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Miss Barbara Kraichy, you are absolutely right, it WAS Annie Louise David! Thanks so much. I remember Jack’s beautiful place there in San Francisco also-including that amazing collection of crystal he had.
You know, Barbara, I’m not sure who has it now, but I’d bet it’s still in the San Francisco Bay area. And do you remember the lavender and gold Style 11 he had? It was originally owned by somebody like Mildred Dilling, I can’t quite remember…
The Crumpets in which city , John? Google comes up with several locations. I uses to love that blue and gold Style 3 of Jack Nebergall’s-do you remember that harp, Barbara?
You can absolutely have decoration added after the harp is finished, I’ve done this 3 or 4 different times, Altho if you ask a builder they prefer soundboard decoration to be done before the final finish is applied. Find an artist whose work you like and have a chat with them. Sometimes they get a little nervous about doing a very fine harp, since it’s unusual for them, but maybe an old beat up one would be less intimidating for them. One artist used acrylics, and another used oils-all came out beautifully. If I was more clever I’d post some pictures. Also, I wouldn’t recommend covering the whole soundboard with paint, might affect the sound.
Saul, that is a good point about the regulation. I remember a pedal harp technician telling me years ago that they naturally stretch the high and low notes a bit during a regulation, knowing it will sound good to the person. I guess they assumed we WEREN’T stretch tuning. But if the harpist is already stretching, it would be too much. I wonder if regulators are doing that these days? And what about lever regulators? Maybe we all should be talking this over with the techs when we have our harps regulated.
Cassandra, that’s great that you were able to find one to rent and try for a while. There’s nothing like living with a harp to find out what it’s really like! Rumor has it that John is building right now and may have a few available soon.
Barbara, you are so on top of things! Thanks for posting that link. The dark nickel is an interesting color too.
On my lever harps I pull my top ten strings (starting with the A 12 notes above middle C) about five cents sharp, otherwise octaves played that high sound a bit flat to me. I can hear that on harp recordings sometimes. Interesting that other people do the same thing…
Or else go to the World Harp Congress in Vancouver in July if you’re in the western part of the country.
Saul, that’s a very insightful analysis. I studied with one of The Wives also (Marjorie Call in LA, same as David Ice). Not quite as much “open a hole in your head and pour the info in”, but not too far off either, especially regards technique. I think there was a bit of wife rivalry there too, she used to say that Lucille was very stiff.
Oh, I loved this too! A REAL harpist actually playing a REAL harp piece…hope she didn’t get potato chips all over her harp when they started throwing them around…
Ray Mooers (owner of Dusty Strings) once told me that tuning in C raises the tension on a harp about 10% over a harp tuned in Eb. So by tuning in C, it could be that those strings are now being pulled harder across the bridge pin, causing a closer and tighter connection and less twanging. You could try a slightly higher gauge of string on those two, which would accomplish the same thing.
It has something to do with the angle of the string as it comes off the bridge pin and heads up to the tuning pin. Or at least that how I think of it in my little pea brain.
