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Which is not to say that there are not plenty of harp makers in Europe (and elsewhere) that one could contact; see The Harp Lust List from Mike Nielsen:
http://www.weddingharper.com/harplust.html
I don’t know whether that community is as tightly knit as here. But you have to love harp makers, they freely share a lot of information. Said Robbie Robinson, “Each one teach one.”
Mae, I don’t know why there seem to be fewer resources in Europe than the US, but I suspect it has something to do with tradition and something to do with just how folk harps revived. In the US the revival got it’s boost in California in the 1970s during the “back to folk music” period. There were just a handful of young adventurous people who started to make harps and these names should ring a bell: Jay Witcher, Betty Truitt, Robbie Robinson and family (which include Joan and Phil Lamere at VT Strings), Ray and Sue Mooer (Dusty Strings), Mark Bolles (who owned Markwood Strings)….a vital core group who were also all musicians with many musician friends! As interest grew so did demand for more variations and support.
It is interesting to me that some of the famous names in Europe are also or primarily pedal harp makers: Camac, Pilgrim, Salvi, etc. We have L&H – owned by Salvi – and they only got into “real” folk harps recently, the Troubadour being the classic case of pedal envy.
Moving along…it’s true that a small harp with a low range is tricky to make out of a model intended for a higher range. But not impossible to design, just sort of a very specific one to get nice tone. Some have done that: Bob McNally and Dwight Blevins, for example and I have a design for a 26 with the lowest string a C2. Strings for something like that are very expensive. Dwight’s (and mine if I ever do it) are specifically meant for therapy music; pretty much a niche market. If I do it, though, it will be for fun to use up wood/hardware – and also the last harp I make:-)
Sorry for the ramble!
Saul, I think it would have to be pretty general, at least in the lever harps world as there are so many variations. With respect to size we might generalize that taller harps will have more sustain than shorter ones and wider boards produce more volume than narrower ones. Solid wood boards better tone than laminates over time, gut mellower than nylon, Savarez alliance in between. About the only exceptions are lever expense and weight (bubinga heavier than walnut, #5 pegs heavier than #4, don’t ask me about zither pegs). But even as I write I can think of exceptions to all of those!
Biagio
Honestly, I don’t know of any harp makers who actually go much beyond the Taylor equation (except one guy who is a acoustic physicist in Canada). Most have learned about this stuff by trial and error, and asking just the same sort of question! As long as we’re on the math topic though…
Recall that the harmonic curve is logarithmic and it begins to slope up sharply just a little past middle C. Therefore ideally string lengths would follow that curve. They don’t of course for reasons of practicality, but it does explain why a longer string may sound better than a shorter denser one for the same note and tension.
Natch there are constraints: I had to buy a soft case made for a 34 string in order to fit my 26!! But it was worth it to me to get the tone I want.
Biagio
Mae, sorry to read of the issues here! The first is easy, the second not so much. For the pin’s sharp edges, smooth them with abrasive cord. This stuff is rather like dental floss with carbide coating. I don’t know who specifically in the UK would stock this, most likely a machinist tool supplier. Alternatively a professional harp maker or repairer. I buy mine from Kolacny Music since I’m out in the sticks and know they have it.
“SO my question number 2 is: From a scientific point of view, if the woody sound IS caused by a stupidly low TS%, why is it that a long string with a low TS% sound fine when a short one with the same TS% doesn’t? How does that come into the maths?”
Here’s my guess:
It comes into the maths but the math gets more complicated and are not in the Taylor equation. If you could see the vibrating string in slow motion you would observe that it does not look like a two dimensional sine wave. Rather it is a circular motion with (ideally) the nodes, which are the harmonic points, remaining perfectly still. When a string is short with respect to it’s density (i.e. “low %TS”) those nodes are shifting side to side and up and down. They do in a longer string too but it is not as noticeable. We can try to solve that with somewhat higher tension. But we dropped the range a lot on that C side, and it sounds like just too much, if I’m right.Unless it is all holding pitch well being still settling in could also be part of the problem since vibrations on one side will be picked up on the other and you can’t muffle them out – they’re going through the SB. If it’s only been a few tunings, keep going awhile and let the strings continue to stretch. Doubles sound horrible until they (finally!) stabilize – which can be several weeks.
Possibly unrelated: if I recall Gary uses just one inner rib with the strings spaced about 1″ apart side to side. That area is acoustically dead, so that C side may not be driving the SB surface sufficiently compared to the other side. Not much we can do about that I’m afraid.
I don’t have a print out of what are on it now, so that’s just my guess. In your shoes I’d give another call or email to VT Strings if it doesn’t settle down enough.
Well on the bright side, at least we know that the “G on side C the other” is sound in principle.
Biagio
I’ve always seen “muffle” with respect to pedal and lever harps; “damp” with respect to wire strung. Beats me why. As a wild guess maybe because wire harpers “finger damp” – usually only one or two ringing strings – whereas harpists more often use the palm of the hand over a range(?)
Since the book is directed at the blind I’m guessing that, ergonomically, a finger damp would be thought easier for return placement on gut/nylon as well.
Or maybe not:-)
Biagio
Allegra-
Sounds like quite a plan! Whether or not you will need to muffle those other strings probably will depend on what happens with a pick-up, and your particular tuner.
Interesting factoid: many tuners used without a pickup will “pick up” (sorry) the frequency of your country’s power supply (and all the little gadgets plugged into it). In the US that is 60 Hertz (approximately a B). At 50 Hertz, about a G. Used to just drive me cuckoo – well ok more cuckoo than usual.
You may not need to muffle with a mic but if you do, here’s a trick techies use when installing/adjusting levers or regulating a pedal harp. They will weave a length of foam through the bass strings, which are usually the guilty parties.
It all sounds very complicated but as you practice tuning it gets much much easier. I’m sure Tacye will give you excellent guidance on using harmonics for the lower octave – my harps seem to need that approach more often in the treble:-)
Biagio
Biagio
I stand corrected on the stringing side – what was I smoking? Back to the leftie question though; I can’t imagine reaching under the neck on any harp – unless you count a triple strung -grin.
Interestingly, Paul Dooley and Patrick Ball sometimes play a smaller wire harp with it resting on the ground so the knee is only a bit above their knees. I hate to imagine how their backs feel after an hour of that. Robert ap Huw’s manuscript has been extensively studied – certainly the structures were different from what most of us know today.
OK a few more thoughts here for what they’re worth…..
Gluing in eyelets: optional of course but if later removal is a concern I’d use CVA (Krazy Glue) rather than a “yellow glue”. The latter is a pain to dissolve (needs heat and moisture), CVA dissolves readily with acetone (nail polish remover).
I use short pieces of leather bootlace rather than splines these days. If anyone wants leather washers you can buy those from Vermont Strings or buy leather guitar strap pads (about $5 US/10 from Amazon). Or “do as I do” and cut them out of an old leather belt:-)
I take new nylon strings up to tension right away and after a day or two a step higher. Getting a double to hold pitch takes a lot longer than a single and that nylon has a lot of stretching to do, not to mention the soundboard belly.
Good to hear the strings are going on!
A few thoughts for what they’re worth…..
We usually find the melody in the treble, since peoples’ ears and brain “assign” the higher notes that way. As a baritone, I would grumble that the sopranos always got the easy (read melody) parts.
WRT to which hand carries the melody with a harp, I’d suggest that is more a function of makers’ right handedness market bias when they set up their jigs than of the music per se. Since they majority of people are right handed that’s what they do for efficient production. You can however request a harp made for left hand dominant play and most will make it for you. Albeit at a slight surcharge, sometimes, but not always.
Side note: Traditionally the wire harp was placed against the left shoulder so it was strung on the RH side. I don’t know why, it’s an interesting question. If you play a double or cross strung, of course being ambidextrous is a good thing:-)
Same with levers. If a shop uses Lovelands they will pre-drill for those, so if you want Truitts they’ll do those, that but you have to pay for the extra set up time.
The larger shops are, by virtue of their production size, less flexible than smaller ones, but I can’t think of any who will not be happy to make a customer happy.
With pianos and most pedal harps of course you’re stuck.
Biagio
This is a great thread, thanks to all who contribute! One other thought/suggestion which may or may not work depending on the location and other circumstances…
People are invariably fascinated by the harp and especially children; everyone wants to touch it and play it themselves but are often too shy to ask. Or parents snatch the kids away (kids are almost never shy!). So if you can, bring along a second small ‘harp shaped object’ that you won’t mind people playing around with.
In my part of the world we call this a “harp petting zoo.” The HSO need not be particularly fancy – in fact, the more interesting the better. Two of my friends (in Maine) did this with – honest, I’m not kidding – a hollowed out pumpkin. Check it out:
Biagio
I suppose (replying to Allegra) a lot depends on your harp, your tuner, and your ear (grin). Since I started out as a lever harp builder, not a player, my main concern was setting those things and an analog Korg worked just fine. Yes the needle will jump at the initial attack, but let it stabilize. For those trebles using the nail in the exact middle with repeated plucks may help both to eliminate false readings (yes it is probably the harmonic) and get a good reading at all. Nowadays I use a Snark which is better; I don’t really need a strobe’s much better accuracy.
My teacher recently retrieved her old Caswell wire harp and when I go over for a lesson we tune together. Laurie has a wonderful ear after 30 years but yes, we are stretch tuning. Often the reference pitch is a G since that gives us the fundamental or fifth for either G or C tuning.
She also convinced me that just trying to tune by ear the first time is a good idea and should be part of my practice routine. “You can always go back and check with the tuner if it sounds off” she said, ‘but get in the habit of really listening, especially if you want to eventually play by ear.” She was right.
Honestly – and I really hope this is not too discouraging or disparaging – I don’t think that harp’s tone can be improved very much. The material used for the soundboard is simply too thick to respond well and of inferior quality no matter what is put on it. So I’d not spend much on wound strings or higher quality/higher density ones (gut, Nylgut, fluorocarbon).
The largest diameter Tynex nylon commonly available is 0.060″/1.52mm so maybe give that a try for the lowest two or three and see if there’s any improvement. There’s also no harm in asking a string maker what they would suggest. Quite possibly they will have worked on your harp model and have the specs on file. Here in the US the two I use are Robinson’s Harp/Vermont Strings and Markwood; in the UK I understand a good source is Salopian strings.
Good luck with it!
I second Charles, absolutely. From the description, none of your strings are wound and I would also presume on a “beginner’s harp” they are nylon and the board probably a ply, not solid wood. High quality ply boards (better known as aircraft grade laminate) can take higher tension at the same thickness than solid wood ones. But without knowing these details I’d hesitate say anything more than a general “Yes, you can with AFTER analyzing it.”
Certainly playing round with tension is one way to look at it, but in the low range there is a trade-off between tension, diameter, material; and by extension stiffness. A string with a thick diameter may well sound worse than a thinner one even if both are at the same tension. Definitely consult with a professional string maker.
BiagioAs I understand stretch tuning for the harp the idea is basically to have a perfectly tuned mid range to which all other octaves reference. Is that correct Charles? Thirds fifths and octaves are then the checks (or “proofs” as Boscha calls them); playing the first harmonics I find to also be helpful. I’m no expert.
Biagio
