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I think your inclination that less is more is probably the right one.
A lot of people use a “stencil brush” or similar large brush. From what I’ve been told, you can also (gently) use a microfiber cloth.
Avoid handling the gold with bare hands, and make sure your hands are clean if / when you do have to touch it.
https://harpcolumn.com/forums/topic/cleaning-a-gold-harp/ — this thread may have some info as well
Karen Gottlieb has some good general cleaning tips here:
https://www.kgharp.com/tips-for-harpists-cleaningYou could follow up with the tech who made the assessment, or another, but for what it’s worth, I’ve seen at least one older harp with an even bigger gap, and a (well informed) tech said there wasn’t much to worry about / do about it, even though it may look a little concerning.
If you don’t have a parent or friend who can bring you out in a rented car, one option might be to take the train to Baltimore, Philly, or DC, and take Lyft / Uber from there (though it’s still a pretty long drive even from Baltimore, since there’s no direct route across). Note also that getting rideshare _out_ once you’re in Chestertown is not super easy. We’ve done it in the past without renting a car, and it’s really a pain. Or check with the organizers if someone else coming from NYC metro area can help. I think VAHC brings out some of their rental harps (could be wrong here), so maybe they could somehow help if they’re bringing out a truck, but again, coordination would probably be a bit tricky.
There are some shipping services (like uship) that will transport stuff like this, but I don’t think think they’d apply to / be useful to your situation just because I’m not sure if the timing and availability would be precise enough.
My child will be there this summer (though we are very far out of state, so using the rental pool as usual).
I guess what I was saying was that while harp string spacing may vary quite a bit between manufacturers, models, or time periods, that I was guessing (again, could be wrong) that between the specific model the OP mentioned, and other Salvi harps _in the same line_ and from the same time period, the string spacing would not be different just because a given model had a smaller frame.
I’m just going based on the assumption that one of the reasons for L&H / Salvi not making 45 or 46 string harps anymore had to do with wanting to use the same mechanisms and / or spacing, but again, could totally be wrong.
> What is the difference in spacing on a semi vs a concert grand?
I could be off-base, but in your specific example (Daphne SE 47), I would guess that the string spacing is the same as with any of the larger Salvi concert grands.
Peter Wiley comes through Dallas, I believe. May be worth looking into when he is coming through – he should be able to give you a good idea of what repairs are needed / worth doing.
(I know this is a very old post, but responding anyway) 10th anniversary concert also has real harps, but from listening to the original London recording (and taking a quick listen to the Broadway recording you mentioned, I don’t think there is any harp? If you listen to the recordings, it sounds like a few songs have somewhat harpy keyboard sounds used (beginning of “I Dreamed a Dream”, “On My Own”, etc.). If you search the credits, there is also no harp / harpist mentioned, but multiple keyboards.
I heard the current US touring production recently, and they definitely used a keyboard for the “harp” and “guitar” parts there, though the “harp” was somewhat more recognizable as such (and more prominent in bits).
Sadly, the Broadway Phantom of the Opera shut down, and the London production scaled down its orchestra, including getting rid of the harp, meaning it’s very unlikely that any future touring productions of it will include harp either.
Interesting subject (bumping a super old thread here, I know)! Our piano tuner was talking about stretch tuning recently when I was asking why low notes on our piano show up as “flat” on a strobe tuner, so I’d been wondering the same thing. Apparently these days, there is computer software that a lot of piano tuners use software that takes a lot of this into account (Veritune seems to be one common one). Very curious how it would turn out / sound if used to tune a harp.
Note: Peterson also offers sweetened tunings for harp; I believe the “sweetened” tunings have more to do with equal temperment vs. not (just intonation), and are another whole subject from “stretch” (I know for steel guitar, sometimes people will do just intonation when playing with string / non-keyboard instruments, but equal temperment when playing with keyboard instruments).
Whether or not to tune with the overtones ringing or not is another consideration (I’ve seen a tech use felt to mute strings that aren’t being worked on). How hard the strings are played when tuned / regulated will also affect the pitch (to me, this seems to be especially noticeable on the bass strings).
A thread from a couple years back that you’re in which also mentions these in passing (this thread may also be interesting to the OP).
@carl-swanson I could be wrong! I have not seen a lot about them, nor have I seen one in person, so this is very much second-hand information. I think there are very few of them, right? Would love to see!
I first heard it mentioned (and referred to as a Style 22) by a tech who is very well informed, and also see a few references to it being a Style 22 on a couple of Facebook posts (one by H Bryan and one by International Harp Museum), but I make no claims to first-hand knowledge.
I tried to link to some photos here, but can’t get them to link (should be findable via a web search, though).
For anyone who’s curious about the older iteration of the Style 23 (the straight soundboard / semi-grand version), I just remembered – there’s one in the Met’s collection that I came acast time I came across this:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/503991
(the image is in the public domain, so I’ll attach a small version of it here as well)@cblack You can get a copy of the catalog online, for example:
@cblack Yes, when I updated the pictures to have the correct resolution, it ate my post, but also wouldn’t let me repost it. I’m not sure if it’s hidden and needs to be approved by a mod, or if something else went wrong. I’ll repost it below; if an admin knows what’s going on, feel free to let me know.
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We have one from the mid-40s, which is supposed to be a good time period (note: while you will find mostly gold harps from this time period, there are also natural Style 22 / 23 being made by the 40s).
I am not an expert on any of this, but as I understand it, with harps being used in settings that needed more projection, and strings got heavier duty, they started needing to use slightly thicker soundboards sometime around the late 30s or early 40s. This means that, while the ones before the mid 30s or so can be amazing, you’re less likely to find one with an intact soundboard than with ones a bit later, especially if modern concert tension bass wires are / have been used. There are also periods of time with necks that hold up better than others.
Interestingly, while I’d always thought of the 22 as “a 23, but smaller”, and had assumed that the former was based on the latter, I have the reproduction of the 1899 L&H catalog that was reprinted in 1979 (hope it’s Ok to share the photos below from it her, and the No. 22 in there looks similar to a modern 22 / 23, but the No. 23 at that time looks nothing like either a modern 23 or 22 – looks like a straight soundboard, the carving is floral, the default column and base have been “ebonized”, and it’s the same dimensions as a 21, so probably smaller and fewer strings than a concert grand. Curious if anyone who knows more about the history has any of the backstory here, or has seen this older style of 23 floating around.
One person told me that the 22 is one of the most varied models (you’ll see two different column styles, same as the 23, and other minor differences in the appearance; there is also a rare “Wagner bust” model).
[following up to self]
Got a new ergo key (I think same manufacturer) and it works perfectly, even without having any of the outer rubber worn down as happened with my old one. So maybe they’ve slightly adjusted the amount of rubber on the outside in the past couple years.
Also, decided not to use one of the holders, but borrowed one just to test, and the smaller style (sort of) holds an ergo tuning key, but with a lot of it sticking out.
