Pixie Harp Retune?

[kevin-burns]

Hi,

I just bought a 19string Pixie Harp, I like the sound of it but the lowest string is C would it be possible to retune it (using different strings) to G and make the rest of the strings follow suit… or would that sound awful?

Many thanks

Kevin

[Angela Biggs]

Hi Kevin,
That’s probably not a good idea. To retune it from C to the G above and so forth on up the harp would tremendously increase the overall tension on the harp, probably far beyond that harp’s tolerance.

You *might* be able to retune it from C to the G below, but if you use the current strings they will end up slack enough that they’ll sound more like rubber bands. If you change the strings, you’ll have to use thicker ones, which will change the tone — probably not for the better.

If you decide to experiment, let us know how it goes!

Angela

[william-weber]

Kevin,

Not having seen and tried a Pixie harp I’m not sure if you could raise its pitch by a fifth, which would result in tension increased by a factor of 2.25. Laurie Nielson at Markwood may be able to help rescale the strings because she takes into account all the soundboard measurements as well as the speaking lengths of the strings. Besides, new strings would keep the proper colors for Cs and Fs. The makers of those instruments have been redesigning them, probably to reduce the number of returned broken ones, so it’s hard to say what you’ll be able to string yours with.

[Author]

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