To detune a locked up harp or keep it tuned up for 1 year

[Gerrard Els]

Hi everyone,

I need advice on leaving my two harps (Lyon and Healy 85 and a Salvi lever harp) locked up in a room for 1 year long depending on how quickly Covid blows over. The harps are both tuned up and won’t be played for this duration.

Should I de-tune the harps by a few semitones and keep its cover on or what is best advice? I heard its damaging to de-tune them completely, and also on the other side, if a string breaks on full tension when no-one can replace it?

Thanks in advance

Gerrard

[Biagio]

Taking the tension down a step or two might be a good idea but whether or not, the gut strings may deteriorate.

[Gerrard Els]

Alright thanks for the advice. I detuned the harp 3 semitones over a period of a few days and covered the harp with its cover, pedals up in an enclosed room.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Lucile Lawrence said that when you are going to leave a harp unplayed for a length of time, you should lower the tuning to save pressure on the sounding-board, thus extending its life. The challenge is in bringing it back up again. I would assume that the string life would also be extended.

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