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Tacye- Not exactly. In oil gilding an oil based varnish is brushed onto the parts to be gilded. It is then left for several hours, until it has cured enough to be solid(no longer liquid) but still has a tacky surface. The gold leaf is laid on this surface. Oil gilding is fast and easy compared to Water gilding. It gives you a textured surface that is not completely smooth. It has to be used for deep recesses in carved surfaces.
Water gilding involves the use of a very fine clay mixed with hide glue. It is painted on the surface to be gilded, allowed to dry, and then is sanded smooth. To lay the gold, small sections of the surface are brushed with water which releases the glue in the clay for a few seconds. The gold is quickly laid on this wet surface. Water gilding gives you a seemless even surface(when done right). Water gilding can be burnished to a mirror shine, whereas oil gilding cannot. Water gilding cannot be done in deep recesses. It is very time consuming when compared to oil gilding.
Barbara- There isn’t a finish in the world that won’t change color over time. Some take more time, some take less. Also, the conditions in which the finish is kept has a large bearing on this. If it’s in a sunny window, it will deteriorate faster. A smoker in the house, or salt air will also cause the finish to change.
If the gold harp is never moved, the gold never touched, the humidity constant between 40% and 60% roughly, it should last indefinitly.
I have a gilder here in Boston who is a genious at restoring the gilding on banged up harps. Many times I have brought her the parts of a gold harp that was badly dinged, scuffed, abraded, and whatever else one can do to a harp, and when she is done, the harp looks like nothing had ever happened to it. But each regilding job is different. When she gets an instrument in, she has to first do some tests to see what she is dealing with. Is the gesso deteriorating, loose, or cracked? Has the gilding already been repaired? Many other questions as well have to be answered before she can decide what she has to do with the instrument and how much it will cost. Trust me, you don’t want anyone but an expert to work on gilding.
Here’s an example of what can happen when gilding is not done correctly.
A client of mine brought her gold 23 to me this year. It was actually my first harp, built in 1917. It had been rebuilt many years ago(but after I sold it) by a VERY FAMOUS COMPANY, and they had completely regilded it. The gilding was looking pretty sad now, some 25 years later. She wanted the gilding repaired.My gilder studied it and ran some tests. She almost turned white as she did this. She kept muttering under her breath ‘Oh my God, Oh my God.” Rule number one of repairing gilding is that you cannot put new gesso on top of old gesso. It won’t stick. You have to clean old gesso off right down to bare wood and then start again. The VERY FAMOUS COMPANY’S gilders had removed most but not all the old gesso and then re-gesso’d the entire column. Now, 25 years later, the gold and gesso were pealing off the column in long strips! My gilder, who thought originally that this would be an extensive repair job told the client that the only way to repair this was to strip the entire column (again) down to bare wood and start over.
A less experienced gilder, or a con artist would have given a low-ball price and done repairs that would have lasted less than a year. There are so many things that can go wrong with gilding that you should not shop around for the lowest price, but rather the most experienced gilder.
Tacye- My understanding is that Kim or someone else in her office reviews all of the new posts every day and anything offensive is deleated. I just put a post up on that Venus/Lyon& Healy comparison thread, and I would repeat here that people should think carefully about how they word their questions or posts. I think in that case it was inappropriate to pose a question that basically asked ‘which one is better, Venus or L & H.’ I would be offended for all the harp technicians if someone asked here ‘Who is the best harp technician?’ A much better way of wording the questions in my humble opinion would be ‘Do you own a Venus or a Lyon & Healy, and what do you like/dislike about your harp?’ On the theoretical technician question, it would not offend anyone to ask ‘Which harp technician do you use and what do you like about him?’ Aside from that, it’s difficult to set up ground rules.
You’re correct that gold does not tarnish. But all gilding has to have a clear protective coating over it or it would wear off very very easily(regardless of which company does the gilding). The protective coating can darken over time. Years ago the protective coating was shellac, and under certain circumstances( in a house with a smoker, by the sea, etc.) the shellac can turn a really toxic orangy color.
I recently bought a 1915 style 22 with gilding that was in virtually perfect condition. But the shellac was dark and streaky. I managed to carefully wash off all of the shellac without damaging the gilding. My gilder will recoat it with another protective coating after she does some minor touch up work.
I have to say that, considering the territory that this particular thread has covered since its inception, in retrospect, it might have been a good idea for the Harp Column staff to remove the original post. To ask, in a public forum such as this, if one make of instrument is as good as another, is at the very least in bad taste, and invites anyone with an ax to grind to say anything at all about either of the mentioned companies.
Let me digress briefly. Years ago I did a regulation trip someplace, and someone didn’t like the work that I did on their harp. Instead of dealing with me directly, they told anyone who would listen how incompetent I was, and only much later did I find out that she was doing this. I mentioned it to Dale Barco, a very good friend and at that time the senior traveling harp technician in the United States. Dale told me that I can’t let things like that bother me. “Some people think I do great work, and others hate my guts,” he told me. “I do the same job for everyone.” In talking to different harp technicians over the years, we have all had the same experience at some time. The point here is that the original post asked for personal experiences and opinions, and those vary greatly from person to person.
In my college days, I worked in a fancy hight end restaurant as a waiter. One night there was a duck special on the menue. I remember serving two orders of that duck to one table, and two to another. Minutes later a man at one of the tables motioned to me. When I got to the table he said “This is the best duck I’ve ever had.” Not 5 minutes later a man at the other table motioned for me. “This is the worst duck I have ever had” he said. The difference was in the perception, not in the duck.
Over the years I have regulated, repaired, restored, and seen more harps than I can count. Occasionally one sounded to me like a banjo, but the owner loved the instrument, and it was not my place to contradict her. I don’t believe a thread like this can shed any useful light on either of the companies mentioned, only a bunch of personal experiences. If you’re thinking of buying one make or another of harp, then go play several instruments made by that manufacturer. Preferably, play the one you will buy before buying it. That’s the only experience that will have any validity for you.
Kathleen- Thanks for the nice compliment. I really appreciate it. I’ll have to take a look at the LaBarre. I know the name, but I don’t think I’ve ever looked at them. Anyway, it’s nice to get another testimonial about the use of etudes. You’ve got a good teacher.
Elizabeth- I’ve never looked at the Schmidt etudes. I always assumed that they were concert etudes. I believe they were edited by Pierre Jamet. I’ll have to take a look at them.
Frances- I LOVE hearing when a teacher uses etudes! I hope you get to read the article, and if you are not familiar with the Bochsa 40 easy etudes, I’d really recommend you take a look at them.
Patricia- I’ll have to take a good look at those Pozzoli etudes. I’m really not all that familiar with them. I learned one that I occasionally use on recitals. It was recorded by Lily Laskine and I liked it so much I learned it myself. But I guess there are others too that are worth looking at.
I think etudes are most useful at the beginner and intermediate stages. But even at the advanced stage, etudes can give you stamina for very advanced repertoire.
It’s nice to hear that you’ve gotten such a benefit from using etudes. I hope the article inspires more people to start using them.
I’m assuming you’re talking about the Solfeggieto of C.P. E Bach(son of Johann Sebastian Bach). I’m sure you can get it at Vanderbilt or Lyra.
Laura- That was a wonderful post. In particular about the girl who became a scientist. I have been teaching a talented boy for the past two and a half years. He’s now a senior in high school. I told him and his mother right when he started with me that he was talented enough to be able to do whatever he wanted to do with the harp WITHOUT getting a music degree. I encouraged him to pursue another, non-musical career if he could find one that he would like. It turns out that he’s also passionate about cooking and next September he’ll be going to cooking school. He’ll always play the harp and he’ll be able to do gigs, enter competitions, play auditions, recitals, etc. without getting hideously into debt to get a degree that frankly no one cares about. It’s getting harder and harder for me to find any reason why someone should go to music school, let alone get multiple degrees, the most worthless of which is Doctor of Music.
