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Maria,
I most certainly did and with what I feel to be good cause. Some of the derogatory comments that were offered concerning the Mid East harps were totally uncalled for, snobbish and in very poor taste.
As were some of the comments responding to the young lady’s request for funding. Note, I did not and have not advocated donating to her. It is not at all about “Giving her money”
As always you are more than welcome, Michael. And good to talk with you, I hope all is well. I had given this forum a sabbatical after becoming somewhat frustrated with offensive behavior. But had returned to drop in, saw this thread and thought I might have a solution for Anne.
South American harps with levers or “Llaves” have been around for some time. My arpista amigos tell me also of a thumb ring they use to sharpen.
It’s really rather simple. No hardware, just soft leather straps at the neck and the base of the column. Toggles are the “Monkey Fist” knot on the end of a herringbone weave for comfort and webbing with harder leather buckles. It keeps her nestled in and holding position. Works well standing and seated. I estimate my cost was under $20.00US
Process Control Engineer. I establish, commission, service and tune the basic and advanced regulatory control systems for major industrial processes. Control everything from pressure, temperature, level, flow etc to the exotics like ORP, pH, conductivity etc to produce products that I may not even know what they are finally used for. I travel constantly and my wee clairseach travels with me.
After a day of calculations, stress, computers and people, sitting quietly alone in my hotel room composing poetry and strumming the strings relaxes me. I tried other instruments, but the simplicity of the wire harp appeals to me. Even the lack of levers to adjust is attractive after a day of adjusting everything else.
Then when I came home, my shop is there where I can work with wood. The smell of sawdust and the feel of the wood as it comes alive in your hands is so delightfully different then the sterility of the projects I work on.
I like that salt technique Michael, intriguing. (you’ve done it again, now I will be studying that to fully understand the physics involved).
I have a sling psychrometer which uses red spirit alcohol that I check against. My dig hygrometer has a 2% error which I factor in… also I have learned to wait for the settle before I take my readings. And I have the advantage of frequenting industrial calibration laboratories where I can have my instruments checked for free.
My experience tells me glue damage is irreversible, but your point of obvious damage raises the question of where on the aridity progression the damage actually occurs?
Whole house humidifying is definitely the preferred option. But as our climate allows us to open our house to the atmosphere, it just would not be worth it for the limited time we are closed up.
I can understand as you say with a 5 digit pedal harp, one could definitely consider dedicating a room and humidifier to it.
Carl,
There is no “may be”, I am a process control engineer. I respect your profession and I insist that you respect mine.
You are conveniently overlooking the fact that I did recommend a TOTAL HOME HUMIDIFIER to Anna and provided her a link to a supplier of same. The soap dish humidifier, and “dampits”, are not ideal solutions… and they certainly are not elegant and expensive. But they are quite reasonable stopgap measures when more elaborate systems are neither available nor practical.
As well, you overlook the fact that the moisture content transition for the harp is far slower then you imply by your night/day scenario. While the harp’s environment will indeed change from 15 to 20% to 40 to 60% humidity, the moisture content of the wood of the harp will not change that fast. It simply does not occur that rapidly. If it did then I dare say few harpists would ever be willing to subject their instruments to the rigors of gigs. How many concert halls & stages have climate control?
Carl,
Take a soap dish and place it under you harp cover. Leave it for overnight and then return to read the humidity under the cover with a hygrometer. Perhaps that will relieve your bafflement and you will believe the results you can see with your own eyes.
As to furniture, fine furniture certainly is indicative of aridity damage, while it may not have “a ton and a half”, (even with every string at the high end of tension, a 47 string harp would fall short of “a ton and a half”, but it was quite dramatic), it is subject to repeated stress changes which are even more damaging then the steady distributed pull of the strings.
Carl, I am quite offended by the attack and feel it to be quite inappropriate.
Anna,
I know Chris means well, however.
Before you spend a lot of money on something that may not be necessary, carefully inspect the wooden furniture in the room where your harp resides. It is subject to the same effects of humidity, (or in this case, aridity), as your harp. As it has been there longer, it will provide you a good indication of the severity of the problem you face. As well, ask furniture shops and stringed instrument shops in you area. Talk with the service technicians.
I live in the driest climate in the United States. It currently is 21% humidity here. With the simple soap dish humidifiers, my harps are currently at 53%, 51% an 56% humidity. That includes the one in my shop undergoing restoration. I am constantly building cabinetry, furniture and instruments. I use glue joints extensively, abhor nails and detest screws.
As I said before, I carefully monitor the condition of my harps and other wooden items in my home. While my harps get the soap dish humidifiers, some of my pieces of furniture have
Sorry, that is SI units, meters, kilograms per meter and newtons.
I put the equations into MS Excel and have them in Mathcad. Makes it easy to plug in and run.
Michael, the winding increases the mass per length, u. But does not carry the tension. You should be able to determine the tension once you measure the mpl.
Julie,
I do not know the name of the device, but I know what you are speaking of, I saw one in south america. Michael, it is a variable area fork where you slide it onto the string until it is snug, then read the corresponding marking engraved on the tines. Not as accurate as a dial caliper, nor an electronic, but a lot more robust to throw into a tool kit and have as a ready reference.
