Learning Harp Regulation & Maintenance?

[carl-swanson]

Balfour(and Saul)

The reason I wrote A GUIDE FOR HARPISTS is that it was so difficult to find the information I was looking for in Sam Pratt’s book. I had to read it cover to cover to find the one or two sentences that told me what I wanted to know. So I decided to write my own book with a separate chapter for each little repair so that someone could just scan the titles to see the subject they were interested in. I also made the decision to organize it like a cook book, with the “ingredients”(tools needed) listed at the beginning of the chapter, and then to list the steps needed to make the repair or adjustment in numerical order.

Once I had written a chapter, I had two harpists read it and do the repair together, with me just watching to see how they interpreted what I had said. I told them to read out loud what they were focused on and to say out loud what they were thinking. This way I could see how someone would likely interpret what I wrote. Some of the chapters had to be rewritten 4 or 5 times to get the instructions so that they would be correctly understood on the first reading. I had actually first asked another technician to read it and give me feedback before asking the two harpists. He said to me “I’m probably the worst person in the world to give you feedback. I’d know exactly what you were talking about.” So that’s when I asked the two harpists to read it. I think the book has been very helpful to many harpists over the years.

[Aria]

Carl I would love to hear your opinion on my string buzzes described above. It’s a 2009 Venus Seraphim. Do you think the problem is correctable? Thank you so very much!

[carl-swanson]

Aria- I’m sure its fixable. But without hearing it first hand,it’s difficult to diagnose. Is there anything you can touch on the harp with your fingers or hands that change or diminish the buzz? In other words, put the pedals into whatever position you need to to create the buzz, and then go around the harp touching or grabbing one thing after the other and see if anything you touch has any effect on the buzz(makes it worse or better). it’s easier to do this with someone helping you. One of you sits at the harp and plays the string over and over again, while the other goes around touching or holding one thing after another. I would try grabbing the column hard with both hands and see if that has any effect on it. Also, try touching(lightly) each of the pedals, without moving them and see if that has any effect. 90% of the work is locating the buzz. Once you have done that, fixing it is easy.

There are basically two types of buzzes. One is when something is loose, and the vibrating string makes it buzz. A typical buzz like this is say if you have the D pedal in natural and 5th octave D natural is buzzing. You tighten the disc on the string or the back plate screw for that string and it stops.

The other type of buzz is a sympathetic vibration on a certain pitch. So in this case, say the 5th octave D natural is buzzing, but it is the vibration frequency this time that is causing something else on the instrument to buzz(pedal rod tube in the column, pedal cap screw, wing nut, etc.). So the trick here is to locate whatever it is that vibrates on that pitch. That’s why you need to go around the instrument touching everything to see if you can alter the buzz at all. Buzzes will always sound like they are coming from inside the action. With this second type of buzz, the source can be anywhere on the instrument.

Here are a few general things to try:

1) If you move the harp to a different room or even just a different part of the room, is the buzz still there?

2) Does it buzz when the harp is standing upright, or just when it is pulled back, standing only on the rear feet?

3) If you grab the column hard with both hands, does it have any effect on the buzz?

4) Are there long string ends, or big string knots under the soundboard? Try holding each of those and see if there is any change.
5) Push your thumb hard against the adjustable nut for the string that is buzzing. Does that alter or stop the buzz?

Let me know what you find when you try these things.

[Aria]

Hi Carl, I’m the one that had the buzzing in regards to specific pedal positions. You mentioned you might have a hunch about this? And you wanted to know my harp make / year, which is a 2009 Venus Seraphim. Here’s the problem again for reference. Any thoughts? :

1) First LOUD Buzz occurs on 3rd octave G & F. And it only occurs when the pedals are as follows: D flat, B flat, E flat, G flat, (all at the same time). The buzz appears and disappears as I move the D out of flat into natural or sharp, or when I move it back to flat. I can make the buzz go away by intentionally moving the D pedal back and forth between flat / natural / sharp a few times, in which case the buzz will disappear for a little while, only to return later while moving the D pedal again. Once the buzz appears, I can move ALL the other pedals (except D) to any position and the buzz remains. But the buzz won’t initially appear without all those pedals being flat first.

2) Second Buzz occurs on 6th octave wire G. It only occurs when G pedal is in the Flat position. All the other pedals can be in any position and it has no influence on the buzz. The only thing that makes that Buzz go away is to move G out of flat into natural or sharp.

[Aria]

Ok Thank you Carl. I read over your response again. Thank you for all that information. It seems I have a lot more investigating to do on the buzzes.

[balfour-knight]

Carl,

Thanks so much for your response about how and why you wrote the book. I want you to know that I (and so many others) appreciate all the time and trouble you took to write such a helpful book–I could not do without it! All the small repairs and regulations I have done on my pedal harps through the years were done after carefully reading and studying your book so that I would know what I was doing. Everything so far has been successful, thanks to you!

By the way, did Cunard find a harpist for the QE2? I would love to do that sometime when I could plan it into my schedule!

My very best to you,
Balfour

[Aria]

Good news people! My harp troubles may be temporarily over. Venus Tech guy just called me and happens to be traveling towards me. He will be here tomorrow to fix and regulate my harp!!!!! Whaaaaat?!!!

[Tacye]

That is great news. For future reassurance, my experience of buzzes has been that the vast majority drive me demented tracking down exactly what is buzzing but are then easy to solve. A string that needed changing, a loose screw, long string ends and lightfittings in the room have all, briefly, made my life a misery.

[carl-swanson]

Balfour- I passed on the names of the people who contacted me about that job to the woman in England who told me about it. I’ll try to find out how it turned out.

[balfour-knight]

Thanks, Carl!
Balfour

[Aria]

So after all that….. I was able to have my harp regulated by a professional over the weekend. And it was worth every penny. It took the guy less than 5 minutes to diagnose the cause of 2 loud buzzes!!! One of the buzzes was only in certain pedal positions. He stuck what looked like a screwdriver up into the action (is that what it’s called?), jiggled his tool around a bit, and that was it. The second buzz on a wire string was also quickly corrected. He sanded the bridge pin a little bit and that was the end of that too! Several years of enduring such an unpleasant noise are now GONE. I had him adjust my sticky pedals while he was at it and now my harp is so much more pleasurable to play. He drives all over the country doing this and seems willing to come back to my home in 2 years. VERY HAPPY. But I’m still going to continue to study Carl’s book and learn what I can.

[balfour-knight]

So glad to hear that, Aria! My troubles may soon be over when I get my pedal harp regulated by a professional, too. Mine is just out of “temperament” (using piano-tuning language!) as there are no objectionable buzzes or anything. This means that the harp does not sound equally good in all keys, and this is most noticeable when I play with other musicians. The Keys of F Major and D minor are particularly bad (I love to play “Send In the Clowns” in F, and have had to change it to G since the temperament is so bad.)

Now you can enjoy playing your harp again! I am so happy for you.

Best thoughts,
Balfour

[balfour-knight]

Happiness is a well-regulated pedal harp! I just wanted to say that Tom Bell and Scot Baker did an outstanding job on my “Eglantine” harp in Atlanta. I heartily recommend them to anyone needing a perfect regulation–my harp has never sounded better, and I am very particular!

Best to all of you,
Balfour

[Sonya Wiley]

Dittos here, i was there on the 14th for a regulation with Bell Harp Tech, very nice guys to work with. But hopefully next time they’ll be coming my way ; i’m now on their Florida list.

[balfour-knight]

That is great, Sonya! I tried to convince Tom and Scot to come to Asheville, NC on their way to Atlanta, but I don’t think they had enough interest to make it worth stopping in Asheville. My wife and I enjoyed the three-hour trip (one way) to Atlanta and celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary “along the way!”

[Author]

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