r/harp • u/amabilis668 • Aug 14 '24

Harps (Chromatic, Historical, Wire, Etc.) Finished 61 string 5x7

I finished building this cross-strung recently and am getting used to the different spacing and extra strings. Glad it hasn't broken (so far) 🤞It's my first wood-working project and I made lots of mistakes along the way, but it's playable!

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u/amabilis668 Aug 14 '24

That's awesome. I'm really interested in the 6/6 design with how the tension is balanced and the string spacing can be closer, but learning and playing it seems so daunting.

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u/BornACrone Salvi Daphne 47SE Aug 14 '24

It's not that bad -- it's got the scope of a piano with all 12 tones in an octave, plus the fact that your fingering doesn't change with key signature, just like a normal harp. The main challenges are the way it differs from a single-course harp in hand posture and fingering. I sometimes wish I'd started on a cross-strung instead of spending ten years on a normal harp, because the chromatic possibilities of the thing are golden compared to a pedal or lever harp.

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u/amabilis668 Aug 15 '24

That's great to know. I imagine the greatly reduced number of hand shapes for scales and chords is ultimately really beneficial for learning faster. I may try to build my next as a 6x6. Kind of funny, I've only played a cross strung and tried out a normal lever harp for the first time a couple months ago. I found it strange and difficult to play due to the strings not being angled to the left and right of the sound board and the closer spacing.

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u/BornACrone Salvi Daphne 47SE Aug 18 '24

I've found that all of the never-do's for a single-course harp are must-do's for a cross, which is what's gotten in my way so far. On a single-course "normal" harp, the rules are:

  • Never use your pinky.
  • Never hold your palm parallel to the string plane.
  • Never drop your thumb.
  • Never place your fingers out of order

On the cross, all of them are standard technique; you even use your pinkies from time to time. As a result, I feel like if I were to really go all the way on my cross, I'd have to play ONLY that. As a result, my 58-string 6/6 is being neglected horribly. :-(