| 3. Finishing the Harp (still compiling) | ||
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Before finishing, I decided to paint a celtic pattern on the sound board. This I did with water based acryllics. | The next step, not especially photogenic,
was repeated finishing and sanding with progressively finer paper, until
the desired finish was built up.
I used Tru-oil varnish, which is light and hard, and relatively easy to apply. |
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It was only at this stage, after the finishing, that I could install the tuning and bridge pins into the pre-drilled holes. | |
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The strings are installed from the bottom first, over the bridge pin and through a small hole in the tuner. A tuning lever is then used to bring the strings into tune. | It was very quickly evident once I started to string up, that the top would need further re-enforcement. The plans had said plywood. Having decided to use spruce, it was not sufficiently robust to withstand all the pressure of 26 strings on its own. It rapidly began to bow, the strings pulling the centre up. |
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The strings were varying thicknesses,
thicker on the longer bottom strings.
Here the harp is strung up. The coloured strings marking the positions of the F and C strings. To finish it was only necessary to trim off the string ends. |
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| 1. Construction of Harp Parts | 2. Assembly of Harp Parts | |