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One technique I’ve learned from a piano technician’s forum and difficulties with older pinblocks on that instrument, and I’ve used it with some success on that Scamac harp I was sent that had “Propeller pegs” that literally spun a handle backwards after trying to tune:
A very watered down solution of wood glue in the holes both penetrates and fills the pore of the wood, and slightly expands the wood, better grips the peg after thoroughly drying- use a small artist’s brush.
I got that first little Pixie 19 string harp back in about 2004, after writing a script called “The Hearpe”. So I was 50 then and played a little piano and guitar. I recall I started playing it from the other end with the sound box away from me until I got on the internet and saw some pictures.
Now I find it an enchanting instrument and have several including the latest steel string 26. But I still can’t give it as much time as I’d like and it has to stay behind the classical guitar and keys and about- no pun intended!- even with violin in the attention I can give it- which should be RIGHT NOW instead of writing inanities on the “misinformation highway” as it’s becoming.
Happy Holidays!
I started on keyboards as an adult back in the ’80s.
Then I got some piano lessons and love piano, though never give it enough time. I also started on classical guitar in the mid-90’s because some broken fingers made steel string seem harder, and had some lessons at LA Community College. I too got into ukes five or six years ago, which help on guitar and opened up more strumming, which is not encouraged in Classical finger style, but which I think may lead to easier song writing. Harps I’ve eased into this century, and a little more serious all the time, but spread thin, because I’ve also taken up violin the past six years or so- and wish I’d started that 10 or 20 years sooner. Mandolin sorta blocked that, because I took up mandolin and it’s too small for my hands to chord easily, and I thought fiddle would be the same. So I’m playing a bit on all these and not making really serious progress on any- an intermediate I guess on most- but sometimes an idea or phrase on one takes me to another instrument, and so I’m making progress in general. Flutes and fife and clairinet a bit. Entry instruments are getting cheaper- but I don’t think I have room for cello or sax. Having started in my 30’s it always been about having fun and just staying with a discipline- I can often tell how my body is doing otherwise by how practice goes- and I enjoy them immensely.If I had a pedal harp, I’d probably call it “MOOLAH” except I already have a ukulele called that, so that would be repetitive and wouldn’t work. SPEAk easy!
Egats! I have forgotten one of the children- the recent edition 26 Sharpsicle, who has gained more disfavor for being delivered only last spring with scant sharping levers that resemble not either the “modified Robinson” levers of their description, nor those being still pictured in national corporate advertising, and thus defying the addition of more which was my own hope while not hoping to spend more than the tidy sum since raised yet higher again.
So to the offspring of my birthplace and fourmore state, specifically more Rising Sun Indiana- more local to the scripturally dire SINcINnnati (D&C somewhere)- Mine Own Son will be hencefort known as “Inra the Annuled”.
that is all.
Although I’ve assigned my harps permanent numbers to designate their place in the celestial warrior heathens, and after careful consideration, their Goddess has granted them each a name that lesser tuned mortals may refer to them as-
Therefore- my new 26 wire strung Musicmaker Limrick should be henceforth be addressed by common mortals as ” Lord da Oil Vey Der”, or risk having their breath taken away only to have to ask four m,ore.
My larger firstborn, tribe of Mikel Celtic 34 shall be known as “Heatroah Om, ore”
His smawler Mikel 22 glissbring must be summoned only as “THOUFU EL”, to ensure his correctum symphonic race course ordure.
My Stoney End Eve will fulfill the dictates of her larger 66 Vietnamenclature reefered to as merely “Be Amish Boy 33”
Here is the source I recall seeing a few years back- I think you can get brasswire here in smaller quantity, or even sterling silver for the bass
http://www.earlygaelicharp.info/emporium/wire/
I found this site from this youtube vid.
Anyway, I’m excited to finally have a chance to play some steel- I don’t know- I have really LOUSY fingernails!
Yes- That’s the harp-
Wow, Biagio! Thanks for your post= That helps me tremendously. Music maker has the replacements- so I’ll go that way for now, but may consider brass and red bronze in the future.
Got it fairly cheap, so I’ll have to look closely at the structural integrity.
Also- Musicmakers seems to list different sizes of Loveland tuners for the steel strings. ???? I’ve generally heard that metal strings don’t really lever well. Any opinion there? I’ve got all the tuners off that Scamac fake harp- and they were the only part that were halfway decent.
Stoney End String Charts- wire gauges on the right.
http://www.stoneyend.com/resources.phpJust to follow up for future searches:
I’ve done some searching on the net-
(and for one- the harp is not actually here yet- the pictures of the strings appear quite silver- I’m assuming steel, (sounds boring- brass sounds more interesting) but of course won’t order until I can verify this-Thanks Charles for offering up the many types- Do you have a favorite material or any opinions?
I found one source for Clarsach strings in the UK a few years back while just looking into these, but I haven’t been able to find him now. I’ll amend this if I can find that shoppe.
I found some steel piano wires at ebay- this assortment:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Music-Wire-Assortment-13-Wires-Sizes-0-12/122572530913?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131231084308%26meid%3Dba384a3fca294c4cb3f29c5ff1e81433%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D110421530557%26itm%3D122572530913&_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109and these listed at 10 feet coils in all gauges :
Phosphor Bronze strings in 20 foot coils at Robinsons Harp Shop
http://www.robinsonsharpshop.com/strings.htmlOf some value also I think are alternate steel string harp string charts at Stoney End- I’m waiting to measure the harp- Stoney End lists the height of their harps and corresponding wire string gauges- I think I have a pretty good idea of what gauges I’ll be needing from that
The Robinson levers on the site of the Robinson harp shop (under $7) do not look like the same levers on my Sharpsicle- yet I may try to order one to see if it would fit- several sizes. That’s what I was saying that I think Rees may have more recently changed from “modified Robinson levers) but I haven’t been back to their site for this answer- I don’t think it is there-perhaps a query? time, time time!
My own feeling is that for over a Grand, one can start getting into some serious used harps if you are wiling to take a chance online usually, where at least most vendors may offer a return- so if you got burned it might only be for shipping costs.
The Harpsicles are a really nice practice harp, and with ultra portability, but my own feeling is that the sound is more akin to a 3/4 sized classical guitar- just a little thin and lower of volume at the sake of size and lightness.
On ebay, a 1000 or slightly over can get you something like this in the 26-29 string category if you’re patient
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Salvi-Juno-Harp-Red-27-Strings/292352475312?_trkparms=aid%3D777003%26algo%3DDISCL.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20131230161411%26meid%3D60d0e46245f44f34aae62b288000c236%26pid%3D100012%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D263734136708%26itm%3D292352475312&_trksid=p2047675.c100012.m1985
oror occasionally a Ravenna or Blevins- you might have to replace strings but you’ll be doing some of that anyway. Anyway these are more traditional full sized harps. My 27 Mikel Celtic is nice- full levered and good sound I’m still tweaking, but a little bit heavy to be a lap harp- definitely a floor harp
Kolacny in Denver (I think) usually has a god listing of used harps as wellhttp://kolacnymusic.com/harps_sale/usedconsignment-harps/
and then there is the classified section right here
anyway- enough of me, GOOD LUCK.
The lever situation with harpsicles and sharpsicles and flatsicles and fullsicles is a bit of a personal peeve with me-
The harps are nice for what they are- very light and playable harps- a little limited by the small size of the sound box, but they make the best use of the materials within that configuration. The levers are another matter though.As a small aside it was almost a year ago that I put an order in for an “open box” sharpsicle on Amazon- (Don’t look for one now- you’d be lucky to find one and the finality of my experience told me something of the current small harp market.) Anyway it was at great savings- I’ve had good luck buying blems and even classical guitars in need of saddle reglues, etc, so I didn’t hesitate. A survey of the then current retail prices led me to believe that the prices were on the verge of rising and that proved true.
I think the open box return price was about $360, and the retail on Sharpsicles just crossing the $500 mark otherwise- but I made a fatal flaw.Seeing what I believed was an actual Camac Bardic harp at a great price- they hadn’t stpped making them a year ago- I cancelled the Sharpsicle before it shipped and got involved in a large scam with a fake Pakistani “Camac” harp that took me much frustrating resolving that lasted into January. Some of the folks here may recall my plight with the chintzy fake.
Anyway when that resolved, I returned to looking at Rees harps again- and already having other harps, I still leaned toward the Sharpsicle with levers on the C and F strings. Now the retail prices had risen to $560 or something similar, and no open boxes or returns at any major retailers. I finally gave in and paid a couple hundred more for the same harp I had on order open box and cancelled a few months before.
I’m happy with it- not thrilled beyond words.
I’ve kept a loose eye on cheap harps since the early 2000’s and liked the place the Harpsicles had – it is changing though the instruments are much the same. I find it irritating that the Harpsicle with no levers goes out of its way to make them impossible to add later. When I bought this Sharpisicle, I had intentions on adding more levers if I could- at least three or four, on the G’s to get Key F, but two s=lengthy internet searches now have failed to produce satisfactory results. Rees doesn’t list them on their site- although I haven’t queried them directly, but you’d think they’d be available for breakages and for those who want to add more. Then realized that the levers would have to be inordinately priced to account for the vast retail price differences between the models, Sharp, Flat and Fullsicles. So I think for that marketing reason they are sort of ignored. And I think there may have been a recent change of lever, though not certain yet. Still researching.
Most retailers describe them as “Modified Robinson ” levers, and trying to compare them to tiny pictures of Robinsons levers at Robinsons Harps appears to confirm that they are somewhat different. I now have a bunch of levers off that horrible Camac fake, but they appear not only too large- I’d have to reposition all the strings at least 1/8″ further out they operate the opposite way than the Rees harps- so instead of adding several, I’d have to replace them all probably. I’ll keep looking into finding the right levers, but they don’t seem readily available.The harp is otherwise probably good for a first harp, but the lack of levers on anything but the Fullsicle- over $1000- is limiting, and it’s a lot of money for a small harp- They are nicely designed and the assembly and set-up is precise in my own experience- I sure wish I hadn’t cancelled that open box a year ago. Once a cheap alternative they are getting higher than a lot of beginners might want to pay- but apparently the demand is plentiful and they are in business to make money
Here’s what I did a couple of years ago- I searched craigslist for a stool- there were surprisingly a number and most very cheap- then cut away. The picture is the result- two “harpstands from the same stool- You can very the height easily too. I used them for awhile- the 29 Roosebeck here was sold shortly after, and I of late play my harps- a Mickel Celtic 34 and 27- mostly on the floor . A Stoney End Eve 22 and Rees 26 Sharpsicle are lap harps.
I have both a Mikel Celtic 34 Saffron and a 26 Saffron got a year apart several years back, and have had no bad issues with them except for a lot of the original nylon wound strings breaking rather quickly. The 34 harp I’ve replaced the lower first octave with all steel strings I got from Dusty Strings and the Ravenna strings fit them well except for the winding rising slightly past the pins. I have had no trouble with them though. The 26 I eventually eliminated the lower wound stings and have all monofilament nylon strings I also get from Dusty. I may eventually go back to several wound strings there, but it’s a good little harp the way it is.
The harps have the round backs and a very thick base, so are a little bit on the heavy side, but the weight isn’t much about the soundbox so the sound is pretty nice in my opinion, not having had much to compare it with.
I got them when they were first available at much less cost than they are now, and as all harps at the lower end have spiked considerably in price the past couple of years.
I have gotten significant improvement from the Saffron 26 by sanding the interior of the sound box and enlarging the sound holes. I have also removed the lower base opening the bottom sound hole to match the one the 34, and so the harp is several pounds lighter now as well. The full levers on both are effective and I’ve had no particular issues with them outside of having to slightly reposition a few on initial set up.Overall a decent playable harp at a more affordable price. They might do well for their own shipping purposes to keep the weight of the harps down by lightening the base and the top harmonic curve could be flattened a little I think.
Overall I’m pleased with mine.
