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I have been involved in music my whole life, and in folkmusic since my early teens. While I have played many instruments, the fiddle has always been my number one. In 1998, I was lucky enough to acquire an old harp in working order, but the only condition was that I would learn to play it.
For more than a year, I practiced a minimum of 15 minutes, but more often up to an hour, every single day on the harp. I started by using some beginner harp books, but found that I did best by using the books only for guidance, and making my own arrangements of tunes that I thought sounded good on this lovely instrument.
I made my first public appearance with the harp one year after getting it. I continued to build technique and repertoire for another year, and even took the harp to play at a wedding (at which I mostly played fiddle and nyckelharpa).
Disaster struck one day, when, without warning, the soundboard ripped away from the body of the harp with a tremendous noise! I found out that this kind of damage is not uncommon in harps, but it was quite a surprise to me!
This is a single action pedal harp. It is not a Celtic Harp, but is called an "Irish harp" by some. It was made by the Stahl harp company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, under patent #843,470. My superficial research says that it was built around 1914. I have not been able to find anything else out about its origins.
I believe that my great-aunt bought the harp in the 1940's. She never had it tuned or regulated, and used it only as a decoration in her house. It looked nice, even though it was not playable. In the 1970's my cousin Ellen got it, with the intention of fixing it and learning to play. She is an excellent pianist, and plays piano and organ semi-professionally in church. She found a guitar maker who was willing to try to fix it, and it took him more than a year to do it. After she got it back, she used it as a decoration, also, only sporadically trying to learn to play it. (With four children growing up in the family, it's no wonder that playing the harp was not high on her priority list.)
In 1998 she generously gave me the harp with two conditions: 1) that I would not sell it; 2) that I would learn to play it. She believes, as I do, that it is a terrible shame to waste a musical instrument by not playing it. Someone put a lot of care and work into building the harp to produce beautiful music, and it ought to be played. The day after I got it home, I restrung the harp and began my learning. Lena, my daughter, also started to learn. The rest of the story I have already recounted.
Here's the rub: I can find no one to repair the harp to make it playable again. Most harp repair people are fine craftsmen with great pride in their work. If they take on a job, it is to make sure it is done right. The problem is, to repair this harp "right" would involve fixing the pedals (2 of which are stuck), reregulating the pedal mechanism, perhaps straightening the top, certainly cleaning and lubricating the brass, and maybe even regilding the top. The smallest estimate I've gotten for repairs is about $5000, and up to $8000 or more. Unfortunately, this is way out of my budget.
I would like to find someone who would just replace the soundboard - to make the instrument playable again. If I still had a workshop I could do it myself. I can buy a new soundboard for $125, but putting it on properly is best done by an instrument maker. The guitar maker's work did not last more than 20 years, but even 20 years of playability and then breaking is better than having it sit unplayable for the same length of time.
If there is anyone in the Northern or Central California area willing to tackle the job, I would certainly appreciate it. E-mail, write, or telephone with any help you might have... Thank you.
The music I learned to play on the harp is a collection of mostly fiddle tunes that turned out to sound quite nice on the "foreign" instrument. My first public performance involved a French Canadian waltz called the "Waltz of the Little Girls": very nice on the harp. Some standard folk harp tunes I also played: The Ash Grove, Barbara Allen, Greensleeves, etc. But I also adapted quite a few Swedish tunes - waltzes, wedding marches, lullabies, songs, and even polskas. I hope that someday I get a chance to play them again. They were all in my head, but I want to eventually write them down, and perhaps even post some of them here.
Return to Top(209)825-2669
Tim Rued
PO Box 30456
Stockton CA 95213-0456
USA