Pedal Harp String Spacing?

[John Leclerc]

I think they used gold leaf decals, basically peel and stick , first it’s designed on a computer then transferred to some kind of machine that prints it on to a sheet of gold leaf, there’s a lot of youtube videos on the process.
You can have them made on some sites, price can be $160 and up, YIKES!

[John Leclerc]

So looked at the section of original soundboard I have with a magnifying glass I can see a clear border at the edges of design, doing lots of research I found there are 3 layer printing machines you can print any design to be used as a decal, found lots of examples of in progress design painting, Lyon and Healy and Salvi, first they design on PC then send it to die cutting machine , they use a simulated gold leaf vinyl sheet and it prints out the transfer, they use just the gold color, apply it to soundboard, then hand paint the accents and clear coat the whole thing, so it looks like the entire design is hand painted.

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[balfour-knight]

John, thanks for that information and nice photo! That explains a lot. I had no idea how they did it. Now, you can be very artistic with yours!

Have a great day,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

[John Leclerc]

Thanks had a pretty good day! so now 4 coats of clear, started laying down my design, base gold on , then accents.

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[balfour-knight]

This is absolutely BEAUTIFUL, John! That is better than the original L&H design, in my humble opinion. It seems to have elements in common with their new Style 4 design.
More hugs,
Balfour and Carol Lynn

[John Leclerc]

Thank you, easier for me to just paint one on, those decals can be pricey and who knows how it would come out, putting accent colors on one side, time consuming for sure, once clear coated should be pretty nice, I may be forced to leave it glossy because on my test piece if I dull the gloss the gold doesn’t show well.

Sent a email to Cheryl at Lyon and Healy repairs , see if she can help me with inlay dots for bass section , or if she can tells me who makes 9mm by 6mm deep, all dots I find are to thin.

Also told her what happened to the poor harp and linked Stanley’s video lol.

Question on harp feet, mine has 2 at the rear but see screw holes for front feet, are they supposed to have feet there?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by John Leclerc.

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[balfour-knight]

John, ask L&H about the front feet. Yes, harps are supposed to have them, but all styles are different. Good going!

More harp hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

[John Leclerc]

Lyon and Healy told me to contact their west coast store, they can provide me with parts and the dots!
So far coming along, soundboard now has designs and clear coat over it, probably one more clear and it will be done with that part, next up is eyelets and dots.
Part 11, warning long and boring !

[balfour-knight]

Thanks for posting this, John! Your soundboard is really coming along. I love the hand-painted artwork.

[John Leclerc]

Done with clear coats and design , now to order dots and eyelets, looking pretty decent!

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[balfour-knight]

That gold artwork will look great with the top brass neck plates and gold-plated discs, John! When you drill the final holes for the eyelets, try to make sure they are in a straight line all the way from the top highest string hole to the bottom string hole. Harpists like a straight, even plane when we place our hands on those strings. The working discs move the strings a bit out of line, from top to bottom, toward and away from the player, but not from side to side. If you can use a drill press for those, that would be the best way, even if you just rent or borrow one for this very important job. A hand-held router would also be nice when you add the side moldings to the soundboard, for rounding them over quickly and evenly. We have places around here that rent out tools like this, so you may be able to do that, too.

Good going! Thanks for all the photos and videos.

Harp rebuilding hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

[John Leclerc]

I do have a drill press and plan to use it, will get holes as straight as I can, tomorrow going to call L&H west in Utah and ask about the dots and feet.
One thing I’m confused about is how many dots to I need? the original piece I have has 6 and can reuse them maybe, how many bass strings are on this 40 string harp?
Then the brass eyelets for rest of strings ,are they all the same size? or are some different sizes?
I have a string chart but its hard for me to understand, guess string diameter will dictate size of eyelets and can’t find that info?
Will figure it out eventually lol.

[balfour-knight]

John, so glad you have a drill press. I couldn’t live without mine, ha, ha!

Your 85 Petite just has 7 bass wire strings. Therefore you will only need 7 dots. L&H West should be able to tell you how many of each size eyelet were used on this harp model. You are right–the string gauges do dictate what size eyelet you need to use. If they cannot tell you, I may be able to dig up some information on the gauges of the strings, but I still would not know for sure what size the holes are in the eyelets. I guess it is better to go for a bit larger than the string gauge, rather than have the holes too small!

You are figuring all of this out very well, I think. Bravo for even attempting this project!

Figuring it out hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

[John Leclerc]

Thanks! good info!
That piece of original soundboard has 6 dots ,they come out easily , only need one lol,for the record L&H told me they are made of nylon.
Will call them today.
I may not buy the front feet, what I’m thinking is the someone removed them because balance was to sensitive and easily knocked over.

[John Leclerc]

Called L&H ,no answer so left email
Called Robinsons Harp shop no answer mailbox full , so left email twice and just comes back to me, can’t win lol.
Try later, maybe the holidays have something to do with it.

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