>By the way, I think someone ought to give weed-eater and large fishing
>line a try. Fishing line isn't always stretchable - anglers actually
>like a stretchless line because they are "more sensitive".
Hmmmmmm. go for it Iskandar! But when the tone is less than you
desired, don't wonder why! Yes, Dupont nylon is expensive. And,
fishing nylon has been used many times for harps. But, quality proves
out in the long run, and the harper can tell you the difference! See
the wonderful Mexican harps, whose strings look like the harper is
pulling elastic rubber bands (and the tone is similar, also). While
many different types of materials have been made for harps (have you
heard the one that states: While an Englishman is left alive, there is
no need to worry about where to get the gut strings! says the Irish
harper. Whoops, this may not be politically correct but it does have
some macabre humor to it.)
String, horsehair, metals of any kind (extruded to some reasonable
diameter), weed wacking nylon, fishing line, etc. etc. The point is
that as we become more prolific in our types of material development,
some things work and some things do not. Why not take advantage of
whatever our "time frame" has produced, as long as it sounds good! I'm
aware of the "purists" -- who harp (pardon me) back to the past for
their directions -- but just who knows (as it has been mentioned before
here on this list) just what was used, how it was used, and, most
importantly, how did it sound?
It seems to me to be justifiable to use anything you have access to
for harp strings -- just don't gripe about the tone! We have lately
seen messages talking about people who don't have access to "wound
strings" who take two strands of monofilament (or more) and *twist*
them around each other -- to produce mass -- and they are satisfied
with the results! That's fine! They have used ingenuity and have
saved some money also. Nothing wrong in it! Many a harp has been
condemned for poor tonality because the strings have not been able to
produce the tone that the harp itself is capable of.
The L&H Troubadour, for example, uses very very heavy monofilament
nylon in the mid range. Robbie Robinson changed some of those monster
nylon monofilament strings to wrapped nylon and the tone was a
miraculous improvement!
I was complaining to a cb technician about my cb not getting any
further "out" than line-of-sight transmission (well, not quite that
bad), and he pointed out the antenna I used was not functioning very
well. Change the antenna and improve the transmission/reception
capability. Hmmmmmmm... Change your harps "shoes" (strings) and you
get better tone!
Enough...... betty