Stephanie's
"Little Lessons"
#56: Naming The Strings Of Your Harp
Yes - they are A B C D E F G and the C's are red while the F's are black (or blue or purple) but which one, in what octave, and where on your harp do they reside? When you want to replace one how do you order it? Not an easily answered question. So, first a little harp history.
Harp was almost non-existent in America in the early 1900's . When it began to flourish it was in the form of the pedal harp that was developed in Europe. Lyon & Healy became the most prominent and for that matter the only harp maker in America for a long while and they produced ONLY pedal harps. The standard means of referring to strings was based on the range of the pedal harp which usually started with an E at the top and progressed downward for about 6 1/2 octaves. Thus:
Enter the "octave" system (moving from top to bottom):
Typically, there are only 5 gut (or nylon)
strings in the 5th octave (E,D,C,B,A)
From 5th octave G on downward the strings are wire.
Each string has a specific guage (thickness), length, pitch, etc.
This system is used with all pedal harps to this day.
Enter the first lever harps.
The first lever harps in this country were "Troubadours" made by Lyon & Healy. They were simply designed to be miniature harps that would allow easy transfer to the pedal harp when a student was ready. They contained a "portion" of the strings available on a pedal harp and typically started with the last 2 strings of the 1st octave (G and F). Hence the first E began the 2nd octave and so on downward from E's to F's. The Troubadour also shifted to wires at G5 (5th octave G) and all the specifications were consistent with pedal harp strings.
Enter other lever harp makers.
As time went on people began to look to the original style "non-pedal" harps that were so prominent through the ages in the Celtic countries, Europe, etc. These harps were radically different in design. They were smaller, had significantly less tensile strength, and required different types of strings. Their range could be anything from 20 to 36 strings.
Enter the "numbering" system.
Top string is No. 1 and so on downward. Seems simple and reasonable. Not necessarily so! The number and the string name, not to mention the specific pitch, the guage, and the length was now something that only the manufacturer could determine because all the harps were different from each other! Also, the shifting point from nylon or gut, to wire or nylon wound lower strings varied greatly from harp to harp. To this day it is a nightmare trying to provide strings for the wide assortment of harps being created. There is simply no consistency!
So what system applies to your harp?
Well, Lyon & Healy as well as Salvi have maintained the Octave system though you need to specify what model harp you have because they do differentiate between pedal harp strings and folk harp strings. Both companies have a variety of sizes and styles of lever harps with varying degrees of tension but at least they have kept some degree of consistency in the naming of those strings.
In almost all other instances your best bet is to contact the maker of your harp. Ask for a string guage chart and request the best sources for ordering strings. Ask specifically how you should go about naming the strings:
Finally, if you own a harp, you must also own
a full set of strings!
There is nothing worse than breaking one and having to wait for
it to be shipped from heaven knows where.
When you break one, reorder it immediately so you are never "without".
See you next month.
Stephanie
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