string paranoia

[Gretchen Cover]

I think everyone is painfully aware of the problem with breaking gut strings over the past year. I just restrung my harps and the strings seem to be better. However, I now have an irrational fear of breaking strings. I guess so many have broken when I played or restrung the harp that I have a difficult time bringing strings up to pitch and stand as far away from the harp as possible. What prompted me to write is that a second octave string just popped and I almost fell off my bench due to being startled (I was not playing at that moment, just sitting). Is anyone else experiencing this? What did you do to get over your fear of replacing strings – particular upper octave strings?

[eliza-morrison]

It’s very startling to have a string break right in your face, and normal to feel a little “flinchy” for a while afterward. But it’s not a frequent occurrence. I think over time you’ll relax and not think and worry about it so much. Good-quality strings should not break when you bring them up to pitch; they’re made for that pitch and shouldn’t be stressed to the breaking point by the tuning process.

[Sid Humphreys]

I restrung with Bow Brand back in January (newly ordered strings); had to replace 5th Oct E 6 times. This first one broke after 48 hours and the following 5 all broke within a week. If you think upper octaves are scary when they break, then you’ll really freak when a 5th oct breaks! I’m still a little tense when tuning as I still grit my teeth while tuning. Bow Brad has solved the issue with the breaking gut strings now so anyone ordering new ones should be safe. I did once have a new 7nth oct E break on my while pulling it up to pitch. That one really sounded like gun fire! But it didn’t come apart… the wire windings just gave. It was a rare faulty wire. Made me wonder, what if this would have happened at church where the harp s amplified? Bet folks in the congregation would have fallen on the floor for cover! LOL
I really don’t think about breaking strings so much but it’s obvious that subconsciously the thought is there.

[Gretchen Cover]

Sid, you made me feel better. Misery loves company. Interesting that I had a 5th octave E break on me in less than a day from the previous batch of strings. That didn’t unnerve me as much as the higher strings because the sound is lower. But it sure was loud! The Bow Brand strings I bought in 2013 barely lasted 6 months and I lost count of how many broke – including one during a Christmas Eve service. I restrung one harp a month ago and the other two weeks ago and the strings are better – so far. Still have had a number of string casualties, though, and a faulty 1st octave C – it broke 3 times. I put an old one back on. I even watched as one string stretched and then popped.

[Sid Humphreys]

I was always taught, buy a new set of strings and put them on right away. Back ups are “back ups.” This really worked in my favor with the bad batch of strings. L&H guarantees strings for two weeks (or maybe more, don’t really remember). They not only kept replacing the 5th oct E but any of the other strings that had broke. They even replaced a few strings that I pointed out “looked like seconds.” When all this was happening, I emailed the Harp Doc. He wrote back that this matter was being looked in to. When he arrived in Dallas last month to do regulations he told me the story of what had happened with Bow Brand and their gut supplier. It was an amazing story and I’m glad that I spoke up and got an answer, it’s restored my faith in Bow Brand. But I still would like to try out Savarez gut strings.

[Gretchen Cover]

I got my last strings from Vanderbilt Music and they have been very good, too, about replacing broken or defective strings. I just received my replacement C. Nice to know LH is doing the same. I also got a couple strings directly from Bow.

Sid, what is the full story that you heard about Bow Brand? Vanderbilt Music had a couple paragraphs on their website but it basically just acknowledged the string breaking problem.

[karen]

Bow Brand is experiencing problems with their strings. They don’t put batch numbers on their packages and the problem can not really be traced to exact strings. Therefore, the problem strings are in their inventory and in “our” inventory. The problem originated with their supplier for the cow gut that is used to make the strings. The UK has changed some of their regulations at this point. I can’t explain it in detail (because I don’t know it in detail), but the gist of it is that they were using gut from animals that were too young. The gut was not developed enough and therefore, not inherently strong enough to be used to make the fibers that comprise the gut strings (considering the tension that is on harp strings). Subsequently, there is a rash of problems with Bow Brand strings breaking. The good news is that they are standing behind them (seemingly thus far) and replacing them. The bad news is that for any of us that purchased strings, they don’t really know from ‘when-to-when’ so it will be a while before these ‘bad’ strings have moved through our lives. I changed my top 19 strings in June and have had 13 breaks since. Less than ideal. Sorry I don’t have more details but that gives you a sense of it. Sorry to hear about your string dilemma, Gretchen.

[Sid Humphreys]

Karren has the gist of the story above. This all happened because of Mad Cow Disease (MCD) in Europe. Bow Brand had a contract with intestine (gut) suppliers that the age of the cow should be “X” years of age. With MCD, it became law that cows going to slaughter had to be “X” years of age, so some genius took this clause out of Bow Brands contract because they felt it was redundant to have this in the contract when it was the law! But when MCD cleared up (I think it was a 10 year period) they were free to use younger cows as well as older cows. No one told Bow Brand about this change. It took a while for them to figure out what was going on. It was social media like Harp Column and harp groups on Facebook that got the attention of harp techs to start looking in to this matter. The issue is now resolved at Bow Brand but there are still bad strings out there that need to be replaced. I really wish that I could remember what year Harp Doc told me this started. Maybe he will see this post and fill in the many gaps that I know are still in this story but at least we can all be assured that gut strings leaving Bow Brand today are up to par again.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I hope to have missed out on this crisis, as I buy sets of strings in advance, and have not used all of mine yet. I have not noticed any problems from having strings for several years before using them, as long as they are in the sealed pouches.

[balfour-knight]

I finally located this thread! Here it is for all of you who have asked about it.
Harp Hugs,
Balfour

[Gregg Bailey]

Thanks, Balfour! How awful that there was such a problem with Bow Brand years ago; I’m glad they seem to have solved it!

-Gregg

[balfour-knight]

You’re welcome, Gregg! Now if Bow Brand will just provide good strings at a fair price, they should regain their great reputation.

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