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When you said you were near the first strings when one popped, did you mean the shorter, higher strings? If it was only two that popped, I think it could have been caused by shipping stress and the change in humidity. If anything, I would only slightly release the tension on the strings above and below your broken strings. I don’t think you should get too anxious about this. Here is a link to an online tuner that may help you. http://www.harpkit.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=onlinetuner
Also, on your Korg tuner there should be a sound feature that will allow you to hear how a full octave should sound, starting at middle C. Just ignore the sharps and flats and tune to the naturals.
Blevins makes great little harps- one of my students owns one and loves it. I’m sure this is just traveling pains.
Karen
Thanks so much for the suggestions, Dawn, Pat, & Briggsie! Now the decision making process begins….Anyone else please feel free to
So, let me see if I understand what you are saying- you have had 8 nylon strings pop on you? If so,WOW. If not, then I think you mean only 2 have popped, right?What is your tuner at- is it set at 440? I’m sure if just a couple of them popped it could be attributed to the drastic change in humidity, but if eight of them have popped then something else may be going on. Are they popping in a row, or just sporatically all over the harp?
Karen
Oof- I think I invented a new word – “oiked”! I meant picked.
This will teach me to preview before I post. LOLWelcome Julie! I see you play a few other instruments. There are quite a few of us on these forums that do.
I have experience regulating two types of levers- Lovelands and Truitts. Since I don’t know exactly what brand of lever you have, I hesitate to give you specific advice on how to fix your problem. I can, however, give you a general tip. Try adjusting the bridge pin. If you move it out or in a bit, you may find that this fixes the problem. The downside to this is that it will throw your tuning off. But if you can find out what brand of levers you have I can direct you to more specific information on how to regulate these yourself, if you feel comfortable with that.
Best of Luck,
Karen
Hi Dawn,
I too have built instruments from Musicmaker’s. They are very helpful, and I second your suggestion. They also have several pdf files you can download and print if you search their site. Lots of helpful information.
Karen
Hi Pat,
Another concern with tuning the harp with the levers engaged is the strain it will put on the strings, especially if your levers “pinch” the string rather than raise it. I know Loveland levers do this, not sure about Camacs.
Karen
Hi Sherry!
I’m in a similar situation with the ensemble at church, and also with my own ensemble. I’m about at your experience level, so I know where you’re coming from. The single most valuable advice I can give you is to learn your chords. You can let the flautist and the violinist take the melody/harmony on most pieces, let the guitarist back up on chords, and throw in some runs and arpeggios to fill in and give that beautiful harp sound to your arrangements. This is how I worked out a lot of pieces and it always sounded good. Plus, by learning the chords you can make the music unique to your ensemble, instead of memorizing someone else’s arrangement.
Of course, this is a simple and easy method of working the music with an ensemble. You can always challenge yourself by learning a complete piece, and letting the violin & flute fill in by either playing the melody in a different octave or playing notes within the chords as back-up. Either way, have fun! I am excited for you
Just an additional thought: listen to CD’s of ensembles with the harp. Pamela Bruner has some nice ones out there that feature cello, oboe, violin, and pennywhistle, to name a few. It has always helped me to listen to how others arrange music, just to get a “big picture” feel, if you know what I mean.
Hi Sherry!
I’m in a similar situation with the ensemble at church, and also with my own ensemble. I’m about at your experience level, so I know where you’re coming from. The single most valuable advice I can give you is to learn your chords. You can let the flautist and the violinist take the melody/harmony on most pieces, let the guitarist back up on chords, and throw in some runs and arpeggios to fill in and give that beautiful harp sound to your arrangements. This is how I worked out a lot of pieces and it always sounded good. Plus, by learning the chords you can make the music unique to your ensemble, instead of memorizing someone else’s arrangement.
Of course, this is a simple and easy method of working the music with an ensemble. You can always challenge yourself by learning a complete piece, and letting the violin & flute fill in by either playing the melody in a different octave or playing notes within the chords as back-up. Either way, have fun! I am excited for you
Just an additional thought: listen to CD’s of ensembles with the harp. Pamela Bruner has some nice ones out there that feature cello, oboe, violin, and pennywhistle, to name a few. It has always helped me to listen to how others arrange music, just to get a “big picture” feel, if you know what I mean.
I’m glad you took swine flu into consideration, Janelle. I came down with H1N1 last week, and let me tell you, it really does wipe you out.
I like your policy- it is firm but fair. Good for you, and thanks for sharing!
Karen
I’m glad you took swine flu into consideration, Janelle. I came down with H1N1 last week, and let me tell you, it really does wipe you out.
I like your policy- it is firm but fair. Good for you, and thanks for sharing!
Karen
I’m glad you took swine flu into consideration, Janelle. I came down with H1N1 last week, and let me tell you, it really does wipe you out.
I like your policy- it is firm but fair. Good for you, and thanks for sharing!
Karen
