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Hi Sherj,
Wow, thanks tons for the article! Yes, the last entry is my problem – the tuning key is indeed worn. I shined a flashlight down inside mine and it looks like the diagram they show there – even some metal burr at the bottom! There’s a lot of wear on all sides. I inspected my pins and they’re still in good shape,but will definitely get a new tuning key on order from Triplett.Very well written article by the way, and it answers a problem I had run into a few weeks ago with one of my strings, where he talks about the angle of the string and the pin bouncing back. That one kind of solved itself when I pushed the wire wrap so I had the correct angle, but now I know what it should be, rather than guessing.
Hi Sherj,
I got it in 2009 but then I tune frequently. It never occurred to me the metal might be distorting. I don’t know what the metal material is. Did you have to replace your key when this started happening to you? As an aside, I know metal fatigue can be an issue with wire strings and frequent tuning but so far (knock on wood) I haven’t run into any breakage issues there. Not yet, anyway!Hi Angela and Tracey,
That’s true about blind Irish harpists – I guess they wouldn’t have needed to see the color of the strings! But color does come in handy for placing and finding your octaves if you’re sighted and you’ve got a fairly large instrument. I have paint markers for my wire harp and it doesn’t affect the tone. I don’t bother to repaint the middle part of the strings where it wears away… just leave enough color top and bottom of the string so I know what I’ve got.
And gold bass strings (!) – Ann Heymann put those on her clairseach and recorded a CD – Cruit go nOr – Harp of Gold. She wrote a book recently on her researches: Dialogue on Historical Wire for Gaelic Harps http://www.earlygaelicharp.info/dialogue/ I have it and it was very interesting reading. But I’m not planning on changing out my phosphor bronze wires just yet! (Gold and silver strings are quite an investment, among other things.) 🙂
Hi Kristen,
It’s very classy, very upscale. I like it, especially the choice of fonts and graphics. On my site I use Google Analytics, but I find a lot of hits don’t get counted (I get a monthly report from my domain host as well and it’s a lot bigger). It’s still helpful though, to find out what pages people are frequenting the most and/or not visiting and how they found my site. I made a few adjustments after learning what people were most interested in, but it looks like your site covers all the bases. Also I found when I put a blog on my site that traffic increased as well. Just have to find time to maintain it. I don’t know if you would be interested in doing that or not.I find writing to be tough… always trying to think of what to say and then how to say it. I think you’ve done a great job on your bio and about your harp.
That’s pretty neat that you were able to restring a Stoney End with brass… I would have been afraid to try that out of concern for damaging the instrument. Did you find that the sound board bellied quite a bit when you put the wire strings on?
Hi Tacye,
Didn’t know you played wire harp too! Who built your harp and how many strings? Sorry to hear you had to cut off all your nails. 🙁 I don’t play pedal myself, but I’m aware the hand position and technique is a lot different. Do you find it takes some time to readjust going from one instrument to another? What do you play on your wire harp?Hi Fred,
That’s great, if you can make do for the moment! But yes, probably best to get new ones eventually, if they’re available. It will be nice when you have a playable instrument again. 🙂I don’t know… would it be possible to use something like a Dremel tool to get the rust off the old peg and still use it? Not sure if that’s a good idea or not. Anybody else know?
Hi Jennifer,
I like them too. Still working on mine. I guess I like to read about the background of the music and the musicians themselves, how the idea of the album as a collection came about, interesting bits of history or insights on various aspects of a piece or its creation. Also (being a visual artist as well) the artwork that may be included… photos, paintings, line drawings, etc.Hi,
Not sure if you would be interested in going this route, but I play wire-strung harp, which is traditionally played with the nails. There’s some info here: http://www.wirestrungharp.com/Hi there Fred,
There’s a lot of helpful people here that can offer better advice than me, since I’m not a harp builder, but those sharping blades do look a lot like the blades on my wire harp. Mine was built by Triplett Harps in CA in 2009. I don’t know if they sell parts or not, but it might not hurt to ask. Their web site is: http://www.triplettharps.com/, with contact info at the bottom of the page.
I bought a complete set of replacement strings for my Paraguayan harp from Vermont Strings. http://www.vermontbiz.com/company/vermont-strings. They were very helpful, because my harp didn’t have a builder name, model or anything I could refer to, so they gave me advice on how to measure it and then worked up a set of nylon strings appropriate for my instrument.
Beyond that, I don’t know much about neck repair, etc. Hopefully someone else here will be able to chime in and advise you.
Best of luck to you getting your harp fixed!
I’m not a live performer, so strictly speaking this doesn’t apply to me, but I don’t allow free downloads of my music. Streams yes, but downloads no. I worked too hard over the years to learn organ, harp, music theory and arranging, earned my degree, built my recording studio (wasn’t cheap), bought my harp (wasn’t cheap either!) to give my music away for free. As I see it, listening to a stream is already getting it for nothing, like listening to the radio. And I’m not impressed with the current debates in the music industry regarding the value of copyright law, either. I can’t believe piracy has now become a party and a cause in some parts of the world. I’m just interested in keeping my bills paid and food on the table. I’m not signed to a major record label, just starting my own and trying to protect my work, so I can keep going. I’m not a kid and my husband is a lot older than me and the health issues are starting to crop up. I have to look after him too. He still has his performing career but it is getting harder for him. No freebies!!
Hi Catherine,
Best of luck to you with your new harp… I hear you about harps in Ireland. I was there in ’08 and it was a challenge to find them. I wasn’t shopping then, just wanted a few lessons and listen to celtic harp being played. Flew back home and had my wire harp built for me out in CA (!)Where do you live in Ireland? There’s an Irish harp school in Castleconnell. They might be able to advise you.
Hi Allison, that looks fabulous! Also like the fuchsia border fabric! Would be kind of neat to try cross-stitching that on cotton canvas too, esp. with the gold thread.
Two things: first, wait a few days for it to grow back sufficiently so I can do something with it (mine grow fast), second, rotate my hand slightly while playing so to hit the wire with a part of the nail that I haven’t trimmed away. As it grows back I just trim it overall so it’s nicely rounded and won’t break again or snag.
With my playing, I tend to rotate my hands a little anyway so I get a slightly different sound depending on which part of the nail strikes the string. They curve on the ends for some reason. So I can kind of hide the shorter nail in my playing technique that way. I know what you mean though… a shorter nail means a duller sound.
