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Hi, Alyson,
So nice to see your post here! My sweet wife and I wanted to say that we think you might want to put the harp in the Impreza. It is not yet that hot here (western North Carolina) and in North Georgia, so you could pad the harp really well and leave the windows down a bit as the car is being towed. Also, be sure to park in the shade if you stop for any amount of time over a few minutes. Carol Lynn says you could put clothes, blankets, towels, etc. all around and on top of the harp to insulate it from the possible heat. We have traveled this way for years and not harmed the harps!
Best of luck with your move and with your new little bundle of joy!
Harp hugs,
Balfour and Carol Lynn
Hello friends! I am one of those harpists who uses the K2 Original Harp Caddy, with three wheels on each side for ease in negotiating those stairs! Since the front entrance of our little house has nine steps up to the front door, we knew which harp caddy to get very soon, after the two of us had carried the pedal harp up and down those steps for a while. I heartily recommend this cart for all its great features, which can be read about on-line. It is available at the Atlanta Harp Center, for one. For dealing with long distances between our car and the venue, like some hotels and retirement homes, we also use this same cart to carry and roll smoothly our Dusty Strings FH36S lever harp, by readjusting the straps to fit around the smaller harp. Hope this information helps!
Happy harping everyone!
Balfour
This thread is very interesting, my friends! Options I have seen advertised say “tarnish resistant” and “silver.” I have always liked the tarnish resistant ones with the correct colors for the red C’s and black F’s. Also, my problem with bass strings in general is that they are too loud and resonant compared to the gut strings, so anything that softens them down a bit is nice! The phosphor/bronze bass wires covered in nylon wrap on my Dusty Strings FH36S are perfect, in my humble opinion. I like the mellow sound of old pedal harp bass wires so much that I hate to change them, ha, ha!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour
Hello all,
Very good posts! I just wanted to add that Angi Bemiss and I did a very playable easy arrangement of Claire de Lune a few years back, available in several different keys. Please contact her at Simply the Harp (in Atlanta, GA) for information about obtaining any of our arrangements.
Happy Harping and Hugs,
Balfour
Thanks, Owen, that was a good point about being careful not to overload the tension on the harp! When I restring, I always just tune all the strings to standard pitch, not sharp. I also tune the new strings up to pitch several times each day until they finally stabilize, which can take WEEKS. The new strings on my Dusty FH36S are now staying very well in tune since the restringing in October, 2016. Also, no more strings have broken on my L&H pedal harp, and the new gut ones are stable now.
Best wishes to all of you in this New Year,
Balfour
You have every right to be proud! Thank you for posting this very enjoyable video. It is wonderful that you are raising your own accompanist.
Harp hugs,
Balfour
Andelin, thanks for posting that beautiful video! I almost missed it, since I don’t get on the computer much anymore. Your playing is very sensitive and heart-felt, and your harp sounds very nice on the recording. Hug those “boys” of yours for us and have a wonderful Christmas season!
Susanne, I am going to look at yours, now!
Best to all of you,
Balfour
I love this thread! I also get “lost in the moment,” just ask my sweet wife, ha, ha! I still feel that the harp is the most beautiful instrument in existence, even after all these years of playing it. Andelin, here’s wishing that you can get a pedal harp very soon. I wish I could just send you one!
Best wishes and harp hugs,
Balfour
Owen,
I tune the string slightly sharp, like Carl said, to let the new string acclimate, then when I get ready to actually tune the string for the performance, I lower the pitch, then TUNE UP to the actual pitch, which keeps the tuning pin tight in the normal manner, pressing in toward the harp neck while I tune. I have never had a problem with slipping pins, since they are tapered and can always be pressed in to maintain a good grip.
On the other hand, my Dusty FH36S has threaded pins, which have always maintained a good grip through string changes. I have not yet had a string break on the Dusty. I changed all of them this year when the harp turned one year old, since I take this harp out very often to perform on.
My L&H pedal harp did have four broken strings this month, having four Christmas concerts which I have just recently completed. Thankfully, none of them broke during the performances, and I had time to deal with them between concerts. They were all in the second octave, which makes me understand completely why many harpists string this octave in nylon, like the top “first” octave.
Hope all of you are enjoying a wonderful Christmas Eve, and good luck to all of you who are playing for services tonight!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour
Thanks for your recent article on Rees harps! I have met them and enjoyed talking to them in Asheville, NC. I found their harps to be full-toned, fun to play, and beautifully made.
Also, your website seems to be working very well, Kim. Thanks so much!
It was great to read all these posts! Carl, you have indeed done a wonderful job on these Etudes. Biagio, thanks for all your nice comments, too, and for the Happy Birthday wishes on another post! You should have heard all my glissandos on my pedal harp for these holiday concerts! And, I can go all the way up to High E, ha, ha! Folks were streaming the concerts on Facebook and other places I don’t quite understand, so you harp friends may find me on something that I don’t even know about–I am like Carl, a caveman to all this new technology.
Keep harping, my friends, and enjoy the holidays!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour
Kim, It just happened to me again, and I tried to cut and paste to show you, but I do not know enough about how to work this office computer to be able to get it to work–sorry! Maybe someone else with more computer expertise can help you solve this difficulty. Also, I have not been getting notifications of follow-up replies via email, if that helps. I love the current issue of Harp Column! Thanks again!
What great postings! Carl, I also have found what you said about strings going back sharp to be true, seeking the pitch that they had been accustomed to. If a lever harp has been tuned to the Key of C and then changed to E flat, for example, the three “new” flats in every octave will go back sharp after being let down to the new Key of E flat. The reverse will be true if you take the harp back to C from E flat.
Bill, I have been very fortunate, in all of my years of playing and doing concerts, weddings, etc., to have never had a string break during a performance. I did have a close call once, however. I was doing a concert in a hotel lobby and had arrived about an hour beforehand in order to set up my pedal harp, then go have dinner in the hotel dining room before the concert. I tuned the harp and noticed that middle E sounded “false,” and when I retuned after a few minutes, that string went noticeably flat! Five minutes later, it broke with a loud ping, and I went out to my car to get my box of replacement strings. I put a new gut E on the harp, pulled it sharp while my wife and I had a lovely dinner, then came back to the harp to tune and give the concert. By pulling it a wee bit sharp, it held pitch pretty well until intermission, surprisingly, then I tuned it again, and got through the rest of the concert.
If the string had broken during the concert, I would have just “made do” and not replaced it, but I was fortunate to have time to deal with it. I do restring every year or two, though, to help minimize this problem. With the recent problem of the breaking Bow Brand strings, I have held off this time until hopefully the problem will be resolved. Some folks have had great success with the French Premier strings, so that sounds like a good option. I enjoyed reading the article in the current issue of Harp Column concerning this very problem!
Happy Harping, everyone,
Balfour
