Strung Up Too

Your can ask your harp tech next time he/she's in town (mine is the one and only Peter Q Wiley) to give you some spare anchors. They are great to have around. If "knot," cut 5th octave strings 1 1/4".

The two knots that then you knot again.

Slide the anchor in and pull hard on the string going towards the harp.

Pull it through the hole--as you pull, the knot will tighten around the anchor--a flashlight is helpful since most harps are kept out of direct sunlight.

The Spiney Neck.

I like to use my teeth to keep the long end out of the way while I am wrapping the pin. That way, one hand can turn the tuner and the other can guide the string into the hardware on this side.

Tune to full on correct pitch, the string can handle it. Pass by it 2-3 a day and tune. Leave the tuner on your bench and leave the extra string long to remember which one it is. If you don't have early onset Alzheimer's like me, cut it and be grateful for your short term memory. It is an amazing instrument--thousands of pounds of pressure on each string. I guess I feel an affinity toward things that are high strung--Arabs (the horses not the people-although they seem high strung as well), harps, artistic geniuses. Tension this way makes something beautiful. My "string" broke at CubScout Daycamp after Soren slept in and made us late, which made me late setting up (in the wrong spot-not his fault), which made the first group unable to finish the DaVinci parachute craft I had for them. Then Soren said, "You should be grateful I'm here helping you." (Hence, breakdown #1) 300 boys came through my station. I taped, talked loud, took questions, tried to keep paper from blowing away in the wind, and tied about 1200 pieces of string (which I should have done the day before). When we got home, Ellery very calmly told me that since I was in such a hurry to leave, she was not able to go back to get the father's day gift she had made for Cyler at the totlot, and that's why it's hard for her to breathe without crying now. (Hence breakdown #2).