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 the text in the picture says pillar is under this piece of foam. Insert neck into notch before lifting out foam to remove pillar |
Picture 1
This is what you will see when the box lid is removed assembly only takes a few minutes. Tuning up the strings needs a few days but the harp can be played while tuning up. |
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Picture 2
remove the foam covering the notch for the neck. Remove plastic from around notch and carefully lift neck and insert into notch |
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Picture 3
Harp should now look like this. Prop up neck with the lump of foam or ask a friend to hold it so it doesn't fall onto the soundboard and make a DENT!!!!! Remove foam covering the pillar as shown in picture no 1, and insert pillar as shown in next picture |
Make sure the strings are not tangled before going further.
Take care not to kink or damage strings, They are delicate, and kinks or dents
can cause then to break prematurely.
Fit the pillar TOP into the neck and the
pillar BASE into the foot at the big end of the soundbox; see picture 5.
There are brass dowels in the neck and base which
fit into the holes at the ends of the pillar.
The neck has labels at each end showing which is foot and base.; THE
LABELS ALSO have the word FRONT at each end.
There is a faint red dot at each end of the pillar and
a red dot on the front of the neck and the pedestal. They should line up as
shown on the piece of paper on the pillar and picture 5
Rotate the pillar until the word FRONT is at the front facing out from the
harp and the red dots line up. This is important to make sure the neck and pillar align properly.
 NOTE You may need to loosen strings a bit to insert pillar. Turn tuners anti-clockwise just enough to allow pillar to fit in easily. This is because the nylon strings may have contracted during transport. |
Picture 4
Harp should now look like this. Starting end with
the turtle on it, wind about 20 or so strings tight enough so the harp will stay
together. Turn tuners CLOCKWISE. Refer
to picture 5 below. Remove all
plastic foam and packing and carefully lift harp out of box and lay on
side on clean carpet on floor remove bolts from leg holes and screw in harp legs . see picture 8. |
Now tighten a few bass strings by rotating the tuners CLOCKWISE until they just hold the harp together. If everything is fitting together well you can carefully tighten the rest of the strings until they are tight enough to make a sound.
IMPORTANT: Make sure the strings wrap neatly around the tuning key shafts, and check that one or more turns do not cross over any others.
THE STRINGS WILL BREAK IF THE TURNS CROSS OVER ONE ANOTHER.
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Picture 5 String
winding detail
When winding loose strings, it can help to pull
gently on the strings; .Check strings are resting in groove in bridge pins on
underside of neck, |
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Picture6
Pillar Alignment detail This sketch gives a clearer idea than a photograph. Only the ends of the pillar are shown here . |
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picture 7
Showing how the parts fit together make sure the strings pull out as shown and are not twisted around one another there are brass dowels in the neck and base which fit into the holes at the ends of the pillar. |
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picture 8
assembled Paraguayan harp showing how legs fit into soundbox. single strand strings are secured in the string bar* with acoustic guitar bridge pins using a small plastic bead and double knot wound strings have a big knot and leather washer at the end and are pushed up through their hole in the string bar* by putting your hand in through the sound hole . *The string bar is the strip of wood running down the centre of the soundboard |
You may now carefully wind up the strings until they make a note four notes below concert pitch. It is best to make use of a chromatic tuner or piano/guitar to check string pitch.
The strings can be slowly wound
up to full tension. over several days. One semitone at a time. This is to allow
the wood to settle and adjust to the string tension (over 300kgs!)
For Paraguayan and folk harps It may be necessary to rotate the pillar slightly
to get
the neck to sit perfectly flat on it .
It will take a week till the strings fully stretch and maintain a stable note. The process is much quicker if you play the harp a lot even though it sounds very deep .It is still fun to play. and you will learn tuning much more quickly.
It will take at least a year for you harp to develop its best tone. These harps sound better the older they are, like violins. and guitars. The soundboard curves upward and the wood matures. The curving upward of the soundboard is important for development of the harp's tone,
Protect your harp from direct sunshine, sudden changes in temperature, humidity, and extreme cold, and shock. (Example in winter in north America and Europe. taking it from a cold car into a centrally heated house which has very dry air Keep harp in carry case for an hour or two do it can adjust..) .
Never tune your harp higher than concert pitch. this can cause severe damage.
Never leave your harp in a parked car!!!!!!!; temperatures can become extreme and cause
glue failure, cracking, warping and broken strings etc.
Spare strings are available from us see string charts for each harp or direct from Robinson's harp shop Mt Laguna U.S.A. In fact if you live in Nth America or Europe it makes more sense to order the strings direct from Robinson's. Just copy the string chart for the harp you want the strings for and fax or post it to them.
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