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Slide one end of the wire into the harp and out the next
hole
Make sure the wire inside the harp is loose and round. |
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At this point you do NOT want any bends or kinks or corners. Once the wire bends tight to the corners like the lower one above the wire cannot slide from one side to the other. This only works with wire strings. Nylon or gut IS flexible enough to slide around corners, brass wire won't. |
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Cut the wire about 2 1/2 inches past both zither pins. I use my four fingers to measure the two ends together. |
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Or you can put one end through a zither pin and then pull the other end tight and then cut. |
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Put the two ends through the two matching zither pins.
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Turn the Zither pins CLOCKWISE in TINY increments; first one then the other, until both sides of the wire are just barely tight enought to sing. DO NOT try to bring them up to pitch at this time. |
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The inside wire will look like this after the string are tight. |
Once all the strings are on, make sure they are all in
a nice flat line with eachother. Loosen some and bring the final wrap in
or out to match the rest.
NOW take the Paint Pens or markers or nail polish and
color the C strings Red and the F strings Blue.
Begin bringing the strings up to pitch starting with
the longest, thickest string and working up.
Brass Wire strings DON'T STRETCH, so use TINY little
tweaks.
Do not tune any of the strings sharp. After the
harp has been tuned for a few DAYS you can try tuning to another key. But
not now. Start with the key of C. It's very important NOT TO OVER TIGHTEN
any strings until they've had a while to "settle" .
You will also notice a slight bowing on the soundboard
as the center of the soundboard "bellies out" about a quart of an inch.
THIS IS NORMAL.
I could use some feedback as to how easy this is to understand.
Instrument orders, questions, and
pleasant thoughts
Email: muis@dreamsingerharps.com