Maintaining Corey
I've been neglecting my harp Corey lately--just haven't had time to play much--and he's shown it. I finally noticed he was dusty and that the wrapping on his lowest E string had come undone. His lowest C string has been buzzing a little for a long time, and now it was buzzing so bad, the string was unusable.
Time to rectify all this.
I replaced the E string easily enough, then went to work on the buzzing C. First, I replaced it, but it still buzzed unbearably. It was like Corey was complaining that I had left him alone for so long. But the buzzing created a puzzle.
On a folk harp, every string has two pegs. The upper peg is the one you wind the top of the string around. You turn the peg with a special key in order to tighten or loosen the string for tuning. The lower peg doesn't move and has a groove in it. The string slots into the groove to brace it, hold it in place, and to lessen the pressure on the upper peg. Finally, between the upper and lower pegs, we have the sharpening lever, which looks a little like a light switch. When you flip the lever up, the inner part presses against the string, effectively shortening it and raising the pitch by a half step, or sharp. The C string was brushing against the sharpening lever. This caused the buzzing.
The solution was to find a way to move either the string or the sharpening lever so they didn't touch. The sharpening lever has a tiny bolt in it, and I tried tightening that with needle-nose pliers. No help. I tried adjusting the sharpening lever by turning it a little--the levers are fastened to the bridge (top) of the harp with another bolt, and you can waggle them a tiny bit without harm. But that didn't work either. I even tried wrapping the string backward and bracing it against the opposite side of the lower peg, hoping this would move the string away from the sharpening lever. That was a disaster!
It seemed more and more like Corey was being stubborn because I'd left him alone for so long. I promised him a good tuning and a thorough cleaning if he would just show me what was wrong!
I was getting worried, really. Harps warp as they get older. The strings pull down on the bridge and up on the sounding board with several tons of pressure. As time goes on, the sounding board bells more and more, drawn upward by the strings. The more the board bells, the better the sound, which is why older harps always sound more mellow than new harps.
But as time passes, the wood ages, the pressure becomes too great, and the harp implodes. This is a fairly spectacular event, a strange form of musical suicide that leaves you with a pile of wrecked wood and broken strings. It usually takes decades, even a century, for this to happen, though, and Corey isn't even forty yet. Still, I worried that Corey was warping early, and the string was being pulled out of place, causing the buzz.
I was just getting to the point where I figured I'd have to find a repair place and wondering how much it would cost to ship Corey to a workshop when my eye fell on the C-string's lower peg. Hmmm . . .
A little-know fact about folk harp maintenance is that your best friend is a hammer. Totally true! The most common problem with a folk harp is with the upper pegs. They're set into holes drilled all the way through the bridge and they poke out on both sides--one side to wrap the string around and the other for tuning. Sometimes, the peg shifts in the hole, which loosens it and warps the tuning. You tighten the peg back up by whacking it with a hammer, driving the peg back into place. It's a little unnerving to watch. A harp looks delicate and airy, and here you are pounding it with a chunk of steel.
However, the LOWER pegs DON'T go all the way through the bridge. They only go halfway, and they generally don't shift. They DO hold the string in place, however. I wondered . . . what if the lower peg had come out a little and was pushing the string against the sharpening lever?
I got the hammer and gave the lower peg a couple of careful whacks, like I was gently driving a nail. Then I tested the C string.
Blessed Be! The buzz had vanished!
Relieved, I gave Corey a good tuning, then cleaned him all over with gentle soap and polish until he gleamed. Then I sat down and played. It was nice.
Friendships must be maintained.
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Time to rectify all this.
I replaced the E string easily enough, then went to work on the buzzing C. First, I replaced it, but it still buzzed unbearably. It was like Corey was complaining that I had left him alone for so long. But the buzzing created a puzzle.
On a folk harp, every string has two pegs. The upper peg is the one you wind the top of the string around. You turn the peg with a special key in order to tighten or loosen the string for tuning. The lower peg doesn't move and has a groove in it. The string slots into the groove to brace it, hold it in place, and to lessen the pressure on the upper peg. Finally, between the upper and lower pegs, we have the sharpening lever, which looks a little like a light switch. When you flip the lever up, the inner part presses against the string, effectively shortening it and raising the pitch by a half step, or sharp. The C string was brushing against the sharpening lever. This caused the buzzing.
The solution was to find a way to move either the string or the sharpening lever so they didn't touch. The sharpening lever has a tiny bolt in it, and I tried tightening that with needle-nose pliers. No help. I tried adjusting the sharpening lever by turning it a little--the levers are fastened to the bridge (top) of the harp with another bolt, and you can waggle them a tiny bit without harm. But that didn't work either. I even tried wrapping the string backward and bracing it against the opposite side of the lower peg, hoping this would move the string away from the sharpening lever. That was a disaster!
It seemed more and more like Corey was being stubborn because I'd left him alone for so long. I promised him a good tuning and a thorough cleaning if he would just show me what was wrong!
I was getting worried, really. Harps warp as they get older. The strings pull down on the bridge and up on the sounding board with several tons of pressure. As time goes on, the sounding board bells more and more, drawn upward by the strings. The more the board bells, the better the sound, which is why older harps always sound more mellow than new harps.
But as time passes, the wood ages, the pressure becomes too great, and the harp implodes. This is a fairly spectacular event, a strange form of musical suicide that leaves you with a pile of wrecked wood and broken strings. It usually takes decades, even a century, for this to happen, though, and Corey isn't even forty yet. Still, I worried that Corey was warping early, and the string was being pulled out of place, causing the buzz.
I was just getting to the point where I figured I'd have to find a repair place and wondering how much it would cost to ship Corey to a workshop when my eye fell on the C-string's lower peg. Hmmm . . .
A little-know fact about folk harp maintenance is that your best friend is a hammer. Totally true! The most common problem with a folk harp is with the upper pegs. They're set into holes drilled all the way through the bridge and they poke out on both sides--one side to wrap the string around and the other for tuning. Sometimes, the peg shifts in the hole, which loosens it and warps the tuning. You tighten the peg back up by whacking it with a hammer, driving the peg back into place. It's a little unnerving to watch. A harp looks delicate and airy, and here you are pounding it with a chunk of steel.
However, the LOWER pegs DON'T go all the way through the bridge. They only go halfway, and they generally don't shift. They DO hold the string in place, however. I wondered . . . what if the lower peg had come out a little and was pushing the string against the sharpening lever?
I got the hammer and gave the lower peg a couple of careful whacks, like I was gently driving a nail. Then I tested the C string.
Blessed Be! The buzz had vanished!
Relieved, I gave Corey a good tuning, then cleaned him all over with gentle soap and polish until he gleamed. Then I sat down and played. It was nice.
Friendships must be maintained.
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