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Second to Biagio’s suggestion. If many are broken, perhaps they were gut. It could likely be replaced with nylon of proper tension, which is much less expensive for one you aren’t playing yet.
One sure way is to contact the builder. William Webster, Warren, MI, (313) 570-8385. Or that is the number I could find. Have the serial number handy. Or Michigan Harp Center. Someone here might have a string chart also.
Last, if you haven’t done it before, for heaven’s sake have a technician do it or teach you. There will be a lot of tuning required to stretch the strings in.
Frankly, if they are not broken, and you won’t be playing, I wouldn’t string until a month or two before you start. Just keep it in reasonable time.
Don’t neglect pre-owned either. Good deals can be had, and they will have already developed their full voice. The classifieds here on harp column are a good place to start.
Re: qualities of sound between any similar harps. You can not tell unless you are in person. Microphones, room, and post-recording handling can make anything sound better or worse.
Also, every model of harp has examples that will be better or worse to your ears and under your fingers.
You will lose hundreds to thousands reselling a harp you don’t like. Is it really impossible to play in person?
The exception might be if you don’t play yet. If not, rent one for a while and learn what you like.
Be sure you or your technician can get parts for either in the u.s. Also check on how available the special Silk Gut Copper strings for the Una are here. You will need parts, regulation, and strings at some point.
@sean O. I have assumed they were speaking of Premier. Apparently some harps respond favorably to the gauging series that Premier specifies, and some to the Bow gauges, which Vanderbilt uses.
Ask the owner who the harp tech was, then ask him/her. They should have records.
Vanderbilt are gauged to match Bow gauges–they are not interchangable with Camac gauges. Camac harps are designed for the Camac gauge, from their branded strings. Premier is a different gauge–close to Bow, but might require regulation. On a Camac, best bet is it is Camac branded strings.
But ask the tech to be sure.
If that fails, you can get/borrow a micrometer and gauge them out, matching to the Camac/Premier/Vanderbilt scale gauge from their respective websites. Camac branded strings are sized in metric, so if you are in the US, you will want a metric reading micrometer to save a lot of conversion. Any machinist, even an occasional hobbyist, will have a micrometer.
From the question phrasing, I’m assuming you are talking about a concert pedal harp with gut strings. The below applies only to this specific case.
It would be harp to know exactly. The colors from Bow, Savarez, and Camac are slightly different shades, but they also vary within the line from batch to batch.
You could possibly take a micrometer and gauge them and compare against a string chart hoping for a match. Bow has three gauge sequences: Light, Standard, and Heavy. Camac has several also. And the tolerance for each string is fairly wide. You might only make it more confusing.
Camac harps and string scales are a bit different from Bow (L&H/Salvi), meaning that changing brands should need a regulation after. I don’t recall which scale Savarez follows on their gut strings.
Backing up a bit, and knowing how much a set of strings costs, it is odd to me that an owner wouldn’t remember. Either 1) they have been using whatever was at hand for replacements, or 2) they are not keeping spares in the same brand. Either of these may throw the regulation off as broken strings are replaced with ones of different diameter. A third possibility is that it has been so long ago (or never) since a complete restring. In either case, you will need to restring to match manufacturers specs (unless you know you want to change gauge and why you want to) and have the harp regulated.
As a closing note, I’d say that the brand (not scale) of the string is the _least_ important thing in the sound of the harp. Restringing with a different brand won’t cure a terrible sound. Restringing with a different scaling/gauge _might_ help with a weak/loud/bright/dull octave or range, matching it in better to the rest of the harp, but that is all. Age of strings, particularly wires, can make the entire instrument dull dead-sounding; restringing with new will help that.
Pay attention to any other issues that the harp may have first, they all cost more to fix than replacing strings.
I have–and many others will have as well. I was 52 when I bought the pedal, and it is mostly used publicly for church, where I used the lever previously.
I do still keep the lever harp, which is smaller than yours, but it is played less and less. That is primarily because I am a strong male with large vehicles, and I don’t mind moving the pedal If it were a problem to move, I would use the lever much more. However, in your case, moving a Troubadour is already a pretty big deal.
Most of the hymn accompaniments I played worked fine on the lever. Some required creative (and fast) use of levers. Whether it works depends a lot on what music your denomination uses.
My particular pedal has a far greater dynamic range — both softer and louder — than my lever, while retaining a “musical” sound. That will vary GREATLY from harp to harp. Fast changes of key signature between pieces are also much easier–but you will have to learn to use the pedals on tempo and accurately, so it is another skill to learn and practice. Every accidental on pedal means a pedal change; sometimes on lever one might set octaves in a different way and have no changes in a piece even with accidentals.
One thing you will probably find is that a well-regulated pedal will have more accurate intonation and less damping than your Troubadour II. Those levers are not great nor easy to use quickly. On the other hand, you will also have to PAY for strings and regulation. More strings, more wires, more gut strings (are yours nylon?) plus regulation at least every few years will add considerable expense, not to mention if (when) you need major work done. Buying the harp is only the beginning.
In response to your last question, I would not go back for anything, because the literature I love is the great French harp composers. It was written for double-action pedal (or chromatic), with that sound in mind. However, many extremely excellent harpists do amazing things on a lever harp. Look at videos by Ray Pool, Frank Voltz, Kim Robertson, Deborah Henson-Conant, and many others. Some lever harps can also have an amazing large sound: current builders like Pratt and Rees come to mind, besides some of the L&H, Salvi, and Camac models.
@wil-weten and I posted about the same time. I agree with every point he makes.As an instrument builder, I would not be concerned about solid wood vs ply for durability. Yes, solid wood may have flaws, but they are generally visible to anyone who knows what to look for, and Rees certainly knows. Ply will guaranteebly have flaws in one or more layers, but hidden and strengthened by the other layers.
Solid wood is much more resistant to humidity changes than people think. It takes weeks for wood to adjust to a new humidity. Building in the tropics shipping to an owner in the desert is asking for trouble, but being outside is often closer to a nominal 50% RH than inside. You wouldn’t take either harp out in the rain, I assume, and I would avoid strong direct sun, but otherwise wouldn’t worry about taking one outside for a few hours. If you are reasonably comfortable, the harp will be fine.
However, if you plan on the harp being stable in tune with changes from inside to outside, I would lean strongly to flourocarbon stringing. Nylon particularly absorbs and releases moisture and changes tune in response to humidity. Gut changes pitch some, but less than nylon, and also weakens when damp. Fluorocarbon hardly absorbs moisture at all. But then it sounds different, because a smaller gauge is often used to keep the tension comparable to nylon or gut.
Since so many things, some even correct, can be found on line, a list of exactly what you have tried already would be useful, and save time.
Since so many things, some even correct, can be found on line, a list of exactly what you have tried already would be useful, sand save time.
I’ve always understood that D.C. and D.S. did _not_ include the repeats. However in searching around the internet, I find there is some controversy about that for Beethoven and later. For Classical and earlier period, though, without repeats is assumed unless indicated otherwise. Musically, you’re likely looking at a recapitulation of material you’ve already played twice (at least). I’d think four times (with repeats) would often be really boring.
But what works musically? Are the repeats with improvisation?
The rules may be entirely different for pop songs, especially ones that originally had lyrics.
My ensemble partner and I use a head nod up, then down on the downbeat. If you have rehearsed, you’ll know what tempo to expect. We let whomever is playing the melody give the nod.
Ok, so that is F above middle C, right? The grommet should be quite enough larger than the string for it to fit through easily.
See if any of this sounds possible: I had a harp once in the shop where the owner had replaced a string without a toggle, then pulled the knot up into the hole, and the string broke. The knot wedged there below the grommet, buried in the sound board. The hole looked clear from both top and bottom, but you could not see through from top to bottom, or get a string through. Light would pass through, because it was a clear string. I used a pin punch that matched the hole diameter to drive it out from the top to inside the harp. The size has to be pretty close to the inside of the grommet. The owner had already tried things too small, and had only driven the knot further into the sound board.
Unfortunately, I don’t own a L&H harp to check what the correct diameter should be for the punch in your case. If you have a machinist friend, they would have pin punch sets in every size. Where are you located? Someone on the board may perhaps be near by.
Or is the string a wire?
Are you threading the string through from the top or from inside?
Are you dead sure the buzz is coming from the grommet? What about prongs/regulation or the groove on the nut?
We also may need more info on what you mean by xylophonic–when I think of xylophonic, I think of plucking while the left hand is damping the strings right at the soundboard–which never creates a buzz sound–more like a string sound that is partially damped.
