Annoying ringing

[SEB]

I have a Camac Clio and have an annoying ringing when I play mid range A and B. It is not a buzz of discs I don’t think but a reverberant undertone ring that stops when I muffle the same strings in the bass range. Can anyone help?

[Sid Humphreys]

You can try loosing then re-tightening that bass string. That has helped me in the past.

[Janis Cortese]

I’ve actually got a low F that’s doing something similar (lowest F on the harp). It’s not a buzz, but that note seems to create a sort of strange overtone on the harp that can’t be tuned out. Makes me wonder if harps can have wolf tones similar to bowed string instruments, where for some reason the thing just resonates oddly on certain frequencies. It doesn’t make it unplayable, but it’s within the realm of noticeable.

[SEB]

Thank you, Sid…I will try your advice and see what happens. And Janis, you describe it exactly. It is a slight thing that someone standing far away would not notice, but up close, it if “within the realm of noticeable” AND very annoying!

[Biagio]

Wof tones do occur with harps, they’re just not generally very noticeable. Every harp has a resonant frequency – on a long string with sustain the overtones may match that, producing the “wolf.” William Rees designs his harps with asymmetric sound boards for this reason, among others. Read his comments here:

http://traditionalharps.com/Why_Rees.html

Depending on the type of harp, attaching a small weight in the body near the offending string might help. Dusty Strings encountered this with Loveland levers; their solution was to drill a small hole in the cam and insert a small piece of lead, I think.

Biagio

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