Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Josie
I’m a soon to be proud owner of a Heartland Dragonheart 38 string Celtic Harp. I think you should check into these- they are fairly lightweight for the size (25-26 lbs.), and the soundboard is curved in such a way as to allow for extra hand
Hey Laura
I found an arrangement for pedal harp at Melody’s for “It had to be you”. This song was sung by Frank Sinatra. You might want to look at Ray Pool’s ‘The Harpist’s Fake Book’ which is also at Melody’s. Lots of songs like “Misty”, “Embraceable You”, and “Fascination”.
Hope this helps!Karen
Well good for you! I’m sure you will love every minute of your new musical journey- post us some pics if you can. We love seeing new arrivals here!
Sounds like a wonderful harp- Congratulations
Hmmm…..that’s interesting Saul. So, the wire strung harp you had was strung with copper? Or was it bronze? I’ve never heard of this happening before. I play a wire-strung harp too, but it’s strung with steel. But it does make sense that any material/chemical you come in contact with will have a chance to
I suggest you try Musicmaker’s Limerick model. It has 26 strings and the projection and tone is amazing. Go to http://www.musikit.com , click on harps, then testimonials, and you can see one played in an Irish pub.
You can certainly use the B or A string for your C, just color the string with a red permanent or paint marker. Since it’s your highest C, you probably won’t be playing it that often anyways, so this quick fix should do the trick.
Another tip- make sure you back out the tuning pin quite a bit before you re-string. This way it will line up with the other pins when you wind in the string and won’t throw off your regulation or cause extra stress on the string at the angle between the guide pin and tuning pin.
I’m sure it’s just due to the climate change. Montana is much drier than Florida, and it was your thinnest string. Sounds perfectly normal to me.
You may want to check your relative humidity though- harps like to be at around 50%. This is more for the preservation of the soundboard than the strings. Your A/C will dry things out, so I would just check to see.
Update: Just talked to Dave the other day, and he says my harp is progressing along nicely! Also, I will be getting Kauri wood as my overlay accent joining the neck & pillar. Now I’m just waiting for Pamela to call me to go over the finalizing details of the artwork. So yes, we are getting closer!
Alice,
I strongly suspect it has something to do with the high tension in combination with those gut strings, especially the thinner ones. Your other harps don’t seem to have this breakage problem and they are of medium tension with nylon strings.
Any other thoughts? Perhaps a harp builder like Carl could chime in here…
Talk to you soon my friend-
Karen
When you wind the string on the tuning peg, are you crossing it over after the first couple winds? This will help snug the string on the peg, especially the thinner ones.
Karen
I tried the little bead method myself, and hated it. One of them actually split in half and fell off when I pulled the string taught. Others caused a buzzing sound. I use leather washers in addition to toggles. You can purchase the leather washers from Vermont Strings or just cut some of your own from a thick piece of leather. They work great for me.
Karen
I seen that! Sylvia has published this on her FB page- I’m looking forward to getting Claire De Lune in particular, not sure if I’m up to advanced level yet, but it will definitely give me something to shoot for!
Karen
First of all, how deep are the dents? Have they scratched the finish off the harp, or are they just “skin-deep”? There may be a method to correct them if it is the latter case. I can’t tell you the exact method, as it was only mentioned to me once by a luthier, but it had something to do with steam?? And since I am not sure what type of finish you have, I even hesitate to suggest this. Perhaps call a professional harp maker, or maybe Carl can jump in here with a more experienced response….
Karen
