Thread: My Harp

Nice work Joe...
I havent had mine played yet.
Maybe one day.......

Al

Nice, looking forward to learning more about this project.

Joe,

I only hope that someday I will be able to make something (anything) 1/2 as good. Beautiful match of timber.

Joe, that is absoloutely amazing, i thought i was clever making an octagonal display cabinet! LOL.

Now there's something different. I don't mean, "there's something, Different". I am sure he can see for himself. It really looks great. As was said earlier, let us know how the playing goes.

Thanks Guys & Girls, your comments are much appreciated. Harp number 2 is already in the planning stages. Maybe your comments will help make it happen sooner than later. I really enjoyed making this one. It took me 4 weeks from the time that I cut the first piece of wood till completion........inbetween work and teaching woodturning 2 nights a week. The reason for the relative short making time was because I did a lot of preplanning and had all the mods from the original plan worked out. The basic design is from a Musikmaker plan.


Vasco: I only play the fool, and not even good at that. Yes I do do other things besides woodturning. Who knows, maybe I could get as passionate about harp making..........I doubt tho.

Zed: There is no reason why a well designed and constructed harp won't last. Joints and stressloading are very important, that was the reason for about 18 months dely in starting to build the harp after I got the original plan. The neck ( where the strings attach at the top ) is 38 mm thick and laminated with long and short grain layers. The joint between the neck and soundbox is floating. The joint between the leg and neck is glued while under compression in position on the harp. The coverpieces on that joint stabilises the neck from twisting over sideways by the pull of the strings. The shape of the curve assists in minimising the sideways twist by the strings on the neck itself.
A big problem area is soundboard splitting. This is overcome by using a laminated soundboard rather than a single layer of timber.

Ian: No it is based on a Musikmakers ( USA ) plan. The retuning is the players problem.....lol.....But they must cope because instruments are shipped around regularly. However with the laminated soundboard and neck, plus good solid wood, hopefully the changes will be subdued a bit.

Starr: Google Musikmaker

Oz: Find someone in your area to play it....its been a long time since you did yours! I am like a dog with 7 tails about hearing it on Saturday. Only 2 more sleeps......oh no thats not a dog, thats a kid about a birthday!

Someone from NZ emailed me re building one of these with very basic tools and ability. It is not impossible but will probably take a long time, definately more than 4 weeks. There are lots of angles ranging from 5, 7, 9, 14, 15 degrees to cut on long edges as well as on some endgrain. laminating needing lots of clamps, wide drum sanding, curve cutting, accurate vertical and accurate depth drilling, routing, bobbin sanding, jigsaw cutting of soundbox back, taper cutting..........etc, etc, the list goes on and on. The other details you asked about is covered above. The timber I used was sheoak mainly with jarrah trim and a birch laminated soundboard. The american guys use cherry or maple. As you said none readily available in NZ, but I'm sure God blessed NZ not only with sheep but also with some good close grained tonal timbers. The soundboard is the most important bit as the rest only acts as a frame. Improvisation is the name of the game. I always believe....don't stare oneself blind against the problems, rather spend the energy finding the solutions. Ask aqround, you'll soon find people who make or have made musical instruments and then get a broad overview and decide for yourself which pathway you are going to follow. The internet is very useful, we are so lucky in this day & age with the information explosion because of it. Search, search and search....it's all out there, no matter what we want to do. Once you've done it, please post a pic. Feel free to ask me if you have specific problems which I may be able to help with. It is very satisfying tho when one plays Sherlock H and finds these oneself. Good luck

All:
Thanks again..........the next one should be completed in a few months....hopefully before the end of the year.

Hi Joe


I'm the "someone from NZ", thanks for the answers to my questions.

Actually, there are some local harp makers who I might look up. A lady across the road bought one and it is fantastic. Curved back and beautifully made. It may be a bit beyond me right now but I'm always after a challenge and how else do you learn? The laminating bit sounds the most foreign to me, I wouldn't have a clue what glue etc to use, but I'll look into it.

As for wood, I'm not sure about local varieties. I suspect I would have to get imported stuff. Plenty of sheep as you point out. Lots of pine too! Not many hardwoods .

Cheers
Richard

WOW Joe. I'm no Harp expert but thats a beautiful looking Harp. I really like the way you combined the W.A Sheoak with Jarrah and Birch. Good luck with your appointment with the music professor.

Thanks guys.

Richard:
Sorry I didn't mention your name or reply direct. I thought that a reply on here would be much better. As I said, I don't think the frame timber contributes anything to the sound ( from what I've read ), just use something that looks nice and get good stuff like Alaskan Spruce etc., for the soundboard.
Good luck in your venture.

The Verdict

Fantastic in looks and sound! Those were the muso's words, not mine. To me it sounded great, his about 12 year old son played the first piece, then the master took over. To me it was unbelievable. He commented that the string choice etc was excellent, it reverberates very well ( I don't know the technical jargon ) and that it was the 'biggest' sounding 'small' harp he has ever heard. Eventually he mentioned a sale price, without me asking, which is more than twice what I expected in my wildest dreams!

To top it all, he pulled up a picture of a apa doppia harp, some fancy thing with double strings, and asked me to try and locate a plan, he would also try, and then could I build him one. Well I feel that, that is the best verdict I could get! This is a guy who lectures music at uni, is a harpist in a symphony orchestra, conducts and is a publisher as well. He already owns a few harps including a big concert harp.

To put it mildly: "I am stoked!"

Ian:
Another interesting point was that it has only been strung and tuned for a week on Thursday. It was then tuned on Friday and today I put it in my van and took it to him. He only had to retune 2 strings. He commented on this, then I told him that it was first strung 8 days ago. He said that it was unbelievably stable. So maybe the Sheoak and Birch was a good choice for stability then.
I do have a short video and also audio file of the harp, too big to post on here. Will try and get it onto the web and will then post the url here. Thanks for your support!

Joe
I looked great so it had to sound great.
You are right about him buying it and wanting you to build another one, it is the best recognition you can get.
Only one thing - I hope you didn't sing while they played.

Congratulations


You should be so proud, a beautiful piece and from the sounds of it, beautiful music.

well done, well deserved praise

Great verdict Joe, pleased to hear it went so well. I'll go and order that plan!!