Hang around the wire harp world long enough and you are bound to come across

some pretty amazing stuff:



Carolan's Shoes





James

www.folcharp.com











































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In case the link didn't come through on the last attempt



Carolan's Shoes

www.folcharp.com/shoes.html







James











































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--- In WireHarp@yahoogroups.com, one7thfarmer <one7thfarmer@...> wrote:

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> In case the link didn't come through on the last attempt

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> Carolan's Shoes

> www.folcharp.com/shoes.html

>

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> James

>

James,



I still haven't been able to bring up the link to Carolan's Shoes.  Can you post

it in the Files section?



Geri

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Here it is :

http://www.folcharp.com/shoes.html



Peter Wilson



--- In WireHarp@yahoogroups.com, "bayharper" <bayharper@...> wrote:

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> --- In WireHarp@yahoogroups.com, one7thfarmer <one7thfarmer@> wrote:

> >

> > In case the link didn't come through on the last attempt

> >

> > Carolan's Shoes

> > www.folcharp.com/shoes.html

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> > James

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> James,

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> I still haven't been able to bring up the link to Carolan's Shoes.  Can you

post it in the Files section?

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> Geri

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--- In WireHarp@yahoogroups.com, "Peter Wilson" <larixx@...> wrote:

>

> Here it is :

> http://www.folcharp.com/shoes.html

>

> Peter Wilson

>

> --- In WireHarp@yahoogroups.com, "bayharper" <bayharper@> wrote:

> >

> > --- In WireHarp@yahoogroups.com, one7thfarmer <one7thfarmer@> wrote:

> > >

> > > In case the link didn't come through on the last attempt

> > >

> > > Carolan's Shoes

> > > www.folcharp.com/shoes.html

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> > > James

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> > James,

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> > I still haven't been able to bring up the link to Carolan's Shoes.  Can you

post it in the Files section?

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> > Geri

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Thanks, Peter.  Got it this time.  What an intriguing story!



Geri

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Among other things, I play melodeons (button accordian, call it what you

will)

John Kirkpatrick has been one of the gods of squeeze box playing in the

UK for years. He once played one of mine, but it didn't seem to make any

difference afterwards...

Regards,

Richard.





one7thfarmer wrote:

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> In case the link didn't come through on the last attempt

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> Carolan's Shoes

> www.folcharp.com/shoes.html

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At first I thought there had been a discovery of another tune attributed

to Carolan,



Carolan's Shoes



Next, we discover in an ancient manuscript



Carolan's Watch

or

Carolan's Timepiece

also known as

Time for a Blind Drunk.



If they haven't been written yet, I think someone ought to do it.

In a timely fashion, of course. With eyes closed while drinking

Carolan's.



Ellen









On Tue, 7 Jul 2009 17:16:59 -0700 (PDT) one7thfarmer

<one7thfarmer@...> writes:

> In case the link didn't come through on the last attempt

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> Carolan's Shoes

> www.folcharp.com/shoes.html

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> Yahoo! Groups Links

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____________________________________________________________

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Too funny.



I prefer my homemade gin huckleberry cordial, or Chartreuse.



Peter Wilson







--- In WireHarp@yahoogroups.com, Ellen Tepper <etepper@...> wrote:

>

> At first I thought there had been a discovery of another tune attributed

> to Carolan,

>

> Carolan's Shoes

>

> Next, we discover in an ancient manuscript

>

> Carolan's Watch

> or

> Carolan's Timepiece

> also known as

> Time for a Blind Drunk.

>

> If they haven't been written yet, I think someone ought to do it.

> In a timely fashion, of course. With eyes closed while drinking

> Carolan's.

>

> Ellen

>

>

>

>

> On Tue, 7 Jul 2009 17:16:59 -0700 (PDT) one7thfarmer

> <one7thfarmer@...> writes:

> > In case the link didn't come through on the last attempt

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> > Carolan's Shoes

> > www.folcharp.com/shoes.html

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> > Yahoo! Groups Links

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> ____________________________________________________________

> Click here for great quotes from top international movers!

>

http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTMAuTj1NQYPmpPfTVzyqJN0NPMjzdr\

PDZ0gsHO5F1auuK9CQwhAUw/

>

Hmmm.... of what conceivable use would a pocketwatch be to a blind man ?  I

doubt that in those days they made them as sturdy as the modern "hand-feel"

watches for blind people.



Pete Heinlein





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I am always HIGHLY suspicious of "this belonged to _________" without solid

documentation, but I don't think that a lack of sturdiness indicates

anything.



As part of my show I use a silver paired case watch from Thos Best of London

and it was made in 1773. It still runs smooth as .errr. clockwork.



My feeling is that the harp on that case might be more political than

musical. 'harp without the crown' and all that? We'll never know.







Robert "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking" Mouland



www.wireharp.com <http://www.wireharp.com/>



















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Hi:

I look in from time to time to see what people are talking about. Glad I caught

this one. OK, on MOST of this story nothing I can say is useful , but as a

metalsmith I can say what the difference is between the sets of shoes.

Annealing with a torch and quenching is going to take most of the stress out of

brass, but not all. The brass will turn brown to black from the air burning some

of the copper.

  Furnace annealling will make the brass as soft as possible, and the air in the

furnace is usually "dead" air. Air with most of the O2 used up. Brass can come

out a soft golden color from minor tarnish of the zinc in the alloy migrating to

the surface.

  Gold can and will "evaporate" if melted without flux and held at that high heat

for long enough. Anybody  refining gold should know this and will work to

prevent it. Gold can be vapor deposited , but not under the normal refiners

conditions.

  Last  bit , pure gold melts about 400 degrees F higher than brass, so for any

gold vapor to be floating about in the furnace the brass would be a puddle.

Happy to help.

Daniel Tokat

Hi again:

  Must be sleepy , can't even type my own name correctly.

Bye again

Daniel Tokar

>

It said it was a "chiming watch" in the article,

more audible than tactile, don't you think?



Hear you later,



Ellen



On Thu, 9 Jul 2009 23:28:45 -0400 peter heinlein <heinpe66@...>

writes:

> Hmmm.... of what conceivable use would a pocketwatch be to a blind

> man ?  I

> doubt that in those days they made them as sturdy as the modern

> "hand-feel"

> watches for blind people.

>

> Pete Heinlein

>

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> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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> ------------------------------------

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> Yahoo! Groups Links

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____________________________________________________________

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Daniel writes:



“Last bit , pure gold melts about 400 degrees F higher than brass, so for any

gold vapor to be floating about in the furnace the brass would be a puddle.”





Of course what Daniel writes is perfectly the case …. but perhaps not all of

the story.



You see, the stock was being prepared in a discarded furnace for making

porcelain dental prostheses.  It was discarded for the very reason that when it

had been used to render and cast gold crowns, the ceramic walls of the furnace

had become so contaminated with the gold vapors that the furnace had to be

discarded because it was tarnishing the porcelain.



True enough that porcelain cures at a much higher temperature than will melt

brass or gold.  But because the furnace is made of ceramic walls heated by

electrical elements, the temperature where the brass rod rested on the furniture

is considerably cooler than the furnace walls themselves, certainly at least a

400 degree difference.  It is quite reasonable that the gold could reach the

heat of vaporization confined in the pores of ceramic walls long before the

brass in the center of the furnace got up to the melting point.



That is just a possible objective counterpoint to Daniel’s objective analysis

of the phenomenon.  But you know, I sometimes wonder how far we get when we are

so objective.  I am reminded of the Salem witch trials which were brought to a

sudden halt by one single proviso being imposed on the proceedings:  the courts

refused to continue admitting spectral evidence.  With only objective evidence

to go on, no one could make a case against any of the accused.  I’m thinking

of the lines in the folk song “Susana Martin”



“The spectral evidence was weighed and up the parson spoke

 ‘Thou shalt not suffer witch to live’  ‘tis written in the book”



Like that, when we investigate the essence of the matter of ancient harps, if we

insist on only considering objective evidence, what are we left with?  Alas,

there’s nothing more than a very few badly dilapidated, badly “restored”,

modified, instruments that no one can be sure how they were strung, tuned,

played or what motivated their construction.  Were they essentially functional,

ornamental, typical?



So we find ourselves admitting spectral evidence.  We will look to clues as to

the nature and manner of the ancient harps in stylized stone carvings and

mythology and poetry.



Now, when I played a younger man’s harp, I earned much of my living in the

technical fields and so it is second nature to confine myself to the objective

much as Daniel has done and to disallow spectral evidence.  But I feel the

story is incomplete if I do not disclose that on the evening when I was

discussing this with my fellow musician, the metallurgist who made the shoes,

the musical session waxed long and after many, many a tune and when the bottle

had been shortened to that phase of a musical session  known as the

“diminished fifth”..... in explaining the change in the shoes I was sure I

caught the word “transmute.”



Or to paraphrase Khayaam’s Rubaiyyat:



“The Harp that can with Logic absolute

The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute:

The subtle Alchemist that in a Trice

Life's leaden Metal into Gold transmute.”







James

www.folcharp.com











































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