From susanh–(at)–cwf.cc.utexas.edu Sat Mar 11 11:46:06 1995
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Date: Sat, 11 Mar 1995 11:45:57 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Re:gutair pickups on harpstrings (fwd)
To: mi–(at)–c.utexas.edu
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———- Forwarded message ———-
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 15:45:02 -0500
From:MTGLE–(at)–ol.com
To: Har–(at)–IT.EDU
Subject: Re:gutair pickups on harpstrings
John Howarth asks :” does anyone know about attaching electric gutiar pickups
to a harp ?” Sarah Voynow has a soild body electric-single string
band-chromatic harp that I built for ,her that has magnetic soapbar Bartolini
pickups installed behind the strings. The special pickups she used are ones
that she had patened. They worked well in the studio ,but due to the
disharmony feedback from the 1/2 step strings she has not played it live
very much. I am
currently working on a new solid body electric for her with the R.M.C.
pickups, which work equally well with either a solid-body construction ,or a
acoustic body ,and work perfectly with Loveland levers .. Tina Tourin is
currently recording with one of my acoustic-electrics, and Sylivia Fellows is
going to get hers next month .The problem with the magnetic-gutiar type
pickups is that with steel strings ,[which is what you use with them ], is
seperating out the signals from the various strings. [Too much input] The
solution is to use indiviual string pickups. Rmc does also in addation to the
disc-harp pickups ,have little bridge type pickups that are used on acoustic
gutairs, this type could be more easily retrofitted to an exsisting harp
,but the string angle is rather crutial to proper installation. These pickups
are very small 1/ in by 1/8 in. in size, with a gold plated bridge, where the
string goes over it . The other type Rmc pickups , that Lyon Healy and I use,
come in various sizes ,1″ ,7/8″ ,and 3/4″. They require a specialy modifed
Forstner bit ,and a string spacing of Pedal type. Gary Garrington , and Sarah
Voynow have both installed ,or had other `s install sets of this type on Salvi
Daphne`s. The nice thing with both of these pizo type pickups is it makes no
diffrence what type string material is used with them .They work equally well
with steel ,bronze ,gut, or nylon ! In a solid body application they still
work just as well, because it is the actual vibration of the string itself
that is vibrating the crystals in the pickup .Thou in a acoustic harp ,they
also do pickup the sound generated in the soundboard .
Also they donot pick up any background noise or even the sound of a pair of
headphones banging on a harp`s neck ! [a recent studio expierence confirms
this last item , ask Tina Tourin about how they work in a studio setting ] .
I hope that no one thinks I`m blowing my own horn ,or harp too much here with
this info, I`m just trying to be helpful with information . Glenn
