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Yes, the action block screws are the ones closest to the bottom of the plates up by the column. Sometimes the blocks are in there very tight. I often have to pry them down with both thumbs. If it really won’t go back in, you can lightly sand the side of the block, taking off just a hair’s thickness.
Has the location of the click been identified? If it’s in the base, it could be some combination of the pedal bar, stud, and/or spring hitting together. It might not be as evident with the pedal box off and the pedal not being guided by the slot.I’ve been using D’Addario wires for restring jobs for some years, and have never encountered a bad string.
As far as old nylons and guts go, I offer them to the percussionists for uses like hanging triangles, or gut drum snares. I also offer them to luthiers for tail guts, tied frets, etc. etc.Have a technician look at this harp before you buy. It’s hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like there may be a line across the bottom of the soundboard where the baseboard has pushed down. Not fatal, but not a cheap fix, either.
How hard the harp parts are often depends on the conductor: breakneck tempi, too much rubato, poorly planned rehearsals, and/or general inconsistency.
Then there are the harp parts that are just unplayable as written because the composer didn’t understand how harps work, and didn’t consult with a harpist. With those, I feel free to rewrite as needed to make the part playable while still getting the musical effect across.
Having said all that, here are a few that stand out in my memory: Flying Dutchman Overture, Ancient Airs and Dances, Requiem for the Living, Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Sibelius Symphony #1…..
Update: I got on the phone with eBay. My harp was just a small part of a very large scam involving many high-end musical instruments as well as other items. It seems a postage stamp dealer in the U.K. was hacked, and someone in California was using the account to try to rip people off. Fortunately, eBay responded quickly, all the fake listings are gone, and the seller is back to being a legit stamp dealer. I just feel bad for the stamp dealer, and for the many people who had bid on fraudulent items. What I learned: always check to make sure the item and the seller are in the same place!
If you go to look at it, move each of the pedals through its full range of motion – flat to natural to sharp and back again – to make sure they’re all working properly. I’ve encountered more than one neglected harp on which the action had seized up.
The old Troubadours can sound quite good strung with lever gauge gut and bass wires, assuming you don’t mind the expense and decreased tension. Lowering the tension could prolong the life of the soundboard.
Have you checked the Crane School of Music it Potsdam, N. Y.?
https://www.potsdam.edu/academics/crane-school-music/departments-programs/music-educationI’d be very interested to see more pictures of the harp as a whole. In this picture, the string alignment between the bridge pins and the tuning pins really doesn’t look right. It’s irregular, and some strings don’t appear to have enough bearing on the bridge pins.
Yes, the ear;y Lyon & Healys were designed to take the Erard 1829 gauge strings, which were very similar to Lever Gauge diameters. The bass wires should be fiber-core for the higher 5 or 6, and wire core for the lower ones. The change-over points from gut to fiber-core to wire-core varied over time. It’s usually possible to figure them out by looking for clues in the soundboard center strip, and at the discs. Different types of discs were often used for the different types of strings.
