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Happy to help Seiken!
There are two main reasons for strings breaking prematurely at the tuning peg, both related to each other.
First thing to know: the string should overlap itself so that the tension is not taken at the peg hole – the hole is just to get things started.
Second: the angle from the bridge pin to the peg should not be too acute.
Most beginner books provide a guide to stringing. Even better would be to invest in the little book “Trouble Shooting Your Lever Harp” by David Kolacny. It costs very little but will save a lot of frustration.
Best wishes,
BiagioThose two strings (the only ones I looked at) are higher tension than most lever harps but not excessively so. Roughly comparable to the few nylon strung harps that are designed to take concert gut as well. I don’t know how you analyzed this but the percent of tensile strength is OK and that’s what you should look at with respect to breakage: 53.5% in the case of E4, 63.6% for B5. Most lever harp makers try to keep tensile strength between 30% and 70% but that’s a very rough rule of thumb.
For what it’s worth, one of my harps is designed that way (concert harp tension) and I haven’t had excessive breakage. Certainly more than the lighter tension ones, but that’s to be expected.
Possibly you got some bad strings or perhaps there is some mechanical issue such as a sharp edge at the grommet, bridge pin or tuning peg; or taking tension up too quickly relative to all the other strings.
Good luck!
BiagioWhen I’ve sold harps overseas I generally prefer an electronic wire fund transfer, though I will accept PayPal. You should consult your bank and Andrew for the wire instructions. There is a fee for the wire and one for the monetary conversion – work that out with Andrew, I’m sure he is familiar with it and will tell you his preferences.
Biagio
Carlos Salzedo famously inspected his students’ nails and would not let them take a lesson if he did not like what he saw. A bit extreme perhaps, but it seems to me that if the student is not wiling to follow directions to at least some degree they have a big problem.
Consistently using the nails on gut will fray them very quickly – synthetics are much harder. Those of us who play both wire and nylon/gut use both nails and pads which requires some minor changes in technique; any longer than 2mm though and it is very difficult to control the tone. Very long nails would also be difficult on wire strings (they catch and the nail often breaks).
Harsh as it may sound, I would tell the student, “Look, I cannot teach you good technique for the nylon or pedal harp that way. So you might consider wire strung or even better South American. Those harps also cost a lot less.”
Biagio
Just to add to the chorus…..
Some things a motivated person can learn on their own such as notation and music theory, but putting that knowledge into use is an entirely different issue. The harp is seductive in that you can make pretty sounds from the first without any formal training but I could not go much beyond that with the best of motivation and self-teaching material.
I actually got into harping around age 55 after some years making stringed instruments (but not playing any of them!). So I did have a pretty good grounding in some theory. Finally decided I’d better learn and the harp seduced me.
My first teacher passed away after the first year and I was self-teaching for the next three. Plugging along, until moving and starting weekly lessons – boy were there a lot of habits that needed correcting: starting with posture for goodness’ sakes. After a year or so I went to bi-weekly lessons (supplemented with workshops and harp circles). Only now after three years of that have I gone back to solo and only for two reasons:
1) I want to work on areas that don’t benefit all that much from regular lessons – improvisation, ear training, some unusual techniques
2) Have “graduated” to the wire strung harp, which has it’s own peculiarities, many of which are not amenable to gut/nylon playing methods.
At the now tender age of 65 I have no interest in becoming a great performer or even a particularly adequate one. Never the less I’ll be taking lessons again soon enough:-)
Biagio
Hi Prajna,
I’d have to say that the Troubadour is better for both classical and “celtic”; on the other hand, if you intend to take the harp with you a lot, especially in hospital situations, go for the lighter and less expensive Ravenna. Nothing wrong with the Ogden, but it sort of bridges the gap between the other two: lighter tension than the Troub, more expensive than the Ravenna.
Welcome!
BiagoCarl, please do let us know when the lever version is available next month – that would be a wonderful addition to peoples’ libraries.
Biagio
Yup. We can know in general terms how things will sound with a brand new design – hard, closed-cell wood = brighter, crisper; higher tension = more color possible; longer bass strings = more sustain; gut = mellower and less sustain than nylon etc. Put we cannot look at each of these in isolation, we must guesstimate their interaction as a dynamic whole. Once built, there will still be unanswered questions for some time.
How much belly after it has settled in? How much after five years? How much flex in the neck and pillar? How much string breakage if we’ve pushed the tension envelope? And many more.
Even the most experienced makers go through several model revisions. It is extremely rare for the first version to be a case of “That’s it!!” So what do they do? Well, they decide on the general parameters and tweak. If the only tweaks are to the strings, that will be a bit of expense, but more likely the next time around there will be structural tweaks…so we’re not talking about the cost of one harp but of several from the harp maker’s standpoint.
Which also goes some way to explaining why a custom build will cost more than the makers’ standard models – he or she is not going to be terribly motivated by doing a one off:-)
Biagio
Biagio
Welcome indeed to the wonderful world of the harp!
Vancouver Island is a big place and very beautiful, and there are a number of harpists there but no teachers as far as I know (Valerie Blessley being the closest in the city of Vancouver).
There are however a number of resources that I would encourage you to join: The Puget Sound Folk Harp Society, the International Society of Folk Harpers and Craftsmen, and the Virtual Harp Circle Yahoo! group.
There are excellent teacher who are members of these and teach via Skype. The Puget Sound Folk Harp Society has several annual get-togethers and members range in location from Portland Oregon to Alaska.
Welcome again!
BiagioIf you have a friend who would do that for you, that would be a good idea but I would not hire someone I did not know. As for that particular harp, it may be OK but it is not anything special in construction. Only the box sides are cherry, the rest is baltic birch ply, so I would guess the soundboard is too. You would be better off I think paying a little more for a new kit in that price range.
You always take a chance and sometimes it works out pretty well, sometimes not. I just did some repair work on an elderly Argent Fox double strung and it should sound fairly good now – but the present owner got it for free (due to the needed repairs) from someone that she and I both know very well.
Biagio
Well, yeah Wil. Dusty’s top of the line 36 sells for $6,395 and while a very nice harp it is not a custom build.
“Steep learning curve” yes, and also an expensive one. There is no guarantee that when built it will sound like what the customer wants after all, even if it looks like it. Trust me on this:-)
Biagio
I definitely agree with you Tacye. Especially for a custom harp the maker would want to select the lumber – both for matching grain and for it’s sound.
French polish is indeed lovely but it is also time consuming and not as hard as nitro-cellulose lacquer, which most professionals prefer. Polyurethane is the least desirable but it’s OK if the instrument is otherwise not particularly high quality. Many have recently begun to follow guitar makers’ lead and use Tru-oil(R) on the body (a hard oil rub which can look very much like a french polish), and lacquer on the sound board.
I think it is a question more of product quality. If the harp design is meant to be just a decent quality there is not much point in going to extraordinary lengths on the finish. A top quality custom lever harp on the other hand will cost the maker $1500 or more for strings and levers alone, probably up to another $1000 for the wood, so the luthier would undoubtedly devote more time and effort to the finish.
Biagio
Well, I have to agree with Wil, although the harp size and other essential details are lacking in this post. Here’s a break down: unless you are yourself an experienced harp designer you will have to leave that up to the maker. Design alone for a custom harp can take several weeks – that is around $1000 at least. Labor at the same rate: $2000 – $4000. So before we get into issues such as depreciation and other overhead that harp has already cost the maker about $4000 or more; never mind that the luthier will have to take time away from his standard models and build new custom jigs and fixtures for yours.
Many will do custom work but I don’t know of any who will take that on without a substantial nonrefundable deposit. You could of course rent a shop and make your harp to your own satisfaction. Or “hook up” with friendly luthier and help him in his shop in exchange – I know a couple of people who have done that.
They mean all the lever harps, compare to violin or classical guitar, lute…. Are low quality, ugly finish.
I really do not understand this statement at all, but good fortune with your search in any case.
Biagio
A solid hour seems pretty long to me even for most adults. Breaking it up into – let us say – 15 minute periods as others suggest would be a good idea, with each section logically connected to the next. I think that anything can be made “fun”, even stamp and clap! But for specific games here are several:
Play that tune: choose a short section from something not typically “harpy” – for example Presley’s “Hound Dog” refrain. Have the student figure out the melody by ear, and then a chord progression.
Messing with keys and shapes: Again, choose a short section with I IV V triad progression, then try substitute chords and/or inversions; then different keys. What happens if we shift the whole thing up four notes? What happens if we keep the progression but change keys for the melody?
Improv: Set up a regular chord progression and rhythm, then the student begins an accompaniment in the melody hand. Then you pick that up, perhaps changing tempo and dynamics. Back to the student and so on.
In my experience, kids have the most fun when they are actually discovering things on their own rather than repeating an exercise (which of course is also necessary). Adults too, including me:-)
Biagio
Both terms are used very loosely these days it seems, so it is a bit difficult to answer. Tension however is not the main issue but shape; this may affect volume but then again it may not in comparing the two.
A classic gothic harp shape will be quite tall with a thin neck and narrow sound box, horse hair strings and – typically – bray pins if it is a historical recreation. That would indeed have a soft voice and to many modern ears an unpleasant one.
Modern luthiers have borrowed the shape and widened the box, stringing with nylon and gut but whether that would be lower tension and less volume than a “celtic” depends on the latter design. A friend of mine is selling a “gothic” recreation by David Kortier. It does indeed have a softer voice but that is because the sound board grain runs vertically so tension must be lower than if it ran horizontally. However it has levers, is strung with fluorocarbon and no bray pins. Basically, David copied the shape from an old painting but modernized it otherwise.
A “celtic” is even more difficult to pin down as to what is meant, aside from the general shape: usually a shorter neck but not always. When I hear “Celtic harp” I think of low headed wire strung – most people probably think of something else. On the other hand I have a Clark Irish harp which was originally strung with gut back in 1926. Relatively softer voice now with lighter tension nylon strings so it’s pretty hard to say.
Sorry I can’t be any more accurate; probably the best approach is to decide on what one wants and then compare three or four different models.
Biagio
