I don't think I ever posted the finished harp. Here it is.

Harp stand prototype

This harp is quite heavy and it's substantially larger than the original amont harp.  If one believes the paintings of harpers and the wear marks on the surviving harps they were played resting on the floor with the harp pretty much in front of the player. Nowadays players prefer to have the harp higher so that it rests on, or is at the level of their shoulder. If this can be accommodated with a standard chair height in mind it's even better.

I've built a prototype of a harp stand to try and accomplish several things. It is easily adjustable for height and angle, it will fit in front of a standard chair,  it has sufficient stability to hold the harp without capsizing.

The next step in making the harp stand is for the player to live with the prototype for a bit to see what works and what needs rethinking or adjustments. I already have a couple of minor changes in mind that will extend the range of possibilities a bit.

 Extreme back angle, height up

 Height up

 Height down

 extreme upright angle

Extreme back angle, height down.

Strings!

Here's a little detail. I added ramps under the brass straps to ease the transition. The second strap is lying beside a brass rivet. It had to be hammered into a curve to fit the contour of the neck.

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It's always a little stressful when you start drilling holes in an instrument. The plan is to use Z-toggles to fasten the strings. That way the harp can be strung from the outside without having to fish for the strings through the sound holes.

Here are a couple of Z-toggles and the tools to make them. The zig-zag has to fit through the string hole with the string attached. It was pretty easy to tie the first twenty strings (.016-.020) The strings from .022 to .040 were pretty stiff to tie around the little toggle but after annealing the end of the strings in a gas flame it became doable.

After stabbing myself in the fingers a few times I got all the bronze strings tied and installed. While I'm waiting for the bass strings to come I'll keep working on the finish. Again, this harp is a mirror image of the old harps because it will be played right-handed.

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I only had a wee violin plane to shape the inside of the sound board.  It was way too small so I made this little fellow. It has a curved sole and has a 1" wide blade. I didn't get a good photo of the inside. The soundboard is generally about 7/16" thick in the bass around the sound holes. It's 5/8" down the center  and along the edges.

Here is the inside of the back, if anybody ever looks through the sound holes they might be able to read this. I have, on occasion, wrote poetry on the inside of my harps.

It won't be long now!

Things are really coming together.  I've been refining the finish every day. It's starting to show some real depth.

The center strips aren't fastened in, I just set them on the soundboard for the photo.

The next tasks will be locating the center strip, drilling the soundboard for the strings, and fine tuning the pins. After that it's strings.

Harp neck brasswork complete!

Well here it is. The straps are riveted on with brass rod peened over.

Here's a closer look.

And the back side.

Brass work (still)

The electro etch worked pretty well, although I think I killed the battery charger. I etched about .090" into the 1/8" thick brass. There was still some sawing and a fair bit of filing to clean up the straps.

These are simplified versions of the straps on the original. Those were cast.

The strap on the left has been polished and worked into the curve of the wood. The one on the right is cut to shape and drilled but still flat. There will be wood filler pieces under these where they sit on the pillar to ease the sharp transition from the neck.

More Harp Progress

I haven't posted any photos because I have been working on the finish and it's a lot like watching paint dry. Not a lot of interest. But things are moving along.

The brass cheekbands are set into the neck and fastened. These are for reinforcement, not for holding the tuning pins. On the last harp I made with brass cheekbands the steel pins galled on the brass and couldn't be turned. I had to redrill the brass for clearance on the finished harp - not something I want to repeat!

One more thing for this assembly

Here is my electro etching setup.  The battery charger is connected to the piece I am etching(+) and another piece of brass which is getting copper plated. The zinc seems to stay in the solution.

What I'm doing here is using the process to cut the reinforcing straps. Once they are done this process I'll remove the mask, give the a coat of beeswax and electro-engrave a bit of fancy work.

Moe next time!