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**Thank you**, everyone! Found it! I finally had a couple of hours free, so I printed out this thread to go through every suggestion one at a time. Fortunately, I didn’t have to go far! I tuned F and G to Ab, and the buzzing kept going, so I went back and started pressing knots again. This time pressing on the knot for mid-C relieved the buzz, so I removed the string and played with the knot a little — it didn’t have a long tail, but I figured maybe the knot itself was loose somewhere.
As I was replacing the string, I brushed up against a long piece of loose nylon. What was it? The Bb string had a long tail that I hadn’t noticed my first time through because it was hiding under the knot for the C string. Sneaky little thing! The morning the buzz appeared, I had turned the knots to make sure that they weren’t bumping into each other, and checked for long tails at the same time. The Bb knot must have been situated so that the tail didn’t get dislodged by turning.
So — Bb to F# above mid-C were all buzzing, pressing on the mid-C knot fixed the problem, but the source was actually the tail of the Bb knot just below it. Geesh.
Thank you all so much for your help. 😀
Tayce — the first thing I did was check the knots and the second was move the harp to another room (since then it’s also buzzed in several other locations. 🙁 ) I did *not* check the screws in the feet, I’ll go do that now. How do you check the grommets?
Yes. Replace the strings at least two weeks before your service appointment, which is about how long it takes a newly-strung harp to hold pitch reliably. There is some variation in that, but two weeks is usually safe.
I was also skeptical about timed-obsolescence for strings, until I changed mine at about two years last winter. (The rule of thumb I’ve heard is yearly replacement for professionals, every-other-year for hobbyists/amateurs.) It made a huge difference. You don’t necessarily hear the strings declining in quality because it happens so slowly, but you’ll immediately notice how much better they sound once you get the new ones up to pitch. Happy harping. 🙂
I’m pretty sure I’ve read that wire-strung harps originally did not have colored strings, and there were also blind players. Without colors, or without sight, you’d have to develop muscle memory, which is possible to do; it’s probably much easier to do if you don’t have a choice. Some harpists today prefer to play without looking at the strings.
Brass is believed to be the primary metal used, but I read an [interesting article](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.wirestrungharp.com/material/silver_report.html) recently about the rediscovery of precious metals as possible bass strings, particularly silver and possibly gold. They have properties which allow for better tone in the lower range.
It might be that C and F are colored because they indicate the half-steps in the scale (if you’re playing in C, a, Cb, or ab) — B/C and E/F. I found it convenient when I started, because that fit right in with the visual cues on a piano.
And speaking of the piano – do you remember learning how to find mid-C? Over time you developed an instinct based on context, and eventually got to the point where you could walk up to any keyboard of any size and immediately play mid-C. I’m sure the same thing happens with harpers who play without colored strings.
Congratulations! Are you able to sleep at night, or do you get up in the middle of the night just to sneak a tune or two? 🙂
Christine, FC strings are around twice as expensive as nylon, I believe that makes them comparable in price to gut strings? By reputation they should last longer and hold their tune better than either nylon or gut.
My experience: I experimented with four FC strings — from C one octave above mid C to the F above that — when I was considering changing my nylon harp to FC last winter. I didn’t like them. They were higher-tension than the comparable nylon, thinner (they hurt!), two frayed, and one broke within the first few days before it made it up to pitch. They were also much more expensive than nylon. In the end, though, it wasn’t the performance that decided me against FC strings; my harp already has a warm sound, and the FC strings made it even warmer. I thought I wanted that, but it turned out that more warmth brought the sound too close to muddy.
I believe other people have had quite positive experiences with FC strings. To be fair, I tried them in a higher octave because they were less expensive there; they may be more sturdy/comfortable in a lower octave. I feel iffy enough about them that if I ever manage to get my hands on the Heartland Infinity I’ve been coveting, I’m going to stick with nylon even though FC strings purportedly hold their tune better (and holding tune is a big reason why I want a carbon fiber harp).
Nope, the less expensive option was already a stretch, even with the early discount. I wish I could have, but — that’s exactly why there were two tiers. Price is the simplest and most effective way to limit class size, and DHC only has so much time to “grade” submissions.
Yeah, I was leery of the cost, but I feel like I’m getting more than I paid for! I’m so glad I did it. This is a *great* class.
Miggles, I don’t have any experience with Titan harps, but the strings on the back of my lever harp make divots in the string strip. That’s normal because of the tension on the strings. If it worries you, you might try using leather washers between the wood of the harp and your knots. They are inexpensive; VT Strings sells them for $0.25/ea.
Kay and Tayce — I read your tip about the rubber band this morning and had my first lesson with my first paying student tonight. She remarked upon the tension in her RH pinky and I slid on a rubber band. It worked. I doff my hat to thee. 🙂
(And this is *exactly* why I spend so much time on this forum. I never know what I’m going to learn, or when it’s going to come in handy!)
