Before about 1630, however, the most frequent disposition featured one 8' and one 4', and some instruments were designed for iron wire. Instruments with only a single 8' choir also existed. These early instruments were almost always altered to have two 8' choirs later in their lives, frequently with changes to the pitch level and keyboard compass. Many examples in fact have no means of turning the registers on or off other than by reaching under the jack rail. They are usually described as having a rather pronounced pluck followed by a rapid decay, but the rate of decay varies a lot, depending on the style of soundboard ribbing.
Some examples actually sustain rather nicely.
Generally speaking, the sound is very clear, and the different parts of the compass balance one another well, allowing inner voices to be heard. The strong-plucking sound of these instruments makes them ideal for music of a rhythmic nature, stretching from the dances of the Renaissance to the outbursts of Domenico Scarlatti. The second major style of harpsichord was that built in Flanders, principally in the city of Antwerp in present-day Belgium, but also in cities further north in what is now the Netherlands. Flemish instruments are generally synonymous in most people's minds with the products of the Ruckers and Couchet families, who flourished in Antwerp from around 1580 until the end of the 17th century. The exteriors were painted in various fashions, often in imitation of marble, with block-printed papers on interior surfaces.