Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Boss TU-12 – I always use it with a contact mike – I also have one of those fancy Petersen VS-1 strobe tuners, but frankly, the whirling strobe makes me dizzy and they are hard for me to read – the Boss with a contact mike will read everything on my harp except the top four strings – I find them on Ebay at a pretty good price.
Hi – I ran your request through google pictures – here is a link to a 12 on ebay a while back – there is a picture, but the quality is not good – there is also some information about the harp in the listing
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280655804054+&clk_rvr_id=254091489125
Here is another link to a 12 at the michigan harp center – the picture is also better –
There was a very sweet lady here who had a LH 14, the “Anniversary” model
and what I am seeing in the pictures looks exactly like her harp except hers did go down to 6th E – I’m sure if you contact harp restoration folks such as Carl Swanson, you will be able to find a great deal of the information you are looking for –have fun,
JohnWhen I first started playing at the hospital I realized right quick that I couldn’t be going in there with a really dirty smelly cover on my harp – I am on an elevator several times a day and often the cover is in close proximity to patients, staff, and doctors – it’s one of the older blue nylon type LH concert grand covers – I particularly like this one because of the fit – it’s not bulky and seems easier with the loading and unloading – there is a layer of foam rubber between the outer layer and the inner soft cloth lining – it wouldn’t fit in my washer so I took it up to the laundromat and used the commercial size washer – took two runs plus extra soap to get it clean especially along the top of the neck where I steady the harp while its on the dolly
Hmmmmm – seems to me that comment is way over on the tacky side, Clarence – Ms. Mitchell has previously established highly professional standards regarding her sound – there’s no question of that – and that sound came from the use of a string that is no longer available – she has every right to critique the available strings and find them unsatisfactory if they are not giving her the sound she previously had – our harps are quite individual concerning their sound, as are the differences in the fingers that produce that sound and what she’s saying is that she had a perfect match with the old strings and the new ones don’t measure up – so, basically, she knows what she’s talking about and the string folks need to come up with something that satisfies individual customers with their individual needs, especially if there was something working for lots of folks that they have dumped for whatever reason – unfortunately, one size doesn’t fit all –
Hi – loved your collage – I think I vaguely remember that film LOL – very nice blend of sound and I like the melodies you are using on the harp – also nice clean harp sound that almost sounds like an electric –Hi – I have mentioned this film on here in a past posting – it was also based on a book – didn’t know it was even available so glad to know it’s out on DVDYes about 15 years ago though – had to play a family wedding in Vancouver BC – couldn’t find a harp up there to rent so ended up shipping my concert grand from San Antonio to Seattle, renting a van, picking up the harp at the airport and driving across the border to Vancouver -and then everything in reverse order – that saved some complex customs paperwork that was in store if I shipped direct to Vancouver plus I think it was going to be lots more money because it was going out of the statesYes, you are correct – it’s slapback echo – back when these were recorded, there were very few separate slapback devices that were portable and they did not have very good fidelity – as I remember, the Beatles did this album on a 4 track Ampex which was state of the art at the time and got their overdubbing by “ping ponging” tracks – at 15ips which was a standard for mastering at the time, a very good slapback could be achieved by plugging the playback head through to the record head – you could vary the amount of echo by how much you fed back to the record head, but you were stuck with the repeat time by the speed used for recording – hmmm, maybe that’s tmi, but I loved fooling with slapback ever since Les Paul used it on “Little Rock Getaway” back in 1950 – nowadays, there are all kinds of slapback and reverb pedals out there –
for a really fun harp “listen” with early slapback effects try Robert (known as “Bobby Maxwell and his Swingin’ Harps for these recordings) Maxwells recordings of “Bubble, Bubble, Pink Champagne”, “Hindustan” or “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” – great fun and technically quite impressive for 1951 when they were doneHello – thanks for posting this video – I loved it! Certainly a different texture than the pedal harp version I am used to, but I loved the feeling of being transported back in time by the sound of the two instruments – I thought the lute/harp balance was great in this video – I would love to be at a live performance where I imagine the sound and blend would be quite different than on a video recording with no additional mikes, or a studio recording with individual balance for the solo instruments – I can imagine the amount of work that went into this project – will it be part of a CD release at some point? Again, thanks for posting –
JohnReminds me of a gig I did many years ago – a candlelight dinner at a retirement home – I had a wireless mike on the floor under the harp connected into their overhead sound system – about halfway through the dinner a pedal spring slipped off the stud holding it and slammed into the floor with a resounding crash!
Yes – a real problem at many different jobs – early on, I played a crowded cocktail party and a lady wearing an off white dress with geometric red and black line figures came and stood by the harp – as she talked she swayed a bit and I couldn’t see anything – had to stop until she moved away –
How about “Guardian Angels” by Harpo Marx – seems to me it was on a Christmas Album by Mario Lanza many many years ago – I think the melody is interesting instrumentally and also has some nice chord progressions – I’ve been meaning for years to try my hand at making an arrangement that would somehow combine “il est ney” and Salzedo’s fast runs from “la Joyeuse” – also, if you have some strings available for your project, I am always fond of Grandjany’s “Aria in a Classic Style” for any season of the year –
JohnHi – I also think you have an electric model with the solid (non-acoustic) soundboard – I can see that the center strip where the strings come through looks totally flat – an acoustic would tend to have “bowed” up a bit toward the lower strings – also, it doesn’t look like there is any difference in the string holes in the soundboard between the wire strings and the gut strings – so there are likely pickups on each of those holes and they would all look the same – if you look through the sound holes on the back you will probably see a lot of wires to one side of the center strip –
Hi Joshua – unfortunately, I can’t access your picture links – as to your harp, it’s difficult to assess on a forum such as this – I would suggest that you check out the used harp classifieds for prices on harps comparable to yours – also, you might check in with one of the regulators/technicians in your area for an appraisal – you might also check in with the nearest symphony harpist for an opinion – when a harp is as old as yours apparently is, there can be problems lurking – is the soundboard bowed more than normal? are there cracks or structural problems apparent? is the neck warped or bowed?
