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I’ve had many made by a local body piercing artist who makes a lot of the jewelry for his shop. He’s very good with a jeweler’s lathe and has a good supply of ebony and other precious woods, as well as mother-of-pearl, bone, abalone, and the like. I just took him some samples of the sizes needed, and he did an excellent job.
I dunno; it may have been obscured, confused and unpleasantly delivered, but I would try to take it home as a compliment that she said the piece wasn’t long enough. She may have complained about a lot, but the bottom line was that she wanted more.
As far as how to handle such situations, I just smile brilliantly, say, “Why, thank you so much, but I must excuse myself.” and turn and flee, um, I mean, walk away….Hi Katie
I can recommend Four Seasons Harp Covers. They will make custom covers and cases for any harp. I have two fully-padded covers from Four Seasons, made to fit my Cousineaus, and I’ve been very happy with them.
Just a reminder: if you are coming to the Historical Harp Society Workshop and conference and would like to stay in the dorms, your registration MUST be received by July 3rd!!
Thanks, and hope to see you there!
HI Alison
Get in touch with these people, and specify that you want low tension strings, with fiber-core bass wires. I’ve restrung a number of Clarks with these strings, and they sound good without putting undue strain on the harp.
Paul
An interesting and beautiful instrument, but not so new after all…
http://obuchi.music.coocan.jp/index-e.htmThe pedals are in that order because it facilitates the most common modulations: by fifths, fourths, whole steps, and to the relative minor. Say you’re in the key of C, and want to get into the key of G a fifth away – just move the F pedal. To get from C to F, a fourth away, just move the B pedal. Modulating by a whole step is where the genius of the pedal arrangement is revealed. Say you’re in F, and need to modulate a whole step to Eb – the B pedal is already in flat, so all you need to do is cross pedal on E, for which you have plenty of room because your right foot is over on the A pedal, and move both pedals into flats. If you experiment, you’ll see that most of the whole step modulations will involve moving pedals in pairs on opposite sides of the harp (B & E, C & F). Bear in mind that this layout was established by the single action harp makers in the 18th century, and has worked well from that day to this!
Hi Sherj!
I always require that the harp be cordoned off if I’m playing at any kind of event that involves people standing or milling around: receptions, banquets, and the like. That still didn’t stop one guy from reaching over the velvet ropes and strumming the bass wires WHILE I WAS PLAYING, until his wife socked him with her purse!
I also stay right with the harp if it’s in a place that leaves it even the slightest bit vulnerable. I have no qualms about physically blocking someone who’s about to walk into the harp because they’re not watching where they’re going. I mean, we wouldn’t want the to get hurt, now would we?
Seriously, if you’re taking your harp out at all, you must talk to your insurance agent about a “professional, all-risk” policy. If the harp is just on your regular homeowner’s policy, it may not be covered if it’s not in your house, or if the insurance company finds out the harp has ever been moved out of the house.
HTH!
Sorry, I’m not doing the greatest job explaining. On the other hand, without pictures, it’s sort of like trying to describe knitting to someone!
I pull the pedal away from the the base frame (once the pedal box is off) so the pedal is somewhere between the natural and sharp positions. I have big hands, so the extra room around the pedal bar is useful.
The amount of trimming depends one the harp. Older harps seem to have slenderer pedal bars, so once the felt is wrapped tight, there’s about 1/4″ extra. Newer harps often have thicker pedal bars and the felt comes out about even. You want the felts tight and firm to give a cleaner and more positive feel to the pedals, and so the felts will be less likely to catch on the corners of the slot. Yup, I’m a tech. Very astute guess!
I used to sit on the floor to work, too, but that was pre-spinal stenosis. I can still get down to the floor OK, but standing up can be quite a project!
I hear you about the retro technology, but I like that kind of stuff. There’s no TV in the living room, but there is a Victrola.
I have a special set of wooden horses that the harp goes into when I’m changing felts. The harp is held with the column down, the pedals sticking up and the base elevated so it’s a good height to work on while I’m sitting down. I pull the pedal toward me by grabbing the pedal brass and pulling it toward me! I find it a lot easier to sew if there’s some free space all around the pedal bar. The problem with “instant felts” is that not all harps take the same number of wraps. Many older harps have narrower pedal slots that need fewer wraps of felt, and a few harps have narrow pedal slots just on F and G.
