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John, glad you are having fun on this project! The coping saw is a good idea. I used one of those to hand-cut out the keys of my pipe organ. It took a while, as the keyboards of standard organs have 5 octaves (61 keys each), and there are two keyboards (manuals). The organ supply company would have built them for me back in 1982 for $2000, but that might as well have been $20,000, ha, ha! Money was too short to afford it back then, and would be difficult even now. Plus, I love playing on the keyboards I made myself. You will be proud of that harp when you get it finished, too.
All good thoughts,
BalfourJohn, I was going to ask “are you having fun yet?” ha, ha! Working on musical instruments has always been very rewarding to me, so I hope you experience that with this project. I wish I could be there to play and hear that harp after you get it all strung up and finished! NC and CA are just too far from each other!
Thanks for all your good wishes, Molly! It will be just one week from today, ha, ha! It really is great to be able to play for people again after the pandemic messed up all of that. I do not have the technology, nor do I want it, to do anything virtually. I need a visible, actually present audience, so I can feel their reactions to my music. That is the greatest blessing!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)John, I watched your most recent video and you are on the RIGHT TRACK! I see exactly why you want to use the dots for all 40 strings. You can use the Forstner 3/8″ bit to correct where the small holes are out of line. You would not be able to do this with the small eyelets. The 3/8″ holes will be large enough to completely eradicate the small holes which are out of line. Bravo for figuring this out!
I also enjoyed seeing the other video about the harp guitar! Cool instrument!
Best wishes and harp hugs,
BalfourJohn, I don’t know of any reason that you could not use dots on all the strings. I guess the pedal harp makers think the smaller eyelets just look better going up to the top of the harp!
Hi Molly,
Thanks for asking–I am doing a full Advent/Christmas concert at a small Methodist church in our area, on Dec. 11 for their 11:00 a.m. service. They have asked me to play piano, organ, and my Dusty Strings FH36S lever harp. The organist of that church and I will also play a couple of harp/organ duets. This is wonderful for me to do in retirement, as I can totally pick which pieces and carols to play for them, no pressure! After years and years of hectic, frantic holiday seasons, this is great! I have friends here who are still under that kind of pressure this year, and I really feel for them. Some years, I would have concert harp performances on all the Sundays of Advent, plus Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! There were even weddings and funerals during that busy time, to add to the mix!
It is wonderful that musicians are now able to resume making music, though, and I think that is one reason why it seems so busy this year.
Wishing you and yours peace and joy this holiday season,
Balfour and Carol LynnMolly, so good to hear from you. Here’s wishing you all good thoughts for getting through everything at this busy time of year!
Holiday Harp Hugs,
Balfour and Carol LynnHi Jerusha and everyone! I was remembering an older thread where you asked harpists about their favorite Christmas music. I can’t seem to find it anywhere, but I hope all of you have Christmas gigs to play for this year. I am looking forward to doing a holiday church concert on Dec. 11. How about you folks?
Harp Hugs for the holidays,
BalfourSo glad your son can get the harp strings, John. Standard pedal harp strings are easier to find than lever harp gauge strings, I have found. For example, the Atlanta Harp Center sells D’Addario nylon and bass wire strings for pedal harps, but not in lever gauge! However, they also sell Premier Gut strings which can be had in pedal gauge and also in lever gauge. I recommend these for their pure tone and long lasting ability. They are expensive, but they come in long lengths, enough to make two strings in the higher octaves. You will see that the 5 strings in the 5th octave are the most expensive, but they last for many years.
Good luck with all this,
BalfourThat’s great about getting the nylon rod and Forstner drill bit! I love my Forstners, and they drill flat-bottom holes when you need them. Good going, John!
John, I thought Robinson’s Harp Shop was the way to go. They have always been so nice to deal with, and also their associates–Vermont Strings and North Shore Strings. We are so glad for you!
I only wish that they could provide pedal harp strings! They have all the gauges of nylon strings that lever harps use, but since each string on the pedal harp is a different gauge, they don’t supply enough different sizes. For example, here are the gauges of the First Octave pedal harp strings:
E–.022
D–.023
C–.025 Red
B–.025
A–.026
G–.027
F–.029 Black
Notice that occasionally, two are the same gauge, like C and B above. Robinson’s could supply .022, .025, .028, etc., but not the other required sizes for this octave of strings. It is the same for the other octaves, unfortunately.When you try the weed trimmer, fishing line, etc., see if the gauges are close to the ones I posted for you, and you and your son can tune them to the approximate correct notes to check out the tension. From what I have seen in your videos, I think your soundboard will indeed be strong enough to support pedal harp tension, but to be on the safe side, you could always go with lever-gauge, as we have said before. The only way you will know for certain is with actual harp strings, though. I know they are expensive, but that is something we harpists have to accept. Even fine guitar and violin strings can cost plenty!
I looked at that website–Stimpson Eyelets. I had no idea there were so many different sizes and kinds of eyelets–wow! Glad Robinson’s came through for you, because I would not know what to order from Stimpson–so many choices, ha, ha!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)John, here are some pedal harp string gauges in inches, not millimeters!
Top E–.022 “First Octave E”
2nd oct. E–.030
3rd oct. E–.039
4th oct. E–.053
5th oct. E–.075
Lowest gut string, 5th oct. A–.091On pedal harps, each string is a different gauge. Let me know if you need these sizes for your other strings. I would use nylon strings for the top 2 or 3 octaves, then use gut for the 4th and 5th octaves. The actual diameters of the wire wrapped strings are smaller than the large gut strings! There is a big difference between gut 5th oct. A and the next note down, G in wire!
John, I just checked on Robinson’s Harp Shop. It says 0.55 doz. in brass, sm, med, large, and ex large. The brass-plated steel ex large ones are 0.75 doz. L&H must be mistaken about the huge price of theirs! Even $3. doz would be high!
Since you now know that L&H uses nylon dots, you could get that length of nylon rod you told us about earlier, and just make your own, like the 6 you already have. Too bad you don’t have 7 of them!
Concerning how many eyelets of each size you need, I would suggest the following for your 33 gut/nylon strings: use sm, med, and large. Starting at the top end of the harp, I would use 11 sm, then 11 med, and finally 11 large. I think the ex large would only be used if you did not have the dots. Indeed, you could install ONE ex large eyelet for your top wire string, number 34 going down. If you used the brass-plated steel, this eyelet would be strong enough for the smallest wire string on a pedal harp, the note G in the “5th Octave.” The solid brass is softer than the steel, and the wire string might pull through it, or break it.
If Carl Swanson is reading this, or any other knowledgeable harp builder, please let us know if I am wrong about these eyelets!
John, I hope this helps. My very best wishes to you,
BalfourJohn, so glad you have a drill press. I couldn’t live without mine, ha, ha!
Your 85 Petite just has 7 bass wire strings. Therefore you will only need 7 dots. L&H West should be able to tell you how many of each size eyelet were used on this harp model. You are right–the string gauges do dictate what size eyelet you need to use. If they cannot tell you, I may be able to dig up some information on the gauges of the strings, but I still would not know for sure what size the holes are in the eyelets. I guess it is better to go for a bit larger than the string gauge, rather than have the holes too small!
You are figuring all of this out very well, I think. Bravo for even attempting this project!
Figuring it out hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)
