Should I put all my levers down (or all pedals in the flat position) when the harp is not in use?

Erich Rase, harp technician for 35 years after starting as an apprentice with Victor Salvi in 1979.  Lansing, Mich.

Erich Rase, harp technician for 35 years after starting as an apprentice with Victor Salvi in 1979. Lansing, Mich.

When a harp is at rest, or to put it differently, when it is not being played or is being stored, it should be in its lowest state of dynamic pressure. It must be under the least tension that is conveniently feasible. For pedal harps, this means the pedals are to be kept in the flat position, and for lever harps, the sharpening levers are to be in the flat or the disengaged position. These considerations are very important for the following reasons.

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For pedal harps, keeping the pedals in the up position or in flats allows the unseen pedal springs, which are located inside of the pedal box, to be at a lessened state of pressure. This translates into less metal fatigue and longer useful life. Additionally, in the flat position, the pedal harp’s action-discs are not clamping down on the strings. This increases string life as well as decreases overall tension and wear and tear on the mechanism.

The traditional pedal harp also uses slot felts. These small pieces of felt, typically white, act as cushions for the resting pedal felts. (Camac Harps use a round, rubber-style of bumper instead of felt.). The slot felts cushion the scarlet pedal felt when at rest or in the flat position. They further ensure that the red, wrap-around pedal felts’ overall lifespan is maximized. Harps left in the natural or sharp positions can prematurely flatten-out the pedal felts, making for a loss of regulation and an untimely wearing-out of the pedal felt.

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For lever harps, if the string lever is up, engaged, or sharpened, then increased tension exists for both the string and the lever. If the lever is left down, in the off-of-string or flattened position, then the strings, as well as the entire harp, are under far less stress in this resting position. It should also be noted that lever harps tuned to E-flat are under less stress than lever harps tuned to C (because three strings per octave are flattened by one half-step).

Carl Swanson, Boston, Mass.

Carl Swanson, harp builder, technician, and most recently, editor of his researched version of the Debussy Sonate for Flute, Viola, and Harp published by Carl Fischer Music.

Putting the levers down or leaving the pedals up in flat position when not using your harp is, as Martha Stewart would say, a good thing. Why? Because when the pedals are up, the mechanism is not engaged at all. The same is true when the levers are down. And when the mechanism on your harp is not engaged, nothing is pressing on the strings.

Conversely, when you engage a lever, or move a pedal into natural or sharp position, pressure is put on a specific point on the string, and this will allow the lever or disc that is left on a string overnight to make a dent or dip in the string where the lever or disc touches it. Over time, this can damage the string and throw the regulation off, and even cause string breakage.

In addition, when the lever or disc is engaged, it also puts unnecessary pressure on the mechanism. In the case of a lever, leaving it engaged for hours or days at a time could damage the mechanism, loosening the moving joints. On a pedal harp, the added and unnecessary tension from leaving a pedal in natural or sharp instead of flat can help compact the pedal felt or possibly cause a disc to shift position slightly, especially the discs on the wire strings, thus throwing the regulation off.

So at the end of your time on the harp, take a few extra seconds to disengage whatever mechanism is on your harp.

Jason Azem, independent Master Harp Technician and member of the Lyon & Healy/Salvi Harp Technicians Guild.

Jason Azem, independent Master Harp Technician and member of the Lyon & Healy/Salvi Harp Technicians Guild.

In today’s economy, everyone wants their harp to remain in the best structural and mechanical condition as possible and to make their harp’s regulation last as long as possible. One simple way to help achieve these goals is to leave your levers disengaged on your lever harp or your pedals in the flat position on your pedal harp when you’re not playing.

One obvious reason that exists for both lever and pedal harps is to limit string wear. Keeping the string under extra tension and pinching it damages the string over time. It’s expensive to replace strings that break—no one needs to accelerate the process. Also, worn or pitted strings adversely affect your regulation.

Another reason that’s true for both lever and pedal harps is that keeping the levers and pedals disengaged lessens the mechanical wear on the levers on lever harps and on the mechanism, rods, and springs on the pedal harps. It’s incredible, if you stop and think about it, how many pedal changes you make on your harp in a given year. Take advantage of any chance you get to decrease the stress on the system.

Finally, for pedal harps, leaving the pedals in flat when not in use decreases the amount of wear on your pedal felt. The pedal spring compresses as you go down into the natural and sharp slots, making the pressure pushing the pedal upwards greater, thus compressing the felt more. The flat position also has an extra cushion of slot felt to lessen the pressure. Worn or compressed felt will also adversely affect your regulation. Basically, it’s all about keeping your harp in top condition and extending your regulation. •