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I contacted them about 2 months ago, but they wanted the gauge for all the strings. I’m an L&H 23. Don’t know the gauges, so I gave up (easily).
Savarez Alliance KF (Fluorocarbon) strings are available at Vanderbilt Music Company. The strings are really white and unlike white out, won’t cake off.
I believe David Williams can help you. Not sure if he still works on harps anymore, but he could tell you a lot about it. His number should be listed with the Dallas chapter o the American Harp Society.
Could be too many windings on the pedal felt or even too large a pedal slot felt. This happened to me once with an E pedal; resolved by removing the felt and re-sewing it with the seam in the proper place. Hope this helps!
First, CONGRATS!!!!
Make sure the pedals are all in the upper position (all flats). Go ahead and tune to c flat. You may need to do this a few times in a row before it begins to hold pitch so don’t be discouraged! (Really, as soon as you get to the top strings, the bottom ones, especially the gut, will already be out of tune. Don’t turn the string pin quickly even if its way off pitch; they’re gut and and need to be treated kindly. This is also the case when you replace a broken string. It will seem frustrating but you’ll make it through this frustrating bit of time. You will probably have to tune every time you sit down and play throughout the day, then after a few days it will hold pitch all day. Avoid drafty areas like an open window and such as the temp and humidity change will cause the harp to slip out of tune.I’ve been using Premier strings for two years now. Normally, I restring every year but this year I only replaced the top 2 octaves. (those are nylon anyway). Haven’t had but one gut break in all this time. I’ll be sticking with Premier!
I use the Peterson app on my iPhone to tune with a pick up mic and adaptor to plug in to the phone. I have yet to find a tuner that easily reads the top and bottom strings on a harp, but with the mic and quiet environment, this app will do it.
Dear Eliza,
Try going to the Lyon & Healy web site; on the right hand side of the page are some links. One of these is “Downloads.” Click on that. There are several PDF versions of their old catalogs that you may look at to compare to your harp.Happy hunting!
SidBack in my childhood, my really cool aunt would play Frank Mill’s, Valse Classique on the piano. Thought it would be fun to play it on the harp but after looking at just the introduction, there are way too many pedal changes. Perhaps in a different key… here it is on youtube:
I prefer the wood floor under the harp. It helps the sound to carry as it also resonates with the instrument. Carpet seems to mud the sound as it absorbs too much. Vinyl isn’t bad but come on, you’re building your dream house! Now, here’s something else to consider; I have plank porcelain tiles that look like scraped hardwood. They don’t scratch easily as wood does (in fact, I drag the harp all over the living room without leaving marks). Water doesn’t hurt it at all either. It doesn’t resonate quite as well as wood floor but they serve me very well.
You may want an area rug in the room as well as drapery on the window to absorb the echo. Good luck!Got it. Thank you so much Alison! The YouTube link (that you sent) will be a great help as well. Hope to repay the favor!!
Sid
