Lap harp- Paraguayan vs traditional?

[Charlie Schultz]

My wife wants a larger harp (compared to a 26 string I made for her a few years ago)- maybe 33-36 strings (nylon/wound, not metal). I'm intrigued by the Paraguayan style where the strings are centered on the neck. Questions:
1. Is there a standard sharping mechanism for the Paraguayan style (like the sharping levers on a normal harp)?
2. Are there any other construction/design differences between the two styles?
3. Are there any plans available for the Paraguayan style? I'm aware of the Kovac book and Robinson plans, but do not have either.

Thanks!

[Jason Rodgers]

I know nothing about harps, but I do want to see pictures of a harp that you built!

[Jim McConkey]

A quick internet search finds that traditional Paraguayan harps had no levers at all, but it is getting more acceptable to have them these days. When they are used, it is generally on only a couple notes per octave.

Our own Library has a discussion on Paraguayan harp plans. Kind of outdated, but you may find something useful:
http://www.mimf.com/old-lib/paraguayan_harp.htm

Here is a CD (also available as a downloadable PDF) of 25 harp plans (including Paraguayan) from the Folk Harp Journal
http://www.harpkit.com/mm5/merchant.mvc ... gory_Code=

Cambria has tuning levers and other hardware, and supposedly has plans, but they are well hidden somewhere on the web site:
http://markwoodstrings.com/cambria/
Robinson's is also supposed to carry hardware.

The GAL has one harp plan, not Paraguayan, which you can preview here:
http://luth.org/images/plans/pl45-A.jpg

We had one active member (was it Simon Chadwick) who had built quite a few harps. Maybe he is still lurking and can add some advice.

[Nicholas Blanton]

My understanding of Paraguyan harps was that they're un-levered. A friend was touring in Yanni's orchestra years ago and told me the harpist simply hauled around several harps tuned in different keys- and those harps are BIG, so that was really no small matter. Go with running the strings out of the middle of the neck, and you gain the advantage of having the strain centered on the neck ( and so less chance of the harp pulling itself apart, and so a possibly lighter harp) but lose the ability to use a simple proven style of sharping lever . It's classic stringed instrument designing; every improvement seems to have to be traded for a problem.

[Michael Lewis]

There is nothing stopping someone from designing a harp with a central string pull on the neck and incorporates sharping levers. The traditional sharping levers were designed for the traditional harps, so they work with that configuration, but it shouldn't be a monumental task to come up with a different design that works well. Or design reinforcement into the traditional harp so you can use traditional sharping levers.

[Jon Whitney]

I built two Paraguayan harps some years ago with the Kovac book. John Kovac says the traditional method to sharp the strings is to install a small dowel projecting from the sound board up just behind the string which is just the right length to press the string against its end and bring it up one half step. Obviously you do this with one hand while the string is plucked with the other hand, and the action is momentary - you have to stop the string each time you pluck that note.

Now that I'm thinking about it, you might be able to modify his plans to include a 2nd, removable dowel in the neck spaced appropriately to stop the string a half step higher in pitch on the neck side (the strings run over dowels crossing through the neck halves to the tuners).

[Charlie Schultz]

Thanks everyone. It looks like there are a number of ways to do the sharping- dowels/taquitos, "sharping rings", etc. I found several makers that do use traditional sharping levers on Paraguayan harps by extending half of the (split) neck down and mounting the levers on that. And the use of guitar tuning machines is common.

[Beate Ritzert]

There is nothing stopping someone from designing a harp with a central string pull on the neck and incorporates sharping levers. The traditional sharping levers were designed for the traditional harps, so they work with that configuration, but it shouldn't be a monumental task to come up with a different design that works well. Or design reinforcement into the traditional harp so you can use traditional sharping levers.

Indeed. Just thought about that. You might add a fret in the correct position and some mechanism to press the string to the fret. Like a capo on the guitar which simulates the player's baree finger...

Another option to obtain symmetric tension is to build a chromatic harp in 6+6 tuning. But that envolves a completely different playing technique. That will be one of my forthcoming projects.

Finally from me a question: is there any rule of thumb to estimate the thickness of the top for a given string tension?

Beate


BTW: here is a german collection of resources set up by a few hobbyists:
http://www.harfenforum.de/wiki/Harfenbau_%28Eigenbau%29

[Jon Whitney]

I looked at my Kovac-designed harp again and there is a lot of space on the neck where you could mount a cam between the tuner and the "nut" dowel. Tuning the cam's height to sharpen the string exactly one-half step would be the tricky part. I'm thinking something along the lines of Earl Scrugg's early methods of banjo quick de-tuners.

[Simon Chadwick]

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 neck down and mount levers on that, but I dont think there is a good solution.

2. Are there any other construction/design differences between the two styles?

Yes everything is subtly difference, like the difference between a classical guitar and a steel-string acoustic guitar. A non-guitar person might not see the difference, or if they see it they might think it is nothing. But I guess afficionados think those differences are everything.

Basically the paraguayan and other old Central American types of harp are lightly built and lightly strung. They descend from Spanish baroque harps which are a kind of flamenco instrument, with a loud booming bass and a very tight sharp treble.

On the other hand if your wife is interested in playing lever harp, that's a very different instrument, descended from French and German Classical harps. It's designed for a rich plummy even sound across the range, for playing chord progressions.

Note that lever harps and classical harps tend to have a lot more tension on them than the symmetrical paraguayan harps. No-one worries about the assymetrical tension on a guitar or fiddle - it is just part of the design.

Have fun!

[Beate Ritzert]

Note that lever harps and classical harps tend to have a lot more tension on them than the symmetrical paraguayan harps.

Which immediately brings up the question of the costruction of the top i raised above. That question is everything but trivial because in contrast to guitars and violins the string pulls the top of a harp with a tension up to 2 times that of a heavily strung bass guitar at its weakest point --- without any bracing that supports the top mechanically. The stripes of wood holding the strings actually introduce additional peaks of tension where the top might break.

No-one worries about the assymetrical tension on a guitar or fiddle - it is just part of the design.

Not quite.
On the violins, the neck is strong an short. It usually can resist string tension quite well, usually several times longer than with harps. On the guitar, special constructive action is often taken in order to stabilize it against the assymmetrical tension. Necks of steelstring guitars without a trussrod (common in old german guitars, especially budget archtops) tend to bend quite rapidly under string tension.

On the harp, the long post is suject to bending under string tension, and the upper bow is subject to torsion. That appears to happen within a few decades - nothing compared to the lifetime of a well built guitar neck.

[Jon Whitney]

On the harp, the long post is suject to bending under string tension, and the upper bow is subject to torsion.

The big advantage of the Paraguayan design is the elimination of this torsion on the neck (upper bow). The strings, rather than trying to tear the neck-to-body and neck-to-post joints apart, actually hold them together.