A Little Bit of Water is Okay

A lot of people look at me funny when I say it’s okay to clean your harp with a damp cloth. “You mean, like, put water on my harp?” they ask me. There’s a commonly held belief that lacquer finishes and water do not mix, and there’s certainly some truth to this. If you let water sit on a lacquered surface – say you keep a potted plant on your piano (please don’t do this!) and overflow from your watering gathers underneath the pot – it will seep into the finish, creating cloudiness or a white ring that is difficult to get rid of. If left unchecked, moisture trapped in a lacquer finish can cause an ugly dark mildew stain.

However, this same lacquered surface, be it a piano or a dining room table or what have you, can be wiped clean with a damp cloth periodically without any damage, especially if you dry it once you’re done. The same is true of your harp. Gently wiping with a damp cloth to prevent the buildup of dirt and grime is good for your harp’s finish. Just wring out the cloth enough so that it isn’t dripping, and make sure you that if any drips or puddles form you wipe them off right away.

I’ve come across a lot of harps that have years worth of dirt, grime, body oils, and lotions built up in commonly touched areas like the upper edges of the body and the upper soundboard. In many cases, this happened not because the owners are neglectful, but because of the misconception that dirt is better for the harp’s finish than water. Believe me, a little water from time to time is better than letting a layer of crud discolor your instrument.

If there is a layer of gunk on your harp, it’s not too late to get it off. Go ahead and gently wipe it with a damp rag. Use something soft, such as a cotton shirt or a polishing cloth from the music store. You can even use a little mild soap for a really dirty harp.  If you apply a little scrubbing pressure, you might cause drips. No worries, just wipe them up.

If you try to start cleaning a really dirty harp, something scary can happen. The place you’re scrubbing may become sticky and gooey, and you may be afraid you’re actually dissolving the finish. The first time this happened to me I nearly had a heart attack. But it’s not the finish you’re dissolving. It’s layer upon layer of lotions, deodorants, body oils, dirt, dust, etc. On contact with water many of these materials go back into solution. They may get sticky and difficult to remove. You may feel like you’re just spreading the gunk around rather than taking it off the harp. The best thing to do here is to wipe of some of the stuff and let the rest dry. Come back later and do the same thing. It make take several cleaning sessions, but eventually, you can get most or all of this stuff off your harp. Trying to clean off a dirty spot all at once may tempt you to use too much water or scrub too hard, and then you really can damage or remove some of the finish. Just take it slow, let the area dry and rest, and keep at it. The dirt took years to get there, and you’ll need to be patient in trying to get it off.

It’s fine to treat your harp like any other fine finished wood surface. It’s better to keep it from getting dirty, and a little moisture is your friend in this task. Just be careful and conservative. You’ll keep your harp looking newer longer, and a clean harp is a lot nicer to play than a filthy one, wouldn’t you agree?

How to Grease a Creaky Pedal Spring

Have you ever had a pedal that started creaking or squeaking whenever you moved it? Most of the time, the cause is a pedal spring that needs a little extra lubrication. Here’s a short video explaining the steps, from removing the base, to removing and greasing the spring, and to getting that base back on again.

How to Tighten a Loose Tuning Pin

In response to a question from a client of mine, here’s a short video on how to tighten up loose tuning pins. It should work on any make of harp that has pins that run all the way through the neck, as opposed to the zither-type (or Autoharp type) pins that are screwed into the string side and tuned from the string side. As I explain in the video, tuning pins tend to work loose, especially when a string is replaced. All that is usually needed is to push them a little deeper into the hole in the neck. The hole is tapered to fit the shape of the pin, so the more you push them, the tighter they will feel and the better they will hold.

I’ve heard of people who try to accomplish this by whacking on the back end of the pins with a hammer or mallet. While this should theoretically work, in practice it rarely seems to, and there’s the danger of that hammer going where you don’t want it to. Try my approach and see how it works for you.

Replacing Harp Strings 102: 4th and 5th Octave Knots

Here’s another of the great videos Michele Rassmussen shot at a harp care class I gave at Lyon & Healy West. Here, I focus on the knot used to anchor 4th and 5th octave nylon or gut strings. While you would use a string anchor of some kind to tie strings in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd octaves (I use one-inch pieces of 5th octave A,B, and C gut strings), the 4th and 5th octave strings are so thick that no anchor is necessary, and using one only makes the whole operation that much more difficult.

One of the trickiest things about the larger gut strings is how stiff and strong they are. The key to coaxing them into a knot is to weaken the part you want to work with by pulling it between your finger and thumb with a slight bending motion, as you see in the video. When you’ve done this successfully, the gut will turn from opaque to white. The trick, which comes with practice, is in not weakening any more of the string than you need to tie your knot.

With the larger nylon strings, you have the opposite problem. There is nothing you can do to weaken the nylon, so it keeps fighting back. Learning to tie them takes practice and patience. Or, if you prefer, you can avoid them and only string your 4th and 5th octaves in gut. I know gut is much more expensive, but nylon strings in this register really don’t sound good on pedal harps (and pedal-tensioned lever harps). And no, the string makers are not paying me to say this!

A New Issue of the Newsletter is Now Available

The latest issue of my supposed-to-be-quarterly-but-I-haven’t-managed-that-yet newsletter, also called The Harp Herald, is now available at  http://mossharpservice.com/files/HarpHeraldSummer2009-8.pdf. The main topic of this issue’s article is how to adjust your pedal brass (and when you’re better off letting someone else do it). Please download it and check it out. And don’t forget to join my mailing list and you’ll receive future issues of the Herald automatically.

Moss Harp Service to Visit Sioux Falls, SD

Moss Harp Service will be setting up shop at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on June 18-21, 2009. This time will coincide with the final days of Augustana Summer Music Camp, so if you are traveling to Sioux Falls for the camp, consider having your harp regulated at that time.

The deadline to secure an appointment slot is May 27, 2009. Please contact me at steve@mossharpservice.com to let me know you are interested.

Replacing Harp Strings 101: Tying String Knots

During a recent harp care class I gave at Lyon & Healy West in Salt Lake City, one of the attendees, Michele Rasmussen, was kind enough to shoot a few videos of me demonstrating some techniques for replacing harp strings. The videos came out great so I thought I’d post them here and include some additional explanation as well. The first one is shown above. The others will follow soon.

The technique shown in this video applies to the first, second, and third octaves (and the “zero octave” F and G strings at the top of some harps). For these octaves, it’s important to use some kind of anchor that is thicker than the string you’re using, to insure that the string knot doesn’t pull into the hole and get stuck there. Trust me, you don’t want THAT to happen!

My anchor of choice is a one inch (2.5 cm) piece of 5th octave A,B, or C string, the three thickest gut strings on the harp. At Lyon & Healy we were trained that only these three strings were thick enough to provide a stable anchor. I haven’t tested this for myself, but I have seen instances where harps were anchored with thinner strings, and you can see them bend under the string tension. If they’re bending, do you think that string is going to stay in tune?

The video shows how I tie the knot around the anchor. I’m using a piece of nylon here. The same technique works for gut strings, but they’re a little trickier to work with because they’re stiffer. Stay tuned for another video in this series where I demonstrate tying 4th and 5th octave string knots. There, I use a gut string and you can see the technique for breaking the integrity of the gut fibers so you can form the necessary loops for your knot. If you don’t want to wait for that blog post, you can watch all three videos now on this web page.

Thanks again to Michele. I’ve been meaning to make videos like these for a long time. I hope they are helpful. If you have questions, please leave me a comment.

Pedal Harp Stringing: Nylon or Gut? Part 3

Should you use gut or nylon strings?

In the last two posts, I have discussed some of the differences between nylon and gut harp strings. I strongly recommended that, despite their significantly higher cost, all harpists use gut strings in the fifth through the third octaves. In this range, gut strings provide more dynamic range, a richer, clearer sound, and more accurate intonation.

If gut strings are so much better, shouldn’t they be used in every octave? Not necessarily. Let’s consider the first and second octaves in turn.

Every new pedal harp I know of comes with nylon strings installed in the first octave, and the vast majority of harpists keep their harps’ first octaves strung in nylon. Why? For one thing, gut strings in this register are pretty fragile and subject to breakage. For another, the qualitative difference in sound that I have discussed between gut and nylon strings is far less pronounced in this range. I have mentioned before that nylon strings have a more complex, or layered sound, with greater emphasis on partial pitches, or overtones. In the first octave, though, many of these overtones are so high the human ear doesn’t hear them, so the string’s fundamental pitch is more prominent by default. Those overtones that our ear does perceive tend to give first octave nylon strings a brighter sound than gut strings, and this makes them more distinct and easier to hear, especially in ensemble situations. So, while you might wish to experiment with gut strings in your first octave, I generally recommend nylon strings.

New pedal harps are delivered with gut strings in the second octave, but you will run into quite a few harpists who have replaced these with nylon strings. For many people, this is an economic decision, and this makes sense. In the second octave, nylon strings give a strong, reasonably clean sound, with acceptable intonation. They are certainly worth a try. If they sound just as good to your ear as gut strings, then by all means use them, as you’ll save some money. Some harpists, though, are sticklers for intonation, and if you are one of them I’d encourage you to use gut strings in the second octave. Gut strings can be regulated more accurately than nylon strings. Since they flex less, their intonation will vary less as your dynamics change, while a nylon string played fortissimo will then to sound flatter than the same string played mezzo piano. If you are a newer or casual player with a soft touch, you will demand less from your harp, and nylon strings may serve you just fine.

I have talked to a number of symphony harpists who prefer nylon strings in the second octave because their brighter quality helps them “cut through” the other instruments in the orchestra, and in this context the harp needs all the help it can get. If you play in a lot of orchestral or other group situations, you may want to try nylon strings in your second octave to see if they give your sound an extra boost.

To sum up, then, I encourage most harpists to use gut strings in the third, fourth, and fifth octaves, and nylon strings in the first octave (and “zero” octave). Your choice in the second octave depends on your preference and your situation, so I would encourage you to experiment with both.

Pedal Harp Stringing: Gut or Nylon? Part 2

Should you use gut or nylon strings?

Welcome to the second installment in a series of posts about pedal harp strings. In my last post, I discussed some of the structural differences between gut and nylon strings, and how these differences translate to differences in sound character.  To recap, gut strings do not flex as much as nylon strings when played, resulting in a cleaner, more prominent fundamental pitch. Nylon strings stretch laterally when played, resulting in a more complex sound, with a weaker fundamental and a more prominent array of partial pitches or overtones.

This difference in elasticity also translates to a difference in intonation. In my opinion, the intonation of a string  (i.e. how “in tune” the flat, natural, and sharp positions are, relative to one another) can be set more accurately with a gut string than a nylon string. In other words, in general, a harp that is strung in gut will play more in tune than one strung in nylon. Yes, it turns out that the extra expense of a gut string does make a difference. But this doesn’t mean everyone should string their harps in gut in every octave. There are other factors at work, which vary by octave. So let’s focus in on different areas of the harp.

From the fifth octave A through the third octave on any pedal harp, I HIGHLY recommend that all harpists use GUT strings. Why? First and foremost, they have a far superior sound over nylon strings. since nylon strings flex more, I believe they dissipate some of their playing energy, and lose their power to vibrate the harp’s soundboard as much as a gut string will. It is very difficult to get any volume out of a nylon string in these octaves, especially in the fourth and fifth octaves. If you try to play the string really hard, its elasticity will cause it to slap against a disc and cause a buzz, and if you play it mezzo forte or below, it won’t produce any sound.If you do play a nylon string hard enough to get some volume, all the extra lateral stretching I mentioned will mean prominent overtones, which will cloud the fundamental, meaning the pitch will sound like several pitches at once.

In addition, as I said, nylon strings cannot be regulated as accurately as gut strings, especially in the sharp position. With their greater tendency to stretch, nylon strings require a higher degree of grip, or twist, on the discs, to hold them in position. Greater disc grip translates to a sharper pitch, so the regulation on a nylon string in the third through fifth octaves will tend to be sharper than on the same harp strung in gut.

So, in my opinion, you do get what you pay for, and it is worth the extra money to use gut strings in the third, fourth, and fifth octaves. I don’t necessarily give the same advice for the first and second octaves, however. We’ll focus on those in the next post.

Pedal Harp Stringing: Gut or Nylon? Part 1

Gut or Nylon Strings: Does it Matter?

Most new pedal harps come from the factory strung in nylon in the first (top) octave, and gut in the second through fifth octaves. Lever harps that use pedal harp stringing and tension, such as the Lyon & Healy Prelude, Troubadour, and Ogden, and the Salvi Ana, are normally delivered with nylon strings in the first and second octaves and gut strings in the third through fifth octaves.

When it comes time to replace a string (or a whole set), harpists realize they have choices. Strings are available in both nylon and gut from the top the way down to fifth octave A.  And, wow, gut strings cost five times as much as nylon strings. Is the cost of a gut string worth it? I’m going to address this question in a series of posts, and show that the answer to this question varies by octave.

First, a little bit about the differences between gut and nylon strings. Note for note, nylon strings are more elastic than gut strings, meaning they stretch more when played. Think of the difference between a rubber band and a piece of cotton string or twine. If you stretch a rubber band, and then pluck it like a harp string, it will give, or stretch more, then snap back when you let go. If you hold a piece of string taut, and pluck it, it will stretch far less, offering your finger more resistance, until you let it go and it snaps back. While harp strings are neither as slack as rubber bands nor as stiff as cotton string, nylon strings act more like rubber bands and gut strings act more like cotton string.

This difference in elasticity translates into a different sound character in nylon and gut strings. While we usually say that a string produces a particular note, each harp string actually produces a multitude of notes when played. The most prominent note is known as the fundamental. This is the note we name the string after, and the primary frequency at which it vibrates. However, a string in motion actually vibrates at a variety of frequencies. These secondary frequencies are known as partials, harmonics, or overtones. When you play harmonics on your harp, you are isolating one of these partials, specifically the the one an octave above your harp’s fundamental.

In practice, gut strings tend to have a stronger, cleaner fundamental tone, while nylon strings have a more complex sound, with more emphasis on some of the partials and a weaker fundamental. I believe this is because a nylon string not only vibrates when played, but also stretches and contracts laterally, to a greater degree than a gut string, causing its various partials to sound more prominently.

Whew, that’s enough acoustics theory for one post. These behavioral differences in gut and nylon strings translate into differences in sound quality and character on the harp, and we’ll examine these in the next post.