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Hi Randal,
I don’t know much about this other than some speculation on how the harp came to Scandinavia via Viking traders. You might ask Beth Kolle, who plays a great deal of Scandinavian music (though not on wire):
Best wishes,
Biagio“The bit that confuses me is how the soundboard works, if you can call it that, for cardboard harps”
When you pluck or strike a string, it imparts energy to whatever it is fastened too (plus air of course). If that’s just two sticks all you hear is the string itself vibrating in air.
To amplify, attach an acoustic chamber. Try it: ake a sturdy triangle 2ith say 12″ legs, and pluck a string stretched across it. Then hold up a shoe box to one of the legs and pluck again.
I am not clear on the question Elletaria, but let’s try to break things down. In terms of construction a “cardboard” harp is quite different from one with a wooden sound board. Consider the “Troubador” practice instrument:
http://www.niebischandtree.co.uk/new-harps-troubador.html
If you just glued a cardboard box to the rib piece you have the basic Waring. That rib takes all the strain, the box is strictly for amplification.
These are not apps but excellent and specific to the harp, both by Ray Pool:
3’s A Chord
and
1 2 3 PlayThere are video recordings available as well.
That’s true David, although it is worth remembering that many popular tunes were originally composed for the clarsach or the pipes. If your harp is nylon strung you can get close to the same effect, just with less sustain.
It’s so easy to want to try every different harp I hear! Best to stick with one style at first.
They look fine to me, David; as you practice your placements and technique you will soon learn if any need trimming. Usually for me it is the thumb (finger 1) that may need filing on the string side when (for example) reaching over or under. Depending on your harp and the effect you want you may actually wish to use the nails, sometimes.
I agree (as usual) with Tacye although you could try one of the Heartland carbon fiber harps
or the Dusty Strings Boulevard 34
https://manufacturing.dustystrings.com/harps/browse-models/boulevard-34When a maker (such as Lorien) provides the harp’s height, they mean as measured from the base to the top end of the neck. More meaningful for a lap harp would be the length from base to top of soundboard at the treble.
That will be somewhat less, depending on the string angle. You want your chin to be about there when sitting. So measure from your waist to your chin to judge and use that compared to the SB length.
For example, my wire 19 is 25″ in height, and 20″ length – the string angle is 35 degrees. My nylon 26 is 45″ high and 38″ in length, excluding legs; that is a floor harp (for comparison purposes).
Elettaria, I’m not understanding something: why do you need a KF-to-Nylon conversion sheet? On that spreadsheet I sent you, just type in Carbon for the column for “Core” and enter the gauge in millimeters in the column “Core Strg Gauge”.
I guess there are no string makers in the UK – at least I can’t find any except Salopian. Most makers there seem to use gut, or only supply nylon for US models. Why that is, I don’t know.
“How does the Waring get away with low tension and short string lengths….? ”
Presumably you would use a very light touch. Giving those a good hard pluck would probably not be a great idea.
South American harps are also very lightly strung and partly because of that the SB and frame are also very light. Techniques is also very different from typical lever and pedal harps.
My die-hard Celtic music friends prefer very light tension too – it facilitates rapid playing with all those turns, slides and ornaments. I wouldn’t know, I don’t play that well LOL.
I also get about 20% TS with FC, I think Nylon comes in at 16%. Too low for my taste.
Some may disagree with the following but that’s what makes life interesting:
I prefer a smooth increase in Tension, a smooth decrease in Tension/Length and %TS around 40-50% in the treble down to 30% or higher in the low bass. No big jumps in either tension or diameters anywhere. That is not always possible given size and other constraints.
Wil, I guess it is a question of preference and cost. Personally I really do not like metal wrap if at all avoidable, with the exception of fiber core/silver: I don’t like a sudden tonal change going from nylon or gut to metal wrap.
WRT the Dustys – I’m a convert to bronze core nylon wrap, versus steel/fiber/bronze (or copper) – the bronze core imparts more energy to the SB without the tonal difference and added stiffness of the other.
It also helps to visualize what happens when you pluck a metal core fiber/nylon string. Fiber and wrap compress on one side and expand on the other (player’s side) – smoother feel compared to metal/fiber/metal.
Oh how fun!
About that low G….looks like the choices are nylon/nylon, FC or steel/fiber/nylon. (vibrating length 23.20″). N/N at .032/.015 would be fairly fat compared to the next string up; S/F/N would be only slightly larger as the preceding one, or the same.
For that I come up with steel core 0.016″ 8 fibers nylon wrap 0.01″. FC would be OK at 1.27mm. SFN has the better %TS.
Choices, choices, choices, huh?
So experiment with those three choices and variations and see what you like; it IS a learning experience after all.
Note to Wil: metal core just increases the density and makes it only a little stiffer with a good fiber bedding. The combination gets the same tone and feel as N/N, but with a smaller diameter and higher %TS.
Have fun!
BiagioWell…Here’s my opinion for what it’s worth. If you tune primarily in the flat keys – F Bb Eb etc. – then you might want the lowest bass to be an F. If contrary wise in the sharps, choose C G or sometimes A. Why G or A? Well, G is a perfect 5th to C, and A is C’s harmonic minor.
If you want that low one to be a G but keep the length short, I suggest looking at steel core fiber bedding and nylon wrap.
Incidentally, it’s worth while expanding a bit on that %TS thing. A vibrating string approximates a sine wave. [“Approximates”, because no matter how good our technique it always moves in an ellipse as well. Which is why our teachers emphasize plucking straight back, not to the side.] The nodes (or harmonic points) are in principle stationary but if the string is quite loose (low %TS) they will move around. That makes the tone muddy – audio buffs call it “wow and flutter”, the technical term is “inharmonicity.”
For a harp this size I guess it does not matter much if it is square or “flared”. Most people want more volume in the bass so it is wider in that area, and narrower at the top so you can reach the strings up there.
Yeah, there’s not much written now about wound strings since it gets pretty techie. You have to go back to early editions of the Folk Harp Journal or discussions among pedal harp technicians. Here’s a very brief summary (pardon the math but that’s unavoidable).
We use Taylor’s formula which states that
Tension = Linear Mass x (2xLengthxFrequency)squared
We also know from Liszt that a vibrating string has the clearest overtones when it is at “1.5 steps below breaking point” – which translates to 70% of tensile strength. Most lever harps will not drop %TS below 20% in the bass and in fact most keep it over that.
All well and good for monofilament strings but what do we do when those lower ones must be either very long, or heavier or both at those lower frequencies? Well, we wind them around a core; which may be nylon, FC, steel, bronze, fiber, or some combination (I’ve never heard of gut core though I guess it’s possible). Now stand by for the nerdy stuff.
Natch, different materials have different physical properties the most relevant being density and tensile strength; we also look at hardness and elasticity to get the desired tone.
Let’s assume a metal core with fiber bedding. Steel has great strength so we might use that, but it will be thin so we might use a bronze wrap in the lowest strings. Hard, which might mean a somewhat harsh tone compared to a softer wrap (nylon). Bronze core with nylon wrap will produce a softer tone but bronze has a lower tensile strength than steel.
Fiber core is quite strong compared to nylon core, and with higher density (similar to gut) but it is more elastic, so if we use that we might choose a silver wrap to get a tone closer to gut in the higher registers.
In the lower mid we’re into an intermediate zone, trying to balance tension versus tensile strength. That’s where you might find nylon core nylon wrap, or transition from nylon to gut or FC (which are denser than nylon).
When the designer sits down he or she will try to balance all of these to get the desired tone and feel. That’s where experience comes into play, there is no magic way to decide what to use.
Biagio
Maybe Wil, though I can’t think what was in my post to trigger that. There have been some posters here that I would have banned long ago over on the VHC (grin). Anyhow, once more into the breach:
Zither peg holes: Standard ones will accept up to 0.045″ (1.14mm), Any larger diameter and it will fray; in any case, windings should not extend through the hole.
Eyelets: You should be OK with “medium” sizes and I think it looks better if all are the same size. Up to you, but check that if some are or will be wound the internal diameter is large enough. “Large” sizes may have shafts that will poke through the inside which will cut the strings. So check that too.
I prefer two ribs spaced 5cm apart on center. Be sure to leave enough vibrating surface on the outside (the space between is acoustically dead): about 5cm. This will make the top wider than on a single in total but leave the same finger room.
On comparisons: take a look at %tensile strength too. Much below a minimum of 20% and the string may not sound well unless you use a very light pluck.
