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The problem is not the string but rather the angle of the string above the stationary post. On lever harps the string has to go from the tuning pin to the stationary post(with the notch in it) more or less in a straight line. If there are too many windings on the tuning pin, and the string above the stationary post angles in towards the wood neck, then it will pull the string out of the notch. You may have to unwind the string from the tuning pin, pull up the slack, and then wind it up again to put the string in a straighter line.
It doesn’t change anything. But when you described this, that’s the make and model I thought it was. For some reason, the older ones all developed this problem. However, I just addressed this same problem on a 30 year old style 30. I had to remove all of the rods, clean them, and actually put them back in the tubes and slide them back and forth, then remove them again and clean them a second time(that gunk is also on the inside of the tube), and then put them back in and hook them up. That took care of the problem.
You didn’t say what the make and model of the instrument were, which could indicate what the problem is. But I suspect that the issue is the pedal rods inside the tubes in the column. Chances are the lubrication that was used has dried out and is causing this. I would try removing the G rod and cleaning it off with paint thinner or turpentine. Then recoat it with oil and put it back in. If it works better then that was the problem. If not, then it’s probably something similar in the action. But I doubt that’s the case.
Lyon & Healy, Wurlitzer, Venus, Swanson, Aoyama all have this type action. Salvi and Camac do not. Newer Lyon & Healy Semi-grands have Salvi actions on them
In the middle and upper register of the instrument, if the backplate screw is not tight enough, you may not get that chattering but it can make the pitch kind of fuzzy and unclear. Tightening the backplate screw a bit can usually clear that up. It won’t give you more sound, just clearer sound. But something like that is best left to a qualified technician.
Mel- Each disc on the harp is screwed onto a spindle-a steel bar that runs between the two action plates. Each spindle has a brass action arm pressed onto knurling on its shaft and the linkage is riveted to the action arm.
The chain of movement in a pedal harp when you move a pedal is this: When you press your foot on the brass pedal, that moves the steel pedal bar inside the pedestal, which moves the pedal rod that runs up the column, which moves the main action gears at the column end of the action. Those gears divide the pedal rod movement between the natural and sharp chains, i.e., the linkage. The linkage moves the brass action arm which moves the spindle which moves the disc.
Each spindle has a disc screwed onto it on the string side of the neck, and has a hollow back plate screw with a little spring in it pressing on it from the back plate side of the instrument. The head of the spindle is cone shaped and so the back plate screw presses the cone shaped spindle head into a cone shaped hole in the front plate. If the back plate screw is not pressing the spindle hard enough against the front plate, the spindle will chatter back and forth between the front and back plates when the string is plucked(and the disc engaged). If it is pressing the spindle too hard against the front plate, it can bind up the chain so it moves hard or not at all. So the trick is to adjust the back plate screw so it pushes the spindle head against the front plate hard enough to not chatter, but not so hard that it binds up the movement.
Back plate screws have to be tighter(meaning pressing harder against the back end of the spindle) at the bass end of the action then higher up because the string tension is higher and the swing of the vibrating string is greater than higher on the instrument.
When you press your thumb against the prongs of a disc, you’re checking to see how hard the back plate screw is pressing on the spindle. If you can’t press the spindle back at all, then the back plate screw is too tight and should be backed off a little.
I’m sure that’s far more than you ever wanted to know about your harp action!
Barbara- I think that’s probably it. Who know what the market forces were at that time. maybe the double action was introduced at a very good price. maybe it was the ‘look’ that interested people. Maybe the overall mechanism worked more smoothly and more accurately than the Nadermann single actions. Any or all of these things could have sparked interest and sales initially.
-I can’t think of a single recorded anecdote of anyone looking at the early pedal harps and getting all bent out of shape about the idea. Anyone else know of one?-
Ooooooooh yes! Naderman for one, who himself was a builder of the single action pedal harp. In the introduction to his Methode, there is a long diatribe about the double action pedal harp, in essence saying that there isn’t anything that you can do on the double action harp that you can’t do on a single action, except perhaps some cheap effects like glissandos.
What harpists of the day did, as you would expect, is buy the double action harp and use it like a single action instrument, because that’s what they were used to. They would tune it in E flat and then use half of the mechanism. Even Berlioz complained about this in his treatise on orchestration.
This is why Parish-Alvars is so important to the history of the harp. He’s like the kid with a Rubic’s cube. He was the one who figured out what the double action harp could really do and wrote pieces that for the first time in harp history could ONLY be played on the double action harp. it’s interesting to me that he almost never used the glissando effect. But in addition to figuring out how to use the full pedal mechanism, he also figured out how to write more effectively on the harp, with widely spaced chords that reached well over an octave in each hand.
There’s a machinist’s dye called DYKEM and it comes in both red and dark blue. I’ve used it to color wire strings. I was talking to Sam Milligan tonight and he uses it to dye gut strings. It dries fast and won’t rub off or bleed onto your fingers or other strings. You can get it in any industrial hardware store.
They probably will. I told Emanuel this morning that this is too late for most Americans to do this year. I would suggest you contact this link next January or February and see what they have to offer.
They probably will. I told Emanuel this morning that this is too late for most Americans to do this year. I would suggest you contact this link next January or February and see what they have to offer.
They probably will. I told Emanuel this morning that this is too late for most Americans to do this year. I would suggest you contact this link next January or February and see what they have to offer.
I just read all the posts on this thread for the first time. Interesting comments. It seems that different people’s skin, and finger tips, do different things. When I’m practicing a lot, I get very thick callus on my finger tips that can become too thick to be able to control the release of the string. The thick callus forms into a ridge as I practice. I use 150 grit black finishing sandpaper to (carefully) sand down the callus and especially the ridge until it’s the way I want it. I will sometimes use hand cream, especially in winter, to keep the skin from getting so hard that it can crack(ouch!).
