Moi? It's true most wire strungs use smaller gauges note for note
than nylon or gut. Just how much thinner depends on the maker's
intentions. For example, f" (2cd f above middle f) will typically be
.025" in nylon. A heavily strung brass jobbie would use something
like .016" whereas a lighter lap harp could go as low as .012".
How this would affect the aeolian effect I don't know. Sure, there's
less crossection presented to the wind but a stronger wind should take
care of that. Other factors might include: wire strungs tend to keep
their tension up more than nylons and many of them are smaller. Our
small and relatively low tensioned lap harp doesn't sing in the wind
whereas the 34 emits great eerie sounds at times. I'll bet a large
wire strung would do the trick at least sometimes. Experiments will
be in order when I get the large wire strung I'm currently building
done in a few weeks. See you with it at the July circle meeting...
> Elaine
> (I do hang crystals on my harps--and they like it :-) )
We lent our spare 34 string harp to Laura McKinstry while she was in
Idaho Falls for a few weeks and she gave us a nifty indian-made
buckskin pouch to keep the tuning key in. We hang that on the harp.
Looks like a medicine pouch. One can hope it will impart lots of good
medicine from the Great Spirit.
Keith Rogers
krogers@xmission.com