[Woodcarver] Woodcarver Digest, Vol 1198, Issue 1

[Donna Menke]

Rochelle, Thank you for the information. I am not a musician, and have a poor ear in any case, so the difference in tone will probably not be apparent to me. I have already burned most of the design on the soundboard and I'm now deciding what color to apply- and how. I've made up 4 sections of Celtic braid like I have on the harp soundboard. I'll be trying 4 different color schemes and both acrylics and oil pencils. I cannot decide how to do it unless I can see the effect on the wood with the burning.
When I first decided to make the harp I looked on a lot of web sites to see how they were done and a lot of them were extensively decorated with color and carving. Of course, I don't know how they sound. I have to admit that the working harps I've seen online- with people actually playing them- were not decorated.
So I will make this one pretty and we will see how it sounds. I'm planning to finish the entire harp with Arm-R-Seal, a tung oil urethane finish. I hope that works. Because of what you said I will put just one coat on the soundboard.
Donna Menke
http://www.woodworks-by-donna.com 
Author: The Ultimate Band Saw Box Book

----- Original Message ----
From: Rochelle Summers <rochelle at rsummers.ca>
To: woodcarver at six.pairlist.net
Sent: Sunday, September 2, 2007 12:02:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Woodcarver] Woodcarver Digest, Vol 1198, Issue 1

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On 2-Sep-07, at 10:02 AM, woodcarver-request at six.pairlist.net wrote:

Subject: Re: [Woodcarver] Crazzy amateur harpmaker
 To: "\[Woodcarver\]" <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
 Message-ID: <286356.91410.qm at web54303.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
 

 Merrilee,
 I am burning as we speak- well not really, but I am here to take a break. My eyes can only take so much burning before they lose concentration. It is about 2/3rds done, and I have a question for youse guys. Should I add color- or not? I was thinking of royal blue and gold. Oil pencil or acrylic- not sure yet. I was thinking of putting the finish on first- and then adding color. Assuming we cannot attach photos on this list I'll send a couple of 'in process' photos for Bill to put somewhere for you to see.
 All advice will be appreciated- if not followed- LOL 
 Donna Menke
 http://www.woodworks-by-donna.com 
 Author: The Ultimate Band Saw Box Book
 

 

Hi Donna, I'm not sure if the harp kits tell you this, but I have it on good authority (a professional lap harp maker, and also a professional harpist) that the more you decorate it, the less rich it will sound.  The finishing product, be it lacquer, paint or oil, changes the tone to a more tinny sound.  Since you are making a harp very similar to the one the harpist played, I'd imagine that this rule would apply to your harps.  


This might not be an issue for you; as a professional musician, my acquaintance has a trained ear and may be warning of a difference so subtle that only others with trained ears would hear it.  But the harp I have now, the first harp I made, is heavily decorated in paint (acrylic) and several layers of tung oil.  To me, since I have a musically trained ear, my harp sounds tinny, and I wished I'd learned about the decoration issue beforehand.


Since you're making two (the maple and the cherry, right?), might I suggest you make one look fabulously colourful and a feast for the eyes, and give the other just a thin coat of oil?  Then, if you can't hear the difference between the decorative and the plain, you could always redecorate the plain one.



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