One of my current desires in life is to become a decent harpsichord player and have opportunities to play solo and chamber music on harpsichord. (I am a pianist) I have been attending an early music workshop for a few years now where I get to do just this, but basically I get this one week every year where I get to practice harpsichord and have faculty coachings, then the rest of the year nothing. In my city there are no instruments available that I know of (I've checked with local universities) and this is the biggest reason why I do not spend any time playing harpsichord.

There are two teachers an hour away from me in different directions, and I have given serious thought to taking lessons. Obviously though I need an instrument to practice on if I am taking lessons. I just realized that I am not really sure what my question is, but I was wondering if anyone else has studied harpsichord and what you've done in the past if you found yourself in this situation (lack of instrument to practice on)...maybe there's an answer I haven't thought of. Both the teachers I know of teach at universities, so I'd imagine they have harpsichords available for practice...but at most I could practice once a week because of the drive. Would there be any benefit to studying in this situation? I wouldn't make much progress I imagine, but part of me wonders if it wouldn't at least be better than right now where I'm doing nothing. Also, buying or even renting an instrument is not an option since I have no room for it even if I could afford it.

I hope you will excuse my rambly post, just trying to find ideas for studying harpsichord when I don't have much available to me. (Maybe the best piece of advice would be to move! there is not much going on in terms of early music or music in general here...) Also, are there any forums like this one that focus on early music or that have a harpsichord sub-forum?

My cousin obtained a harpsichord as a kit that she put together. This was about 30 years ago. The end-product was surprisingly functional to me at the time. Something to investigate?

I've never played a harpsichord, but I cannot believe that a pianist would need
special instruction to play one. All keyboard instruments are basically
the same, and if you can play one, you can play all the others,
much like a trumpeter can play a tuba without instruction, or a guitarist
can play a lute, etc. If you can play your harpsichord pieces well
on a piano, I believe you could play them well on a harpsichord, without
harpsichord lessons, or practice on one, or owning one.

Wha????