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Here is a possible scenario.
The first string that broke was just at its normal end.
You pull a double (or triple) length new string out. This new string breaks. Replace it with the second half of that new string and it breaks.
This one string has broken three times. Once from normal age and the next two times because the replacement string is bad.
I doubt the dealer had stock long enough for it to go bad on the shelf. It is possible but most likely it’s just a bad string.
Since I posted on this thread back in Jan. 2013 the situation with Bow Brand Strings changed quite markedly shortly thereafter. Unfortunately the raw material they have been receiving has been weak and breakage is quite common and disturbing. There has been much outrage and gnashing of teeth on this situation. Harpists often think their “harp is breaking strings” when the truth is the “strings are weak and breaking” on my harp.“As needed”
What is appropriate for one harpist is not for another.
How advanced is the music being played on the instrument?
How many hours? How many harps do you spread your playing across?
Every year – The smallest group, 10% or less of all harps. Which harps? Harps for pro orchestras and operas. Harps for college majors (maybe most of all). Harps for full pro freelancers if they have one harp, if they have two rotate with one regulated each year.
Every 2 years – Largest group, 50-60%. All other pro harpists and students.
Every 3 years – About 20%. Adult beginners fit in here or the next.
Every 4 years – The remainder.There are lots of things that will impact these general recommendations which are quite understandable. One of the harpists I work with has 5 harps and actually plays all five. Another has one harp and plays with a full time professional orchestra. Another plays liturgical music only at home.
As for wire strings, I am with Carl. Change them every 2 to 4 years. Change the entire set to keep an even timbre. Pro’s every year or two since the new wires project best.
Nylon strings need changing every year for any harp that advanced music is being played on. At the USA International Harp Competition I observed the nylon strings could be worn out in 10 hours of practice and the pitch was terrible because of that wear alone. Nylon gouges where the discs grip/twist/press on them. I am sorry but almost any gouge that is visible is enough to cause the string to become unstable in pitch over the dynamic range. So at pp the 1F# is fine but at ff the pitch is flat. This incorrect pitch, this instability has NOTHING to do with regulation settings. This fact is one of the most overlooked by harpists who on the greater whole believe that any pitch problem is a regulation setting problem. The majority of complaints about pitch with nylon strings is because the string is worn and unstable but the harpist thinks it HAS to be something with the discs. Maybe it does but the technician can’t accurately find that out until the string is changed.Carl is right. The diaper is there to support the rods so they move up and down properly. On occasion it can slide downward toward the pedals and cause some problems in pedaling. One harpist wrote me a few months ago because two of her pedals suddenly stopped turning the discs all the open when pedaling into flat. Why? Because the diaper had come out of position. The diaper needs to be “stuffed” in a proper way to support the rods without hindering them. I actually position diapers differently depending on the how the rod approaches the tube and what kind of material the tube is (the old harps have brass tubes, newer ones are plastic). But then again lots of people have just stuffed the diaper in any old way.
Katie, regarding Bow Brand quality…working at the L&H factory for 20 years we used hundreds of thousands of Bow B strings. My experience was that they have a nearly spotless record with production. Better than I ever expected, I was actually looking for them to screw up and had to almost dream up little problems into big ones just to let them know we were paying attention. The harp world really owes that company of kudos.
I know you to be kind sensitive person whom I respect.
There will be exaggerated, unmerited backlash from saying that there were some quality issues. If the 3D strings made in the 2nd week of October 2009 WERE a problem almost everyone will think that ANY string that breaks was in that batch, even 4B made in July 2011. That is like saying back in October 2004 measures 38-45 were awful when Susie Creamcheese performed of Faure’ therefore any performance since then or before then was awful too. Everything else was brilliant that day but we will remember her for those seven bars? Quite unreal.It is true that new harps can be expected to break several strings than everyone is comfortable with. Just be patient.
A additional note regarding string breakage I hear little about, here is an example:
Just today a 25 year old pedal harp came to me for regulation. To do a valid pitch control on a string required that I change it since the one on the harp was old and worn. Pulling NEW replacement string out of the string bag I noted this string (and most others in her bag) were old, maybe 7+years. (I swear the 5th A and B were original from the factory, the replacements in her bag were L&H Gold Label, remember those?) After an easy, even pull up to pitch this “NEW” string, the “HARP” broke it about 5 minutes later. Being a double length string I used the second half to replace it. About two hours later the “HARP broke the NEW string again”! Can you believe it! Well either the HARP has something wrong with it or the string was made poorly. Both of these answers are plausible but highly unlikely, I mean extremely unlikely. Let’s take the case that “something after 20 years has gone wrong with the harp?” Total freak out reasoning, enough said. The new string was made poorly? You have NO idea. The string is NOT NEW. It is old, has lost suppleness and has been trapped, trained into being in a circle for years and now is expected to be considered new, straight, strong? Gut strings are animal gut. They are not plastic; no matter how much you want to think they have an unlimited shelf life that thought is wrong. How about beef jerky that is ten years old?
In far too many cases harpists own string museums, not a collection of decent healthy strings for replacement. You should not have more than one piece each of 5th or 4th octave in stock (if you own 1 or 2 harps). They do not break that often and you can replenish your stock in a matter of a few days via mail order even if you live in…Iceland. Why do harpists park hundreds of dollars in strings and then let them go unused for 10 or more years?
I suggest you put a date on the string baggie when you receive them.
If the date on the bag is 5 years ago, how old is the string on your harp? If a string is over 5 years old get it on the harp to straighten it out before it looses its suppleness. It will be bad in a year or two and on the harp you can get good use out of it now.Sid, something was mis-communicated, mis-heard or miswhatevered.
Lyon & Healy Concert Grand harps are all made using the same basic construction EXCEPT the Chicago CG and Concertino harps.George Washburn Lyon
Supposedly he left L&H, went and formed:
http://www.washburn.com/about/Facts.
Having worked at Lyon & Healy Harps I can speak with more authority on this than anyone so far.
I am not a lap dog for the company, there are many things that I know and say that make them uncomfortable.The malfunction in this specific case can be described as a “pedal fulcrum rivet” creep.
