My
Soundboards
My harps use several forms of soundboard.
The most ground-breaking development in the last several years has been the Compound Soundboard™! A little background:
The conventional tonally "best" soundboard is a solid Spruce board like on a piano. Unfortunately, unlike a piano, the strings are trying to pull the harp's soundboard apart. Over time, this style of soundboard can split (This may be unsightly and looks bad on the showroom floor but may actually improve the harp's sound). The usual solution for this is to glue a thin layer of wood, usually of the same material, in the opposite grain direction over the face of the board. You can see this on every pedal harp. (In fact, if you look inside most old pedal harps, you'll usually see many cracks!). These are called laminate tops. Unfortunately, that layer of glue and cross-grained veneer create an acoustic damping which deadens the tone. It's something like putting your hand on a drumskin to keep it from ringing.
I had steadfastly insisted using solid, non-laminated soundboards until 2007 when I saw a new possibility. I began developing what became the Compound Soundboard with Kevin Cloud (Berkeley Box Works) in the Winter of 2007. It builds on work done by non-harp luthiers over the last decade and allows me to continue to use superior tone woods in a new and exciting way. The tone wood is essentially free to vibrate while being greatly strengthened from underneath. And due to its grerat strength, I can thin out the whole soundboard, thus further increasing it's bass and high-end response. Fortunately for me, how the Compound Soundboard is made is invisible from the outside, and I'm not going to tell you how I do it. But you can definitely hear it!
The Compound Soundboard is now standard on the Rhiannon. The first Rhiannon to use it was debuted at the Big Sky Harp Conference in 2008. Unfortunately (and against Kevin's suggestion) I had combined it with the Dynamic Tension Balancing. The result was a drastically overbuilt harp. The strings didn't properly couple to the soundboard and the resulting tone was weak. But listening closely, I could tell what was going on. It was amazing. Even after being strung for only four days, the highs had an open clarity I hadn't heard before, and the bass had a new richness. Now, after number of Rhiannons with this new board, I can definitely say that I'm on to something!
On the Gwydion, an ancient Celtic harp I use a modified traditional style. It's a solid piece of (usually) Koa which has been split and joined, book-matched, to make a long, elegant soundboard, tapered and counter-tapered. This createsgreat balance and bass response. Care must be taken that this sort of soundboard not split over time since the grain runs in the same direction as the centerstrip. I now guard against this with a thin veneer lamination on the inside. The mass and density of the rest of the soundboard is great enough in this instance that the veneer represents an insignificant element in the tone.
On the Butterflys and SweetHarps I use a high-grade plywood that I do secret, arcane things to to make it speak more freely. Now, it may sound a bit "cheap" to use plywood for a soundboard, even on an inexpensive harp. But that's one of the benefits of the Dynamic Tension Balancing. I can strategically thin out the soundboard without the risk of the harp exploding, thereby getting much more response out of an otherwise limited material.
My harps use several forms of soundboard.
The most ground-breaking development in the last several years has been the Compound Soundboard™! A little background:
The conventional tonally "best" soundboard is a solid Spruce board like on a piano. Unfortunately, unlike a piano, the strings are trying to pull the harp's soundboard apart. Over time, this style of soundboard can split (This may be unsightly and looks bad on the showroom floor but may actually improve the harp's sound). The usual solution for this is to glue a thin layer of wood, usually of the same material, in the opposite grain direction over the face of the board. You can see this on every pedal harp. (In fact, if you look inside most old pedal harps, you'll usually see many cracks!). These are called laminate tops. Unfortunately, that layer of glue and cross-grained veneer create an acoustic damping which deadens the tone. It's something like putting your hand on a drumskin to keep it from ringing.
I had steadfastly insisted using solid, non-laminated soundboards until 2007 when I saw a new possibility. I began developing what became the Compound Soundboard with Kevin Cloud (Berkeley Box Works) in the Winter of 2007. It builds on work done by non-harp luthiers over the last decade and allows me to continue to use superior tone woods in a new and exciting way. The tone wood is essentially free to vibrate while being greatly strengthened from underneath. And due to its grerat strength, I can thin out the whole soundboard, thus further increasing it's bass and high-end response. Fortunately for me, how the Compound Soundboard is made is invisible from the outside, and I'm not going to tell you how I do it. But you can definitely hear it!
The Compound Soundboard is now standard on the Rhiannon. The first Rhiannon to use it was debuted at the Big Sky Harp Conference in 2008. Unfortunately (and against Kevin's suggestion) I had combined it with the Dynamic Tension Balancing. The result was a drastically overbuilt harp. The strings didn't properly couple to the soundboard and the resulting tone was weak. But listening closely, I could tell what was going on. It was amazing. Even after being strung for only four days, the highs had an open clarity I hadn't heard before, and the bass had a new richness. Now, after number of Rhiannons with this new board, I can definitely say that I'm on to something!
On the Gwydion, an ancient Celtic harp I use a modified traditional style. It's a solid piece of (usually) Koa which has been split and joined, book-matched, to make a long, elegant soundboard, tapered and counter-tapered. This createsgreat balance and bass response. Care must be taken that this sort of soundboard not split over time since the grain runs in the same direction as the centerstrip. I now guard against this with a thin veneer lamination on the inside. The mass and density of the rest of the soundboard is great enough in this instance that the veneer represents an insignificant element in the tone.
On the Butterflys and SweetHarps I use a high-grade plywood that I do secret, arcane things to to make it speak more freely. Now, it may sound a bit "cheap" to use plywood for a soundboard, even on an inexpensive harp. But that's one of the benefits of the Dynamic Tension Balancing. I can strategically thin out the soundboard without the risk of the harp exploding, thereby getting much more response out of an otherwise limited material.