Harp Column Blogs: Carl SwansonArchive

This is an old trick to get more mileage out of broken gut strings.  Recently I've talked to some younger harpists who had never heard of it, so I thought this might be a good place to explain it.

If a gut string breaks at either end(near the tuning pin at the top or near the knot at the bottom) you may be able to continue using the string by patching it.  This involves tying another piece of gut string(a very good reason to keep some old strings) to the one that broke and reusing it.  But the knot uniting these two pieces of string has to be able to lie between the tuning pin and the nut(adjustable or stationary, it's the starting point of the vibrating length of the string).

Here's how it works. You are going to tie an extra piece of string to the one that broke in such a way that the knot uniting the two pieces of string is between the nut and the tuning pin.  The critical part of this procedure is the ability to tie a figure 8 knot.  If you don't know how to tie one, and you don't have access to a boy scout, I'll try to describe it here.  It's nothing more than an overhand knot with a twist, literally.  Take a piece of string and start  to tie an overhand knot.  The first thing that happens is that the short end of the string is crossed over the rest of the string, forming a loop.  Now, hold the string with your left hand where the string crosses over itself.  With your right hand, take the loop and twist it a half turn towards you.  Now push the short end of the string through the loop and pull it tight.  You will immediately see why it is called a figure 8 knot.  You can use this knot in both pieces of string at the patch, and you can also use it at the bottom of the string if you don't have enough string for the normal harp knot.

To patch the string, put a figure 8 knot in the main piece of string but don't pull it tight.  Now take the extra(old) piece of string and push the end of it through one of the loops in the figure 8 knot.  Tie a figure 8 knot in this piece of string too, tying it so that this knot is tied around the first piece of string.  You should now have two pieces of string, each with a figure 8 knot tied in the end, and each knot tied around the other piece of string.  Pull both knots tight and pull the two pieces of string so that both figure 8 knots are seated right against each other.

Now put the end of the extra piece of string through the tuning pin and tune the string up.  Remember, the two knots have to be above the nut and below the tuning pin for the string to function properly.  If the knot is too close to the tuning pin and it starts to wind around the pin, then loosen the string,  and move the knot at the bottom end of the string under the soundboard so that the patch knot is moved farther away from the tuning pin.

Patching  works best on 4th and 5th octave gut strings, but can be used on 3rd octave as well.  It doesn't work on wires, nor on 1st and 2nd octave strings.  The extra piece of string should be close to the same diameter as the original string, but doesn't have to be exactly the same.

Patching can greatly extend the life of a string.  I currently have two or three  patched strings on my own harp.  They've been there for months.