The Instrumentalists Thread

[Tessar]

IT'S HERE! IT ARRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVVVEEEEEEEED!!!!!!

But I'm stuck at school till 8:15p.m. and it's only 3:16p.m. right now! AAAAAAH!!!

O_o I'm not sure I can make it another five hours. I might explode. Into one million, billion pieces. But if I explode into a million, billion pieces how can I construct the harp kit when I get home?!!!?

[Earniel]

It comes in a kit? So you actually have to build it yourself?

[Tessar]

WELL OF COURSE I'M GOING TO BUILD IT. YOU DON'T JUST BUY A CARDBOARD HARP PRE-MADE, EARNIEL!!!

>.<

It's like you know absolutely nothing about cardboard harps at all. What are they teaching in schools these days?!

[Tessar]

But yeah, it's a kit. You can order them premade by the guy who sells the kits, but it's an extra $100 and I figured for that price I'll gladly put up with building it.

[Varnafindë]

*hides behind Earniel*

I didn't know there were cardboard harps until you talked about them in this thread ...

Great for you that it has arrived, Tessar! Have fun building it! Is it a bit like IKEA furniture kits?

[Tessar]

A bit, but the problem is that I want to do some special stuff to it. I'm super hyped, but the reality is that it's going to be a while before I actually get to play the thing.

First the wood frame needs to be assembled, so I'll have to drop by the store and get some wood glue. That's going to require a screwdriver, apparently, so it sounds like a glue and screw exercise. That much I might be able to do tonight.

Then comes some waiting. I want to turn it into a Gondor harp, so the painting of the soundbox will have to wait till I can get together with my sister. I am also considering staining the wooden frame green to complement the soundbox. That'll also require my sister's eye for color, and some waiting time. Got to stain the wood, then seal it with something... that's a lot of drying time. Although I suspect I may be standing over it with a hairdrier if no one restrains me.

Then I have to get the pegs in (which will probably require a LOT of swearing and wishing I'd bought it already assembled...), and then string it. The site suggests that stringing will probably take between 1 to 2 hours.

Then for the next few days the strings are going to be settling and stretching, so I'm sure that (if it's anything like my guitar) it's going to be a good week or two before I can play the thing without have to retune it (sometimes literally...) after every single pluck.




BUT I'M SO STOKED.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Tessar

Got to stain the wood, then seal it with something... that's a lot of drying time. Although I suspect I may be standing over it with a hairdrier if no one restrains me.

Don't. I'm sure it will only weaken the wood if you force-dry it. Give it the time that it needs.

Although that isn't what your patience (or lack of such) is telling you

[Tessar]

Tonight I started sanding out the rough edges/flaws on the wood frame. It's actually quite enjoyable. Making something that I want and doing it with my own two hands feels good. O_o I know it sounds cliche, but it's so true.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Tessar

It's like you know absolutely nothing about cardboard harps at all. What are they teaching in schools these days?!

*flails* It's not my fault! Herds of cardboard harps don't roam the landscape in Europe! Cardboard harps aren't even a native species! I bet they're invasive too, hard to get rid of. Like little stringed canetoads taking over entire continents, going 'pling' with every hop and insidiously insinuating them in the homes of unaware music lovers because of their cute puppy-eyed pegs. People should be informed af the dangers of releasing non-native cardboard harps in unsuspected environments! That's what you get when science classes are cut in school.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

People should be informed af the dangers of releasing non-native cardboard harps in unsuspected environments! That's what you get when science classes are cut in school.

Are you saying that I shouldn't try to get one if I could?

[Earniel]

Clearly only when you keep it on a leash.

[Tessar]

It's not their fault!!!! There are no, known, natural predators of cardboard harps and their adorable, irresistible charm is legendary throughout corrugated communities.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Clearly only when you keep it on a leash.

I'll bear that in mind if I ever come across one.

Originally Posted by Tessar

It's not their fault!!!! There are no, known, natural predators of cardboard harps

I thought there were Tessars?

[Earniel]

Nah, Tessars and cardboard harps are naturally symbiotic creatures. But Tessars are not just compatible with cardboard harps, they've been known to thrive in the vicinity of several types of instruments such as pianos, pennywhistles and violins.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

they've been known to thrive in the vicinity of several types of instruments such as pianos, pennywhistles and violins.

Yes, so I've heard

[Rían]

ooooohhh, I'm sooooo excited for you!!!!!!

My harp says to say hi to your harp!

One more tip, speaking of stringing the thing - be sure you have extra strings on hand!! Probably 2 of each, if you can swing it. They'll last for a long time, and when you break the first spare because you're new at replacing strings, then you'll have a second

But actually, as I think of it, by the time you build and string the harp, you'll be a pro!

[Tessar]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvaR...e_gdata_player


This is pretty... the reverb sounds unusual. I wonder if it's just up super high, or if he's using an effect.

[Midge]

Midge's violin timeline:

1. desire to play violin
2. buys a crappy violin off craigslist
3. finds out crappy violin is crappy and unplayable.
4. borrows better violin from step-father-in-law, who is borrowing it from a local church
5. starts learning to play violin
6. finds out crappy violin is cheaper to fix than originally thought
7. pays 20 dollars to have crappy violin fixed
8. starts to tune crappy violin (I was very excited. I finally was playing my OWN violin).
9. plastic thingy on the end that holds the fine-tuners snaps and nearly severs arm (ironically the string is perfectly fine).
10. Midge is

[Tessar]

O_o Whoa, sorry, Midge. Bad luck!

I am having some bad luck myself, in constructing the harp. The one set of holes was not drilled to match (not even remotely!) which I did not realize until I had applied glue and was trying to put the screw in. Because we're dealing with wood glue I didn't have time to try to stop and fix things, so like a dingus I just applied more pressure and made a new screw hole. Wellllll it turns out the screw was just a few fingernails under the wood's surface, so the top bit of wood I was screwing it into split upwards.

I have a horrible suspicion that when I try to string my harp (on Saturday or Sunday) the whole thing's going to rip itself apart because of that screw. I applied a lot more glue into all of the cracks, and put in two nails so hopefully it will all hold together!!!

If not, it's still been a trip constructing this thing. I have wood glue on my hands from trying to save the unaligned screw thing, and this stuff DOES NOT COME OFF. Tried everything, including nailpolish remover. So I have glue-y hands for a few days till the oils from my skin naturally removes it.

[Rían]

Rats! Well, hopefully you can ship it back and they can see the holes were all wrong, and they'll send you another but how disappointing!

On the good side, there are plenty of things that are a lot worse that can happen besides trouble with your harp.

I told my husband I was posting to my internet pal about his harp, and he said, "hey, did any of your strings pop? I thought I heard something the other day" - I just checked, and sure enough, that same troublesome A-string did it again!@!@!