August 22, 2005
Building an Aeolian Harp Pt. 2
After the rather disappointing aural performance of the first aeolian harp prototype, I built a bigger 6' version with tighter string spacing. Sound bridges for each string are now cut out of square-cross section hardwood pieces rather than the triangular and quarter-circle ones used before, because square sticks are a lot easier to clamp down for sawing in a mitre box. After putting on eight strings, I took the instrument out to Ocean Beach in SF, which is always cold and windy. And to my surprise, this version actually worked. The sound is still very faint, which may be due to a lack of tuning. If tuning does not raise volume significantly, I may mount a surface mic and run it to a battery operated portable amp like the Mashall MS-2.