The Wanderer has returned!

 

What's this lurking in the boot of our old Discovery??

One harp... wrapped up against the rain!

 

If my life plan comes together and I end up doing lots of harp gigs then I'll treat the harp to a 'new coat' and a proper protective base.   At the moment it has to make do with some covers that are probably the best part of 50 years old.

 

 

Under the covers it's looking very smart indeed.  A man in London has crafted a new sound board, replaced the old felts in the pedal mechanism and fitted a new set of strings.  The tone quality is fantastically even and the sound is amazing!

 

 

Here's a detail of the sound bound and the modern 'eyelet' system for the strings.  (In the past the holes were larger and then plugged with little black pegs.  This caused loads of unwanted buzzes if I started to play loudly).  I've split my time this afternoon between playing and sorting out all my music.  There's a real temptation just sit and play for hours - but that would result in blistered fingers that could compromise my playing for weeks.  As a result, I'm trying to pace myself. 

 

After such major surgery, the harp is going to need regular attention and tuning as frequently as possible for a few weeks (at least once a day).  It will let me know when it's happy because it will start to 'hold its tuning' for longer periods.

 

It's so exciting to have the instrument home again and another phase in my new life plan starting!

Jx