A Harp's Construction and Care

The harp is made of wood like a guitar. Although the wood of a harp's sound-box is much thicker than that of a guitar, it still needs to be tuned regularly. New harps need to be tuned as frequently as daily while the strings are still stretching to there "comfortable" length. Most pedal harps hold their tune for at least two weeks once the strings are done stretching. Lever harps tend to fluctuate in tone a bit more. This may be because the wood of a lever harp's sound board and body are much thinner than the pedal harp's, allowing temperature and humidity to effect it more easily. The thickness of the wood on a pedal harp's sound board, and body are usually 3/4  to 2 inches. A lever harp, on the other hand, is about 3/4 of an inch at its thickest point. As I said in an earlier post, Lyon & Healy make most of their harps out of maple wood, but many other woods are popular also. Birch, cherry, walnut as well as exotic woods such as, Bubinga, Sapele, and Koa are just a few. The harp can have a body carved from a single piece of wood or precisely constructed from 2000 hand-crafted or machine tooled pieces. As you might have guessed, the type of wood, how it was made, and it's environment all have a major effect on a harp's tone, and predict how it will evolve as it ages.  Some harps grow more rich and full in there tone while others become higher pitched and twangy. A harp's color can also change quite a bit over time.  My harp started off a lovely pale maple and has deepened into a rich amber. Of course, I have not covered all the variables and details involved in harp making, and care. Here's a few links with more information if you're interested: http://www.dustystrings.com/instrumentbuilding/harps/features/woods/tabid/608/Default.aspx,  http://www.celticharper.com/materials.html, http://www.harpspectrum.org/harpworks/francois.shtml