It's here!! My Triplett Ancient Irish arrived today by UPS. They, of course didn't call me first as requested, but I was home and the driver was kind enough...
Congratulations! Given UPS's proclivity for breaking anything it can, thank goodness it was only a couple of strings! Personally, I would have a very hard...
... Thank you Audrey. The paint on the strings is really "glopped" on as well as being on the wrong strings. I am going to replace those strings, but I am...
Geri, Here's yet another angle to consider: First, instead of replacing the painted strings, if you use mineral wool (preferred) or #0000 steel wool (second...
... James, Thank you for the great advice. With only 26 strings, the technique sounds doable, even for me. I will try tomorrow to find the mineral wool at...
... Having done so a score of times now, I can tell you that you can replace bronze strings with brass of the same gauge with excellent results (and vice...
... Advice well taken, James. Thank you. I am a novice with the wire harp and have a lot to learn. I'm just so anxious to get this little harp strung and...
I would beg to differ... I would suggest that as far as deep bass goes the heavier gauge strings are 'designed' to increase the mass in an attempt to avoid the...
Good observations, Gerald. Let me, if I may, add a caveat to your caveat. While the doubling of the length of a string lowers the pitch by an octave, all...
... Maybe no contemporary harpmaker but I think that's exactly how the medieval design came about, i.e.; by empirical design just like cathedrals. Tweek to...
Congrats! Re: colouring strings, I put a small while dot on my C's and F's just above the halfway point of the string. You really don't need much of a visual...
Hi: I will hold my nose and dive into this . Metal wire has many properties, and {most} modern harp makers know very well what is commonly available and design...
Geri, Steel wool the strings to clean them. Perhaps that is a good idea anyway so you can get a feel for the age of the metal as well as get that goopy paint...
Peter I fully agree with: "The question is, are the surviving harps the best examples of medieval empirical harp design?" The pool of information is too small....
Daniel I agree with you. I will quible about: " It is not always the "best" choice , but very useful to the harp owner because it makes possible replacing...
James We mostly agree. However I take exception to: " It isn't convenient or accidental or a compromise, it gives the desired (targeted) tone and volume to go...
Hi: Maybe I should have signed my post , Daniel Tokar, not just Daniel. I draw wire for Ann Heymann and Simon Chadwick. Commonly available to me includes Rose...
This reminds me of another caveat...get used to people thinking you're having a heart attack! Marker being marker, it does tend to rub off, and where it ends...
... the museums of the world are filled with freaks; instruments decorated to the hilt and presented to the King, violins made of porcelain, walking cane...
Hi Daniel I have no disagreement with: "This is why I say there is no "best" or "true" , only taste." My point of contention was with your suggestion that harp...
Peter In principle I agree absolutely that a model of all the forces (making an assumption of an 'ideal') (in the sense of numerically predictable form of...
... Hi: I think it is wonderful to have contact with people who have an interest in these questions. To try to express complex things in as short a way as...
I am delightedly surprised that my little announcement about receiving my first wire harp generated such lively and informed discussion. This has turned out...
Daniel I too find the art of discourse without the subtilties taken in by eye and ear difficult. The dialogue is also parceled out in un-natural units of...
Hi Gerald : I type 20 words / min. , so slow and stilted is the norm. Yes , there is no math that predicts how all the varibles affect the final sound. A...
... Because I have more than a bowing acquaintance with this harp. Or to be more disclosive, it was I who designed and built it. ... I think I know where we...
James I think our cross purposes are resolved and we are in agreement. When you said: "For this particular harp, it isn't a matter of, "Ah, I'm stuck with that...
... This second tack is like what Long John Silver said to the pirates when Ben Gunn was imitating Captain Flint, "Come, this won't do. Stand by to go...
Gerald wrote: <<I do not mean to offer vexatious disagreement, but a question I feel we have yet left unsettled, although I will allow the problem may lay in ...
one7thfarmer wrote: <<I am convinced that, unlike gut or nylon harps, it is the strings that determine 90% or more of the quality of the sound, not the wood.>>...
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