>>Harp Info - The Care & Feeding of Your Harp

Celtic harps generally are generally easy keepers with a few simple commonsense practises necessary to keep them in optimum playing condition for many years. Think of your harp as your baby and treat it accordingly - keep it safe, clean, warm and hydrated. A simple formula for loving a folk harp.

The Harp Stork has Come!
Tuning Your Harp
Levers and Keys
Storage of Your Celtic Harp
Humidity
Transporting the Celtic Harp
Cleaning Your Harp

The Harp Stork has Come!
Your new Celtic harp has arrived! Let it adjust to its new surroundings, particularly if it has arrived from afar and there has been subject to large changes in temperature and humidity. Leave it in it's packaging for a few hours in a warm room (away from direct heaters). Then open the box slightly so the warm air can start circulating around the harp case. When you believe the harp is at room temperature, open the case. If there is a great fluctuation in humidity between the shipping and room conditions, leave the harp in the case for up to 24 hours before unzipping. Sudden temperature and humidity changes can damage your harp’s exterior finish.

Tuning Your Celtic Harp
A new harp will almost surely be out of tune when it arrives. Most Celtic harps can be tuned right up to pitch in one tuning (with frequent subsequent re-tunings). For some Paraguayan harps it is recommended to tune first to a tone below desired pitch to avoid string breakage. A new harp will need frequent (ie. daily) tuning for the first few weeks, and even months. As the strings stretch and the soundboard lifts (“bellies”) the harp will maintain its pitch for longer periods.

To tune your harp, use an electronic chromatic tuner. There are lots of good ones on the market ranging from CAD$25 – CAD$125+. You need one that is easy and understandable to read and that will pick up all the notes of a 5-octave harp. When tuning a string, pluck it continuously while turning the harp key and looking at the tuning needle. It’s easy to tune one string while plucking another – this leads to a broken string! Always tune with all the levers disengaged. Strings with no levers engaged are called OPEN.

Levers and Keys
If your folk harp has levers on all strings it will commonly be tuned in the key of E flat (all B, E & A strings are flats when open strings). This tuning allows you to play a range of keys from 3 flats keys to 4 sharps using none, various, or all of your levers. If your harp has no levers, or up to 2 levers per octave (eg. Harpsicle, Ravenna 26E or Sharpsicle) tune open strings to the key of C. If your harp has 3 levers per octave (eg. Flatsicle) tune the open strings to the key of F (all B strings are flats). You can tune a fully-levered harp up to the key of C but check first with your harpmaker or knowledgeable retailer to ensure that this won’t void your warranty due to additional stress put on the soundboard.

Storage of Your Harp
As a teacher, Alison Vardy always recommends that harps should be accessible for playing while being protected from foot traffic, heaters, direct sunlight, dogs with large waggy tails and 2-year olds with sticky exploring fingers! Thus, don’t pack it away in its case each day or this becomes a barrier to using it. You may wish to make or buy a simple drape cloth or dust cover for it that you can remove easily if you have 10 minutes to play that morning. Disengage the levers at the end of the day when you have finished playing and park the harp in a protected room corner with the neck block touching the wall corner, preferably on a firm floor (not shag carpet) with the dust cover on or off as you wish.

Humidity
Celtic harps love a humidity of 35 to 50% plus milder temperates. We are lucky on Canada’s West Coast with an ideal humidity of about 45% and few extremes of temperature. Sometimes, during a cold, wintry period in Victoria, the humidity has dropped to 20%, Simply draping a wet towel over a music stand in your heated harp storage room can suffice. The towel dries overnight and is very effective at raising the humidity back up to 35% +.

For a more extreme and drier climate in Central Canada, for housing with wood stoves or forced air heating extra care may be necessary to prevent premature aging of your harp and soundboard by correcting the ambient humidity. Spruce soundboards can dry out and crack when subject to low humidity and dry air. Using a humidifier to buffer these extremes in humidity is a good idea. Larger tropical fish tanks work well too as they can add liters of water into the room air daily. Choosing a storage room away from the wood stove helps too.

Many modern folk harps have laminated birch soundboards [FAQ Page] which are far more durable in Canada’s climate.

Transporting the Celtic Harp
Always transport your harp in carrying case. Make sure all levers are down before putting it in its case and carry using the straps over the shoulder as well as holding onto the hand loop in case the shoulder clip snaps. Carry with the large end forward for ease in maneuvering around corners.

Lay the harp flat in the car with the levers on the upward side. Do not put any heavy articles on top and make sure the harp will not shift if there is sudden braking. Beware, beware, beware of leaving a harp sealed inside a parked car that is in the direct sun. Internal car temperatures skyrocket very quickly.

When moving the harp around inside your home, carry it with one hand on the pillar and the other hand in the soundbox access hole in the back lifting in an upwards direction. You can also carry by the pillar alone, large end forward for easier reconnoitering, unless the harpmaker recommends against it for structural reasons.

Cleaning Your Harp
Clean the harp with a dry or slightly damp soft cloth. Do not use cleaners with chemicals or waxes in them; a mild dish detergent in a well-wrung cloth is best. If water or liquid is spilled on the harp, immediately dry it. Minor spillage on the exterior is not critical as the finish is waterproof, but spillage inside the soundbox can be serious, and must be quickly and carefully dried. For some finishes on harps, wax polishes can be applied to protect the wood. For specific information on this for each harp model refer to the harpmaker or a knowledgeable retailer.