MIMF

Very nice! There's a photo and brief description in Rauno Nieminen's "Jouhikko" book of a version with a shorter 2nd drone string, from Finland, called 'harppu'. It is bowed with a shorter, lightwr, finger-tensioned bow - I think you would get a much better sound and find it easier with a ...

I think the central neck issue is a red herring, no more of a problem than guitar or violin. Yes modern harps usually have cross grain thin spruce soundboard, some are unbraced and many have longitudinal braces. All have a longitudinal strip on bo sides where the strings attach to the soundboard. Ol...

If it's a triple harp you want, that's a big task and a lot of research.
Here's a nice one:
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the ... rch/501665
Many people in Wales play lever harp though.

So itis basically a tablature for piano? The fact that it is patented and not "open source" means it will likely get nowhere, regardless of its merits. There are clearly some big problems with it - the use of 4 tones (black, white, blue, grey) means that writing it and printing it is not a...

Yes Clay they do. Dan is very approachable, ask him for what you want and he will try to oblige!

PS Nicholas you must know Dan Tokar? He has made strings and other stuff for me.

Clay, I have an idea that in the old days tuning pins were one of the most expensive parts of the harp. Nowadays you can buy standard taper tuning pins pretty cheaply - I get mine from Dan Speer at Argent Fox music. I have been buying blanks and hammering the drives, that takes a fair bit of time th...

I have been making tuning keys recently for harps. This is my first in this series, with a fabricated brass socket to fit non-standard rectangular pins. I have also been doing ones with machined square sockets in various sizes, from various woods, including some decorated with paint or gilding. This...

I have a question that perhaps should have its own discussion but it is related to this so I'll post it here. Is it possible to repair a skin head? I have a pair of very old tambourines whose head is made from an old vellum legal document with handwriting. One has a small (7mm) split. Can it be glue...

So these are blown like a didjeridu? They remind me of shepherds' trumpets

edit- I see you included a link to these in that exhibition

Running in a circle right round the edge?

Well if you are 100% sure about the string lengths and pitches, and you are sure the strings themselves are not defective, then it must be the points where they bend where they touch the instrument at each end. You mention the soundboard end - but you say there are no dings. However if the edge that...

As Clay says, string gauge has nothing to do with it. The same material will snap at the same pitch for a given length no matter what thickness (within reason of course...).

What kind of harp is it, who made it, who said what string is to be tuned to what pitch?

Interesting comment Yuri. The instruments I'm most familiar with are the medieval harps, both Irish/Scottish and Continental, which have the soundbox hollowed out so the opening is at the back, and with a separate press-fit back board. But you are right, I can't think of a necked (lute-style) instru...

"the first three or four looked good, but the space between five and six was perceptibly wider than between four and five." - isn't that what you would expect from a non-equal temperament? i.e. the diatonic semitone from 3rd to 4th of the scale is wider than the chromatic semitones? Carvin...

A new soundboard might be easiest! A harp glued up with titebond and with a plywood soundboard is unlikely to be of great value or quality... The entire tension of the strings pulls the join between the soundboard and sides apart, so it needs serious glue. Often screws or nails are used to help hold...

Nick, the version I remember went something like this,

Hourly rate £30
If you watch £60
If you help £120
If you already tried to fix it and messed up £240

1. Is there a standard sharping mechanism for the Paraguayan style (like the sharping levers on a normal harp)? No, I dont think so, the tradition is to have it with open strings only. I have seen people trying to make a hybrid with a lever-harp e.g. you can extend one of the halves of the double ne...

Just found the reel of nylon, it says 50lb. No other info, sorry, I do remember buying it at an inland fishing tackle supply shop.

I tried undoing the nylon monofilament top string on the fiddle, twisted it clockwise as much as I dared (perhaps 30-40 turns) and then reattached it. Now it is up to tension it does not look any different but I cant really be sure if there is a change in sound or not.