Allians Strings and slipperiness

[Anna]

Hi! So I have an Ulysse here and it is my first experience with carbon strings (i know, I jumped in deep). After a repair (they replaced the whole neck) they rewound the old strings instead of replacing the top end, which lead to my A0-G1 dropping and snapping very quickly, and I am struggling to replace them. The problem for me is locking the end around the pin, it is so slippery that no matter how many ways I try to lock it (with a knot, under and out, under and in even) it still slips, or even worse, breaks because of how many times the top was stretched. I don’t know, maybe I got a shotty string, but I managed to go through the whole length in one day (that is 3 fittings). I have restrung whole harps in the past and this has never happened, so I am wondering if carbon strings need some sort of a different approach I am not aware of. It will definitely not hold without locking and I am not 100% sold on doing this by trial and error.

[harpist123]

I used to use carbon fiber strings (Savarez) as a replacement for the gut only on my 36 string Pratt Chamber harp. I played outdoors sometimes, and they held pitch in all sorts of weather (wind, humidity, lack of humidity). They worked very well, and lasted a very long time. However, I did not have carbon fiber on the upper 1st and 2nd octaves. Not knowing how much room you have in the holes at these upper registers on your harp, I have actually strung nylon up through the hole, then looped around and strung AGAIN up through the hole (that is, if you have enough room in the hole). You will have to allow for enough slack in the string, and bring it up to pitch slowly. Though this is what I did with nylon strings at upper octaves, the only difference I see when doing this with carbon fiber strings is to bring it up to pitch VERY slowly…over a few days…When I would restring the carbon fiber strings in place of the gut, I actually only wound them at the pin once (and again, with enough slack in string). Then I let them “rest” there for 24 hours! Then I’d bring them all up just a little more the next day, maybe just another wind or so around pin, and so on, until finally they were nearly close to pitch. The Savarez strings (carbon fiber) are way more stretchy than gut or nylon, and require alot of tuning before they finally hold pitch. And sometimes, there are too many winds at the pin because of how stretchy they are, so you unwind and pull the string through the hole again and then there will be the usual amount of winds around the pin once they hold pitch. But again, as for the very thin upper strings, if you have room in the hole to bring the string up and back through the hole a 2nd time (leaving enough slack in string so that when you start your winds it won’t be too tight and snap on you), it might help your situation. It certainly took care of things for me using nylon, which are also very slippery and difficult to hold with a regular “lock” at the pin. Best of luck.

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