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I have replaced eyelets though not on a DS and it is very easy. Just fill any damage from the string with something that sets hard and pop them in. If the eyelet is too long cutting them is a bore, but not tricky.
Do you really need to play that string until you have it sorted? Better not to have it get worse and leave the tension right off, but if you have performances that is of course not possible. If you need to improvise a stopgap, any short hard tube the right size would be worth trying, a bit of the inside tube of a gel pen might be OK or an eyelet from something else.
You can tune a string to pitch with the disks engaged, it just takes a lot of pedal moving. Check pitch, raise pedal, tweak tuning, engage pedal, check pitch. Very useful when faced with a harp whose regulation you don’t like.
I was told that when in trouble think more about technique. Took quite a while to sink in, as I instinctively want to forget technique and think about notes, but difficult bits do work better with my best technique.
I would start by measuring the strings that are on it at the moment. A good enough micrometer is not expensive.
You only get the prices if you set the webpage to US (at the very top right). You don’t get them if it thinks you are ‘rest of the world’.
Experiment when you change strings – put a new one on and see if it sounds different in tone to the older ones next to it. If you can’t hear any difference why change more strings? I change wires all at once when I want more edge to the sound and then spend a few months regretting it as they sound too new, gut strings individually when they sound poor, wear or break and nylons only once (to gut).
It has a fair number of features in common with an arpa llanera. I suspect they would have more luck marketing it to people interested in authentic folk craft.
Andrew Lawrence King has an article on temperaments for historic wire harps – he suggests quarter comma mean tone and you have little to use but some faff in trying out some pure 5ths and 3rds.
https://andrewlawrenceking.com/tag/temperament/There are several ways this question could go. Which is most of interest?
1) What keys is the music most often written in – often as mentioned above because of the most comfortable keys for other instruments.
2) How the harp sounds different depending on the number of levers engaged, and the resulting shorter string lengths.
3) The different colourations and moods of keys. This was a strong consideration before equal temperament became ubiquitous.To add to the tuning question, it is common for harpists in Scotland to tune in Ab.
I think one of the most significant things was rather skipped over right at the start of Charles’ post: ‘assuming equal temperament’. Much of the time I want equal temperament, but sometimes I want to tweak things a bit, or go for a mean tone temperament. The advantage of playing an instrument which needs tuning often is you can tweak it a trifle for different occasions and aren’t stuck with it for whatever you do for the next month or six.
It depends what music I am playing, and whom with. An orchestra or modern chromatic music gets straight equal temperament off the electronic tuner. Solo pieces, especially if I am only performing or practicing one, may get adjustment and tweaks by ear until I really like the sound of chords or intervals in the piece.
I only remember the craziness, is there any of these parts that aren’t? The one time I attempted this it came with the two harp parts and also – with the hire set – a version written out for four harps, which I have never encountered with any other piece. We only had two harpists…
