Me and my son took a friend of mine out - in a car that turned out to be the same age as he was! Originally belonging to the Maharaja of India the Delage it was built in the 20s and painted Bugatti blue - not the blue I know about but a very light colour that looked white in the twilight. My son was taking it through its paces after an engine rebuild before it sets off next month for the Peking to Paris rally. It had a rather large dent in the fender - turned out it hit a rock in a river in Kazakhstan on a previous rally.
Not my favourite car though! I was asked to be the judge (which meant I had to wave the chequered flag) at Cadwell Park when I was 13 and I was always so thrilled when the Fraser Nashs (chain gang) won.
On harp matters - Dav-Al is coming along - the soundbox is finished (not painted) and is like glass to touch it is so smooth. I never got the holes drilled in Mystic-Al - will try again tomorrow!
Showing posts with label making harps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label making harps. Show all posts
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Saturday, 20 February 2010
waiting for the glue to dry
It worked well but caused huge concern to my husband as I spent nearly 2 hours braying the inside of the harp with hammer and chisel. Add to the noise of the hammer the noise of the strings resonating (I only took half of them off) and it sounds quite impressive! My piano tuner once repaired a piano that had been damaged by a mesmerised 3 yr old with a hammer...
It was extremely tricky getting all the clamps on - useful items included: - a stretchy pink rubber exercise strap, a piece of washing line and gripper things bought at an Amish Shop by my Mum. Inbetween getting loads of washing dry in the glorious sunshine today's job is sanding down Origin-Al, touching up the paint work and gluing on some silver holograms I found.
I have 2 more harps to strip down. I have seen 2 professionally-made harps 'explode'. They suddenly snapped across the head. As the strings start to break the pressure sends a force to about a third of the way up the forepillar and this can break too. Each string sounds like a gun-shot. When I initially started making harps I employed a 'belt and braces' approach. Its only after a couple of years that I know my new designs work and I can re-make some of the early harps and make them sound better and they are alot lighter to carry.
It was extremely tricky getting all the clamps on - useful items included: - a stretchy pink rubber exercise strap, a piece of washing line and gripper things bought at an Amish Shop by my Mum. Inbetween getting loads of washing dry in the glorious sunshine today's job is sanding down Origin-Al, touching up the paint work and gluing on some silver holograms I found.
I have 2 more harps to strip down. I have seen 2 professionally-made harps 'explode'. They suddenly snapped across the head. As the strings start to break the pressure sends a force to about a third of the way up the forepillar and this can break too. Each string sounds like a gun-shot. When I initially started making harps I employed a 'belt and braces' approach. Its only after a couple of years that I know my new designs work and I can re-make some of the early harps and make them sound better and they are alot lighter to carry.
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