After
that digression, we must leave the workshop for the study.
Take
a large piece of drawing paper to make a full size drawing of your
harp; a drawing in profile will suffice. First trace the soundboard
and the upper string bar at an angle of 58° from the horizontal. The
best way to do this is to fix the drawing paper on a wall by means
of Sellotape or masking tape.
Now
enlarge the pattern for the neck to full size on a piece of fairly
stiff drawing paper.
Cut
along the outline with a pair of scissors and you have a template.
At the top of the soundboard line on the wall, draw a line representing
the outer surface of frame A, which should be almost perpendicular
to the soundboard. Next place your template in position and draw a
pencil line along the edge: do not forget the height of the pillar
in relation to the base.
For
the Minstrel and Paraguayan harps, there is no need to make a template
for the pillar because it is straight, but it is essential to make
a template for the curved pillar of the Celtic harp, and to attach
it with Sellotape to the neck so it becomes the downward continuation
of the latter. The base of the pillar of the Minstrel harp does not
rest on the soundboard, but in the case of the Celtic harp and Paraguayan
harp the pillars rest on the soundboard which gives a better triangulation.
