'Geschwister Stein' or 'Frère et Soeur Stein' until 1802.
After the separation of the siblings, Nannette, who had been married to Andreas Streicher (1761 - 1833) since 1794, managed to continue her workshop independently. She traded under 'Nannette Streicher née Stein'. in 1823 she took her son Johann Baptist (1796 - 1871) into the company, who took over the business after her death on January 16, 1833 and continued to run it very successfully.