When you have made
a complete full size drawing of your harp in profile, mark the position
of the lowest string (no. 34) on the upper string bar. On the Celtic
harp, it should be at about 100mm from the lower end of the soundboard,
and the same for the Paraguayan harp. But for the Minstrel harp, 80mm
will suffice.
Now mark the position
of the bridge-pin of string no. 34 on the neck as indicated on
the plan. Draw a straight line joining that mark to the mark already
made on the upper string bar; this line will then represent the lowest
string of the harp, string no. 34. All other strings must be
exactly parallel to this one. Here, it is well to take note that the
distances between the strings are not all the same, and there are
two reasons for this.
First, the vibration
amplitude of bass strings is larger than it is for treble strings,
therefore more space is needed between bass strings otherwise they
may touch and make an ugly noise. The second reason has to do with
the ease of fingering. So, the distance between string no. 34 and
string no. 33 will be 18mm, but the distance between string no. 1
and string no. 2 will only be 12mm. The decreasing must be gradual
and it varies from one maker to another.
