The gestation of a harp

Log in to your Harp Column account to post or reply in the forums. If you don’t have an account yet, you’ll need to email us to set one up.

This topic has 63 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 17 years, 6 months ago by Liam M.

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 64 total)

← 1 2 3 4 5 →

Author

Posts
January 29, 2009 at 3:02 pm #155100

Audrey Nickel
Participant

Just to add, there’s plywood and there’s plywood.

January 29, 2009 at 7:35 pm #155101

Karen Johns
Participant

I agree with Audrey- my Voyageur has the same sandwiching of cherry in both the neck and pillar, and each piece is at least a 1/2 inch thick. The soundboard plywood is very thin layers of aircraft birch.

Karen

January 29, 2009 at 8:06 pm #155102

Liam M
Participant

It is intriguing Karen as I have been studying the theory of the wire harps, the thicker the sound board, the longer the sustain. What appears to heppen is the soundboard absorbs the energy that maintains the sustain. I have duplicated this with my brass soundboard experiments.

January 29, 2009 at 9:40 pm #155103

michael-rockowitz
Participant

Audrey,

January 29, 2009 at 10:54 pm #155104

michael-rockowitz
Participant

Audrey,

Oops – I forgot to include the page with the picture of the plywood neck from Dreamsinger harps.

January 29, 2009 at 11:03 pm #155105

Karen Johns
Participant

Liam- Both of my current

January 29, 2009 at 11:15 pm #155106

Tacye
Participant

The tension is governed by the vibrating length of the string, which ends where the string enters the hole in the soundboard so string rib thickness should not affect the tension.

January 30, 2009 at 1:36 am #155107

Audrey Nickel
Participant

That’s true, Michael…I’d forgotten about his mahogany harps.

Audrey

January 30, 2009 at 6:21 am #155108

michael-rockowitz
Participant

Tacye,
I find myself wondering if your assertion is correct, that the vibrating length of the string on the harp “ends where the string enters the hole in the soundboard.”

January 31, 2009 at 5:36 am #155109

michael-rockowitz
Participant

Hi to all-

I just got my book written by Jerry Brown, on harp construction and design.

January 31, 2009 at 1:03 pm #155110

Tacye
Participant

Michael, you are confused with lateral and transverse vibrations.

January 31, 2009 at 2:54 pm #155111

michael-rockowitz
Participant

Hi Tacye,

I am no physicist, nor an engineer, and unfortunately, my grasp of physics is not at all advanced.

January 31, 2009 at 4:03 pm #155112

bernhard-schmidt
Participant

Maybe we could come to the conclusion that we

January 31, 2009 at 4:43 pm #155113

Tacye
Participant

What I hope you are trying to express is that the boundary conditions for the string, which are assumed by simple theory to be perfectly rigid end points, cannot be so in practice (as the soundboard is moving or there would be no sound) and therefore objects beyond the main vibrating length of the string can have an effect on the vibration.

February 1, 2009 at 1:23 am #155114

michael-rockowitz
Participant

Tacye and Bernhard,

You both seem to be saying the same thing, and you both are far more expert in these matters than I am, so I am guessing that you are probably right, and I am mistaken.
Author

Posts