what makes camacs sound bright?

[deb-l]

is it the type of wood used in the rounded back? (I think they use beech, L&H and Salvi use maple but not sure)

Or does it have to do with the soundboard dimensions, or something else entirely? just curious if anyone knows what gives them the characteristic brightness.

[jessica-wolff]

Just a wild guess–the creator of Camac [Joel (?)] harps claimed to have been influenced by the old Erards. While I wouldn’t expect that to produce a brighter sound, who knows? It did result in a lighter-weight harp and one that was easier to play in the highest half-octave.

[Sam Karlinski]

There was an interesting presentation at the World Harp Congress this past summer that showed a good correlation between how well the back of the harp vibrated and the quality of the sound. I don’t know which woods one could use to change this variable, but it was very interesting.

~Sam

[tony-morosco]

I would have to assume it has to do with a combination of factors. The shape of the body, the tapering of the soundboard, the materials used…

I doubt any one factor could be pointed at as THE cause for the tone. Like any instrument it is about how all the pieces come together to work.

[carl-swanson]

You’re absolutely right Tony. The soundboard,i.e., the material it is made of and the dimensions it is worked to, is only one of many factors that affect the sound and how it is projected. All of the other things you mentioned are, to one degree or another, contributing factors. The one item that is always left out of any of these discussions about sound is the person playing the instrument. That is far and away the most important factor in the type of sound the instrument projects. It is also the most important factor in how the sound develops in a new instrument. A harpist with a beautiful full rich sound will make any instrument sound good and sound different from another harpist who is incapable of creating that kind of sound.

[deb-l]

do you think then that it is a myth that for example Korrigans and Hermines vary widely in quality of tone, or is it that some are played with good tone so develop into better sounding instruments?

[adam-b-harris]

I’m with Carl on this one, I think people underestimate the effect a player has on an instrument. I sat in on a drum clinic in university once and a whole bunch of drummers hopped up on this trap kit in the studio one by one and played a simple beat. All playing the same thing, yet sounding so different, all sorts of different tonal qualities coming out, some good, some not so.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Plastic materials such as carbon fiber have a bright sound. Plastic recorders are much brighter than wooden ones. They also have a shrill quality that is hard to avoid.

[deb-l]

Saul, Camac’s put carbon fiber in the column of Clio’s to make them lighter, not sure if that’s fact or not, just something I read, but it’s not anywhere in their harps where it would affect the sound is it?

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

The column resonates, too, to some extent. Every part of the harp affects the sound, especially the neck, apart from the obvious sounding board and back. The weight and thickness, the material, the finish, all have an impact on the sound, even the gilding. And, especially, the shaping. Am I right, Carl?

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

There is an acoustical study of the harp online that uses Camac as a model, and gives away their specifications, and I am pretty sure there was a layer of synthetics in the sounding board, whether you call all synthetics plastics or not. It might actually be flouride, but it’s not wood.

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