Future harpest who's blind.

[carl-swanson]

There used to be nylon strings wrapped with nylon(like the wire strings, but just nylon core and nylon wrapping). If those still exist and you can find them, you might use them for C’s and F’s. They would feel slightly different, and thus help you to orient easier to where you are on the instrument.

[Biagio]

Thank you Janis that makes so much sense now to me!

Two posts – from “Celtic” and Carl – relate to the particular harp in question.

Some smaller harps use zither pegs, which are threaded and only protrude on the string and lever side. Most however are through pegs so the tuning wrench end is on the other side, usually the right.

Nylon wrapped nylon core strings are very common on lever harps in the “transition” range; I’ve not seen any on higher tension instruments such as Troubadour, Prelude or concert (pedal).

If you were picture the harmonic curve with respect to string tension, it is an exponential one with the curve accelerating upward around the fifth octave. That’s the “transition range”, so called because the physics requires a transition to heavier strings than monofilament will allow. Where it occurs exactly and what they will be depends on the harp design.

Biagio

[Biagio]

Incidentally (just can’t resist) before Melville Clark approached Dupont in the late 1930s about music quality nylon almost all popular harps were gut strung and those lower strings were either steel or bronze core with metal wrap. People have experimented with other materials and approaches since the 1970s when “folk” harps came back into vogue: nylon over nylon, nylon over steel with fiber bedding, fiber bedding with silver wrap and so on. The idea is to get a smooth transition in tone, tension, and sustain.

Older harps are often restrung these days with those kinds of strings since using the original design would put excessive tension on a soundboard that is in it’s secondary stage of deformity. For example, my 90 year old Clark was originally gut transitioning to metal wrapped steel at a concert harp’s tension. I’ve replaced them with nylon, fluorocarbon, nylon over nylon and silver over fiber.

Biagio

[CelticKnot]

Hello, Biagio, here are the specifications of the Dusty Strings FH 34.

Range
• 34 strings
• 4¾ octaves
• Low: C, two octaves below middle C
• High: A, 2¾ octaves above middle C
String composition
• Treble and upper mid-range: nylon monofilament
• Lower mid-range: nylon core with nylon wrap
• Bass: steel core with metal wrap
Levers: full set of Loveland levers. Camac levers available.
Woods
• Sides, back, neck and pillar: sapele, walnut, maple, figured cherry or bubinga
• Soundboard: solid mahogany in the mid and upper ranges and spruce in the bass, overlaid with book-matched figured hardwood veneer and bordered with purfling and edge binding
Dimensions
• Maximum height with stand: 53 inches
• Maximum height without stand: 48½ inches
• Maximum soundboard width: 13½ inches
Weight
• Sapele: approx. 21 lbs. (24 lbs. with stand)
• Walnut: approx. 19 lbs. (22 lbs. with stand)
• Maple: approx. 22 lbs. (25 lbs. with stand)
• Figured cherry: approx. 19 lbs. (22 lbs. with stand)
• Bubinga: approx. 25 lbs. (28 lbs. with stand)
• Case adds 7½ lbs.
Note: the weight can vary by up to 2 pounds, depending on the density of each piece of wood.

Questions:
1. Is there somewhere I can learn about the different types of strings on harps, especially the synthetic types? I’d like to learn what nylon monofilament and how it’s different from, say, carbon fluride (or however you spell that) or nylon core with nylon wrap. I know you went over a bit of that in your post, Biagio, in terms of which strings are used where, but I want to know what exactly they are.
2. What the heck is purfling and edge binding?
3. This is going to sound stupid, but is the soundboard the back of the harp–the part that sits between your legs and rests against your shoulder?

Thanks,
CelticKnot

[carl-swanson]

One of the things that you should be aware of is that there are basically two different types of lever harps. One uses strings the same gauge as a pedal harp and therefore has roughly the same tension and type of sound. The other type of lever harp is much lighter strung, with much thinner strings that resonate a long time. I call those folk harps. I’m not saying that one is better than the other, just different. You need to decide which one you want to go with. The technique on a lever harp strung with pedal harp strings is going to be the same as pedal harp. If you play a folk harp though, I think you’d have to lighten your touch considerably.

[balfour-knight]

Carl, good point about the “pedal-tension” lever harp vs. the lighter strung Celtic lever harp. I personally like both types, and I do prefer that the “Celtic” style harps have firm tension. Otherwise, I refer to the loose tension as playing on spaghetti strings or dental floss, ha, ha!

Also, knowing from my own experience, having a keyboard background did make it easier for me to learn the harp. Even after all these years of playing and mastering all three of my instruments, (harp, piano, and organ) I can play piano and organ totally in the dark, on a concert level, but have much trouble doing the same with the harp. Of course I can play the harp in the dark by anchoring fingers on certain strings, feeling string spacing, vibrations, etc., but I cannot play with any degree of confidence without seeing the strings. I also have perfect pitch, which lets me know immediately when I am not on the correct string, but alas, the wrong note has already been played!

So, CelticKnot, I wish you all the best with taking up the harp. I love this instrument the most, of the three I play, and understand that you do not want to waste time on the piano when you really want to be playing the harp!

My best wishes to all of you,
Balfour

[Biagio]

Carl’s observation here is excellent, thank you Carl! Let me add that one can use concert techniques (Salzedo, Granjany etc.) on most medium tension folk harps but they will sound pretty bad with the same force as used on a higher tension harp.

It is also not a real great idea to play with the nails on gut, although some do occasionally. Doing that all the time though will fray the gut in a big hurry. Some great harpers use their nails a lot on nylon for the added ring. Whatever harp you choose, you’ll soon adapt to it. Personally I’m partial to a higher tension folk harp, nylon and/or FC strung, since that gives me the best of both worlds:-)

Strings – boy big subject! Let’s start with a few generalities and then I’ll point to a good discussion on the nitty gritty. Background: we want the strings to have enough tension to drive the soundboard but not so much that they break a lot, nor so little that they sound ugly (which audio folks call wow and flutter). Tension depends on three things: the material’s density or mass, it’s vibrating length, and the note’s frequency. The last is a given so designers play around with length and density to get what they want. Specifically the formula is Tension = Mass(2xLengthxFrequency)^2.

For monofilaments gut has higher density than nylon, fluorocarbon is somewhat denser than gut and does not absorb moisture as much if at all, and of course steel and bronze are much higher. “Fiber” is artificial silk about the same density as gut; it is rarely used as the core except in special situations, partly because it keeps stretching forever!

Since nylon has a lower density it is often used in the high treble on pedal harps as well as on lower octaves for lower tension folk harps. On pedal, since otherwise those high treble gut strings would be pretty thin, they are close to their breaking point, and that’s a real expensive pain. On lower folk octaves for the lower tension and, let’s face it, lower expense than gut.

Incidentally there is a false rumor floating around that you should never put gut on a harp designed for nylon. Nope, just use smaller diameters ergo lower mass to get about the same tension as nylon. Bow Brand lever gut strings are manufactured specifically those who want gut’s tone and feel on a lower tension folk instrument. Aside from tone and expense, gut absorbs humidity easily so it goes out of tune fairly readily. As the old saw says “Harpists spend 90% of their time tuning and the other 10% playing out of tune.” Nylon does too but not so much.

We can generalize that nylon has a brighter ring than gut with fluorocarbon in between – but so much depends on the player’s skill that is just a generalization. I don’t use gut anymore since I live in a place where I can’t control humidity very easily so I use FC in it’s place. Fluorocarbon (principally marketed by Savarez Alliance of France and Aquila of Italy) are in fact upgraded fishing line developed in Japan. Some of us actually use the fishing line stuff where expense is an issue.

Here’s an excellent discussion by my friend Rick Kemper (Sligo Harps) on the nitty gritty:

http://www.sligoharps.com/string.html

Lucky for me, I live just across Puget Sound from Dusty Strings so I know their harps pretty well. Not too fond of the FH26 because the nylon/nylon on those are too fat for my little fingers, but it’s a very nice harp. “Purfling” is also called “edge banding”: decorative strips to mask where where the sound board and the back meet the sides of the harp body. The sound board is the part that the strings are strung through.

The back usually usually has large holes so you can access the strings easily for replacing them. Sometimes on some harps there aren’t any though, but you’re unlikely to see that on very many.

All of which leads me to put in a plug for two books that I strongly feel every lever harper should have: “Troubleshooting Your Lever Harp” (David Kolacny) and “The Harpers Manual” (Laurie Riley). Between those two you have just about everything that the average harper needs to know about their instrument, but are rarely told:-)

Cheers,
Biagio

[balfour-knight]

That was good, Biagio! I think our comments crossed in Cyber-Space! Ha, ha!

[CelticKnot]

balfour, I understand that you can’t play in the dark because you can’t see the strings–but I don’t have that problem. Or rather, I do, but all the time lol. I will figure out how to do this, though lol. At least I’m not trail-blazing. I wish I had perfect pitch. According to my tuner app, I don’t lol.

Thank you all for all the encouragement! It means a lot. 🙂

Biagio, wow! I think I’ll have to reread your post a few times to absorb all the info you gave me! I’m going to look at the article you pointed me to. I’ll definitely be hunting around for those books in some sort of electronic format, too. If the only way I can buy them is in paper form, I can scan them, but I’d rather not have to do that. It takes too damn long lol. Time to go a-hunting! 😀

So, is the soundboard parallel to the neck, then? And is it true that higher-tension harps need less force put on the strings to play? Does anyone know what sort of tension DS’s FH 34 has?

What are (Salzedo and Granjany?

Thanks,
CelticKnot

[Biagio]

CelticKnot, picture the harp as a triangle. viewed from the side. We have the neck which has the tuning pegs and levers or discs, the pillar or column for supporting the string tension (and on a pedal harp houses the bars leading to pedals and the disc mechanisms) and last the sound box – think of that as the hypotenuse. The strings typically meet the sound board (on the top of that box) at an angle of anywhere from 20 to 40 degrees. A smaller angle makes a taller harp, a larger one a lower headed one. Taller harp means more sustain, all else being equal.

I guess you could say that higher tension gives a nice tone with a lighter touch than a lower tension but as usual “it depends” on a lot of things. For comparison purposes let’s just consider tension on the first through fifth octaves since tension increases the lower you go in the bass. Typical averages over those 36 strings:

Orchestral pedal instrument: 35-40 lbs.
Medium tension folk harp: 24-28 lbs.
Celtic Style: 20-25 lbs. (for very fast playing and narrow spacing)
Light tension: 18-20 lbs. Harpsicles, bray harps, some travel types
Typical brass wire strung: 25-30 lbs. (Surprise!)
South American: 15-18 lbs. (Surprise #2)

“Surprise” is that it does not take much strength at all to play those but they are usually played with the nails, the others with the finger pads.

I haven’t measured Dusty’s FH34 but from playing it I’d say it is in the “medium” range (24-28 lbs.).

Carlos Salzedo and Marcel Grandjany were two masters who developed styles that are well known and practiced these days on orchestral harps (there are others as well). So you hear people saying “I play Salzedo style” or “I’m French school”. It pretty much comes down to often subtle differences in how you use your hands, but the main thing is that they’re developed for those high tension gut strings in an orchestral setting. A harp in that setting needs a big box and high tension that can be played with great strength to get enough volume to be heard over those darn wind instruments.

No reason not to use those techniques on other harp styles (just don’t try to use the same force), or for that matter not to play South American style on a pedal harp. Alfredo Ortiz and Catrin Finch do sometimes, I’m sure that others do too!

First off though is to develop YOUR technique on YOUR harp, then by all means try others! A teacher is absolutely invaluable.

Biagio

[balfour-knight]

CelticKnot,

Thanks for your reply! I can’t really add too much to Biagio’s thorough explanations. He’s great, isn’t he?

I would add, though, be sure to find out about Henriette Renie, the great female French harpist. She taught Grandjany her French method, and I feel that SHE is really responsible for giving it to the world. Grandjany just brought her method to the United States and promoted it! Harpo Marx also went to Paris to take lessons from Renie, as did the great Mildred Dilling. (And Susann McDonald)

I have a Dusty Strings Ravenna 34 that I really LOVE! I have written about this little harp on their website under Ravenna 34–testimonials, and on these forums in Harp Column. I love that she has the same string spacing and comparable tension as my Lyon & Healy pedal harp. (The tension is a little lighter on Ravenna, but still firm to the touch, as Biagio explained.) I also have the shoulder strap and the back-pack straps to help carry her when needed. I am 5’6″ and this harp does get heavy over a long distance using the back-pack straps. My sweet wife has to help get the harp on my back, also, since it is a little awkward–Ravenna has to be carried upside-down, can you believe it?

Well, I hope this helps. Thanks to all of you who have added to this thread!

Best regards,
Balfour

[Biagio]

Aw shucks Balfour and Celticknot.

I fell in love with the harp at an advanced age so like any doting lover really like talking about it:-)

Playing in the dark is lots of fun, good reminder for me to do that more often! Speaking of history…the blind harper Turlogh O’Carolan had only studied for a few years before setting out and playing for the lords and ladies of Ireland and England. We don’t know his choices for harmony, only the melodies but that brings up an interesting point.

I’d suggest that they were probably minimalist since he played a wire strung; on that kind of harp you really don’t need the big arpeggios that you often hear on gut/nylon because the wire has such incredible sustain.

Much as I love Kim Robertsons artistry, by the same token, a lot of Celtic music sounds wonderful on nylon/gut played that way, and some classical repertoire too – Beethoven’s Ode to Joy or Brahm’s Lullaby for instance.

I’m thinking that blind “harperists” actually have a leg up over those of us who are sighted!

Biagio

[balfour-knight]

Thanks, Biagio! My sweet wife keeps reminding my three harp “Princesses” that she is still the “Queen,” ha, ha! I do maintain a love affair with all of them!

Playing harp in the dark or by candle light is fun and good practice for me, but I’m still only a concert harpist in the daylight, ha, ha! I meant to tell you all that I too love “harperist” as a description of what we do, especially those of us who play both styles of harp and love it!

Hope you all have a great day,
Balfour

[CelticKnot]

Biagio, I think I’m going to have to take a really good look at the harp when I go to the shop again. I didn’t really explore it thoroughly when I went before. Lol I got too distracted by the sound of the harps I played. I did, however, get to practice taking the legs off a DS FH 26, as well as taking it out of it’s case. The removal of the harp from its case is going to take some practice, especially since I’m getting the FH 26’s big brother.

Kind of a random question, but do you find that people are still naming their harps, like people used to do way back when?

balfour, I’ll check out Henriette Renie. You all might want to have a look at a singer called Jezebel Carol. Lol I accidentally wrote loot in that last sentence instead of look–then I would’ve had a interesting play on words there–loot, lute. Anyhow, I believe she plays harp.

Wow, balfour! You have three harps?

Thanks,
CelticKnot

[balfour-knight]

Hello CelticKnot,

Yes, I have three Princess harps, ha, ha! The one in my photo is a Lyon & Healy 85GP, 44 string pedal harp. My wife and I named her “Eglantine.” Then I have the Ravenna 34, made by Dusty Strings, so that is her name. My MusicMakers Large Gothic 36 string harp is named “Bella” for “beautiful” since Jerry Brown made her in gorgeous walnut wood especially for me.

Bella and I did a concert last Sunday afternoon to a full house in Franklin, NC, then she and I have a wedding tomorrow, and next Monday we are doing a concert for the Jackson County Arts Council here. Bella has the most beautiful tone, volume and projection of my three harps, so I use her a lot, usually without amplification.

Ravenna is the most portable, comfortable, and the most fun to play of the three. Then Eglantine is the Concert harp, with pedals to play in all keys with “pedal glissandos” and to do the harp repertoire. I love all three of them, and it was so much fun to give them names! (Of course, I love Carol Lynn most of all!)

Wishing you all the best,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

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