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In both concert and folk gauge each string is thinner than the one below. I am not sure who does blue gut strings – Bow Brand are black and they are varnished so I am not sure the dye Janis mentions would get through to the collagen. But if you get clear ones and colour the ends with a premanent marker and then play in the middle that should work as your fingers won’t be rubbing the colour off.
I prefer not to mix brands of string because I am fussy, but it won’t do any harp and the differences are usually slight.
There is a rather fun 2nd harp part to the McDonald/Wood version too – I think you buy it separately.
The zinging strings – do they bend or go through the soundboard nearly straight? I wonder if the hole is acting in part like a bray.
A picture frame person should be fine. If you want oil gilding youc ould probably do it yourself. Water gilding on the other hand is intransigent!
Both wire and gut strings are doing this? If you muffle all the wires with one hand and play the problem guts does it still zing?
Harp restorers all of whom can probably gild and replace missing gesso include in no particular order: Pilgrim, Munson and Harbour, Niebisch and Tree, Tim Hampson, Simon Capp, John Page, Mike Parker, Morley’s must have someone and there are more – someone else was advertising in either the Edinburgh harp festival brochure or UKHA but I can’t remember her name! Or as you say anyone with picture frame experience. If you are thinking of varnishing the gilding you might want to consider dutch leaf for the price.
The familiar string colours were in use in the 18th century – see the paintings I linked to here http://musicstand.harpcolumn.com/forums/harps-and-accessories/posts/63492
I read somewhere, probably in Roslyn Rensch, that the lurid string colours were to show up better in stage lighting of the day. Many Paraguayan harps have different colour schemes too, I have seen blue Cs and red Fs.A plausible black C should be fairly easy to come by: if your harp is strung with lever gauge gut then the F string for four notes above in pedal gauge gut won’t be far off the right thickness. (If your harp, as some lever harps are, is strung with ‘pedal’ gauge gut then you would want the lever gauge string from a 5th below.)
Ps – get little coloured rubber bands to go on the lever handles such as these things http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bag-of-approx-500X-mini-elastic-Hair-Bands-braids-new-mixed-colours-no1a-/221297772285?pt=UK_Hair_Accessories&hash=item33866006fd
removable when/if you sell the harp and come in brighter colours than the levers.You do not want car paint on your strings. Too thick and will make them sound awful. Probably what you want to try are dykem pens and be prepared to redo it often. Are they nylon or gut strings? Nylon can be dyed with Rit dyes, apparently. Never done it myself.
I would not use pens or anything on wound bass strings – clog up the windings and change the tone. If the colours are gone they are probably due for a change anyway – Salopian strings in the UK do custom bass wires or Vermont strings in the US and can probably do you black Cs and copper Fs.
Smaller pedal harps can be very good for a few years, or indeed for ever depending on the music you play. Which maker are you looking at? I can’t immediately think of a modern maker who does 43 strings (though I can think of 40, 41, 42 and 44 string models) and if you are looking to buy an antique that will need its own consideration aside from just the number of strings.
Is there any way you can get the harp assessed by an expert? It is probably in need of a service anyway and some method of getting the current owner to deliver it to the workshop and you buy it unless major problems are revealed might be ideal. I do expect Russian harps to have a shorter life than more expensive makes, but some can be good value for the price.
Pedals enable you to change the accidentals without taking your hands off the strings so a lot of it will be impossible to play on a lever harp unless you grow at least one more hand to do lever changes. Also a pedal harp has the equivalent of two levers on each string – so rather than a choice of Eb or E nat I have a choice of Eb, E nat or E sharp – again meaning much music will need extensive editing to play on a lever harp. There is some music which is labelled as pedal harp music but does not use the full capabilities of the pedals and works very well on a lever harp.
This is an example which is fiendish on a pedal harp, but I would say pretty much impossible on levers.
Hi Nicky, those missing strings wouldn’t worry me much – though I would probably budget for a complete restring. Of course, I would give the harp a very thorough inspection for everything else that might be a problem!
How is your sightreading? It is an invaluable skill when faced with orchestral parts or vast quantities of music in a short time. There are many, many books of exercises and studies – probably any of them would be good for you if you play them with care and attention to technique.
Have a look here http://gb.abrsm.org/fileadmin/user_upload/syllabuses/harpComplete11.pdf and here http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/site/?id=1054 for two more repertoire lists. Obviously the standard required also goes up with the grade!
