Pop! Thwang!
Strings break. It is a fact of life for harpists.
Sometimes you see it coming, but most of the time strings break without warning, and gut strings break more often than nylon, synthetic, and wire strings. If you play the harp for any length of time, you come to accept and expect a certain level of breakage and unpredictability from your gut strings.
But in the last several years, many harpists who use Bow Brand strings have noticed an alarming increase in the frequency of broken gut strings and a change in how they are breaking.
“I was shedding so many strings, even during concerts, it was almost laughable,” says harpist Laura Byrne. “I could almost count on it—random breakage, going false—it was very frustrating.” Byrne, who teaches at the University of North Carolina and Duke University in addition to an active performing schedule, says she had used Bow Brand since she was a student because her teacher Alice Chalifoux had told her to. But something shifted in the last couple of years and Byrne says she would end up with seven or eight strings on the floor of the pit following a weekend of Nutcracker performances. “You’re just thinking, it’s a new string and it’s still breaking,” she says.
Bow Brand is one of the biggest, if not the biggest supplier of gut harp strings in the world. The UK family-owned company has been making harp strings since 1902, and is universally respected by people in all facets of the harp community for the quality of the strings they make. That’s why, when Bow Brand strings started breaking at unusually high rates several years ago, everyone was caught off-guard.
During the 20-plus years Peter Wiley worked at Lyon & Healy, he estimates he watched tens of thousands of Bow Brand strings installed on harps. “The breakage was remarkably low, given the natural material they’re made of. That being said, it was really a shock to find, in 2014, that the Bow Brand strings started failing.” Wiley, who works on harps around the world as an independent technician and self-proclaimed “Harp Doc,” goes on to add, “They know how to make the strings. The problem is not with the people, or their knowledge and skill. They have a serious raw material problem.”
Bow Brand uses serosa, which is the natural gut from the intestine of cows. Bow Brand’s president, Carolyn Clarke, says that because serosa is a natural product, it is affected by extremes in both climate and temperature.
“In recent years, climate changes worldwide have been extreme—dry harsh winters, hot and humid summers,” she says. “These seasonal changes have always affected natural gut harp strings, but we do test batches of our strings at every stage of production—both by machine and by very experienced hands.”
IT AFFECTS EVERYONE
Bow Brand’s reach is long in the harp world, so when Bow Brand’s gut strings started breaking prematurely at unusually high rates several years ago, all levels of the harp community felt the impact—from string suppliers to harpists and everyone in between.
“As a technician I’ve been fielding a lot of complaints,” says Steve Moss, a member of the Lyon & Healy/Salvi Technicians Guild. “‘My harp is breaking strings left and right, can you check out my harp?’” I’m pretty sure, based on seeing a lot of these complaints, if the harp has been fine for ten years and then suddenly starts breaking strings, it’s probably not the harp, it’s probably the strings.” Wiley, also a member of the Technician’s Guild agrees. “If the harp is over three years old and has not had a problem with systematic string breakage, then it is not the harp,” he says. “The harp has proven that there is nothing wrong with it. Now people will say, ‘But it broke at the tuning pin.’ If you look at a string that is broken at the tuning pin, it will be broken at the last winding, not the first winding. Breaking at the last winding means nothing more than it broke from the strain at the tuning pin. If the tuning pin has a sharp edge, the string will break at the first winding.”
Harp makers are not immune from the string struggles of Bow Brand. “The availability of strings for our customers is exceedingly important to Lyon & Healy Harps,” says Lyon & Healy’s marketing manager Keri Armendariz. “We have been communicating with our gut string supplier to address supply issues, and will continue working until the situation has been remedied.” Sue Mooers, co-owner of lever harp maker Dusty Strings says her company is pursuing sourcing from different parts of the world.
Harp retail stores, often the string source for individual harpists have been caught in the middle.
Anyone with experience in manufacturing, especially when natural materials are involved, understands that pinpointing a problem in the supply chain and production can be nearly impossible.
“The raw materials were compromised, and boy, we had nothing but trouble,” says David Kolacny of the Bow Brand gut strings his business sells. Kolacny owns Kolacny Music store in Denver, Colo.—a business his grandfather started in 1930. Kolacny has carried harps in his music store for 30 years, and estimates he has 200 harps out on rental and around 24 harps on the showroom floor at any given time. Kolacny, like most retail music shops, also carries strings and accessories for their harps. “Part of the problem for us was, Sylvia Woods had just moved so we had this huge investment in her string stock, and she was sending us tons of string customers right at the same time [Bow Brand strings were breaking]. We really had to ride it out,” he says.
The string situation is better today than it was a year and two years ago. “It has definitely gotten better—they are still gonna break; it’s a natural product,” he points out. “By and large, we’re not hearing negative things from customers now.”
Jessica Siegel agrees that Bow Brand’s string reliability seems to be improving. “People aren’t calling for strings at the same rate they were a year ago,” she says. Siegel owns Harps Etc., a retail harp store in Walnut Grove, Calif., with 50-60 harps on hand with requisite strings and accessories. “Long term, [Bow Brand] strings have been reliable,” she says. “About a year ago we were seeing problems because of the immature cow gut, but they are finally back online, only now they are very back-ordered.”
In their statements to Harp Column, Bow Brand’s president did not disclose exactly what she thinks the cause of their strings’ premature breakage is, but did speak to a secondary problem: string shortages. Clarke says Bow Brand experienced a shortage of raw material this year following the “implementation of very stringent controls with their suppliers of raw material—predominantly the age and condition of the cattle slaughtered.” She went on to explain, “Cattle are being raised faster these days than they were in the past, and we need the serosa from mature animals. We are now confident that our current suppliers have complied fully with our requirements but, due to the dramatic increase in demand for harp strings, …we are currently sourcing other suppliers who can meet our exacting criteria. This is a lengthy process as beef cattle are not raised for harp strings, and UK legislation is extremely rigorous.”
Another retail harp store owner affected by Bow Brand gut string breakage and supply shortages decided to pursue another option.
“It’s kind of like being in the printer business and not being able to get ink,” says David D’Arville, co-owner of the Virginia and Atlanta Harp Centers, of the gut string supply problems. D’Arville says he turned to the French harpmaker Camac as an alternative source of strings. “We’ve always had success with Camac strings, but they are just so expensive. We couldn’t sell many compared to other brands,” D’Arville says. “We just wanted another option because we were at the height of the breakage. So we approached [Camac] about selling to us in bulk to make it more affordable. Plus the exchange rate is better,” D’Arville notes about the current euro to U.S. dollar exchange rate.
So last fall, after several months of testing, the Virginia Harp Center started selling Premier gut strings. “They are the same strings as Camac makes for their pedal harps, but we have tried to create our own brand. People seem to like a little heavier gauge in the first two octaves, so we use different gauging in the first two octaves than Camac.” Premier strings are priced slightly higher than most of its competitors, but D’Arville notes the extra length of the string means that it’s possible to get two replacements out of each new string, all the way down to the fourth octave E and D.
Not everyone is struggling to keep gut strings on the shelves right now. “We’re doing extremely well keeping gut strings stocked,” says Michelle Abbott, owner of Vanderbilt Music. “I think we all need a deep cleansing breath when it comes to harp strings. We have a tendency to focus on problems rather than solutions,” she says. “I believe there are plenty of quality options. I believe Bow Brand has those options. I believe Vanderbilt has those options.”
If you put a string on and it breaks instantly, you have a defective string, explains Abbott. But there are options. “Use a neighbor string. Carry a nylon skeleton set that will get you through the gig,” she suggests. Abbott notes that she is a harpist and wants to be a resource for other professional harpists. “We want to provide goods and services for other professional harpists and they need to be accessible, cost effective, and delivered efficiently.”
Abbott says that Vanderbilt is in the process of bringing back its own line of gut strings. Vanderbilt Classic Gut strings were a reliable gut option for years until the ystopped production about six years ago. Abbott says she does not have a definite timeline yet for when Vanderbilt’s new line of gut strings will be available for purchase.
WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?
Vanderbilt’s return to the gut string market would be a welcome addition to the short list of gut string options currently available to harpists. In addition to Bow Brand, Premier, and Camac Classique, the only other gut strings on the market right now are Valkyrie Cordes and Savarez. Here’s a brief rundown of today’s gut options:
Bow Brand carries three lines of gut strings: Bow Brand natural gut strings, Burgundy strings (factory seconds with slight visual imperfections), and Concedo Gut (an extra varnish making them thicker and easier to see in low light). Bow Brand also manufactures lever gut strings for lighter tension lever harps.
Camac Classique is made of European serosa and is sold by French harpmaker Camac. They have been using the strings on their instruments since 2009. Though made to Camac’s specifications for its harps, the Camac Classique strings can be used on any other pedal harp model. However, Classique strings differ from Bow Brand in their gauging—they are noticeably thinner than Bow Brand in the first three octaves. They are also priced higher than Bow Brand in the United States.
Premier strings are the newest kid on the block. Premier strings are essentially the same strings as Camac Classique. The Virginia Harp Center began buying Camac strings in bulk back in 2015 and repackaging them to be sold in the U.S. under the Premier name. Virginia Harp Center co-owner David D’Arville says after some initial testing with American harpists, Premier strings increased the gauging of their strings in the top two octaves from Camac’s specs to bring them more in line with the preferences of American harpists. Premier strings are priced slightly higher than Bow Brand, and have been available in the U.S. for a little more than a year.
Valkyrie Cordes are sold by Venus Harps and used on their instruments for about eight years. They are priced comparably to Bow Brand and available through Venus Harps.
Savarez is a boutique string maker, also based in France. Savarez strings are sold in the United States exclusively by Vanderbilt Music. According to Vanderbilt, Savarez harp strings are made to order, so they do not sit in storage prior to purchase. They can be made to interesting lengths and special finishings. The other major differentiating factor of Savarez is their price point, which is significantly higher than its competitors because they are made to order.
COMPLEX PROBLEM TO SOLVE
When a string breaks on your harp, there can be many different causes. For optimal performance, gut strings need to be stored at the proper temperature, correctly put on the harp, and well-maintained once on the harp. But when you are doing everything right, and a string still breaks as soon as you put it on the harp or shortly after pulling it up to pitch, then you might have a defective string. When multiple strings break right after putting them on, then it might not be a fluke or a random bad string, but the result of a deeper issue within the string production process.
Anyone with experience in manufacturing, especially when natural materials are involved, understands that pinpointing a problem in the supply chain and production can be nearly impossible, says Sue Mooers, co-owner of Dusty Strings.
“When you use a string, think back to the maker and the possession chain,” she says. “How is the maker supposed to figure out when it was made and establish a pattern for that? If there is a challenge with the raw material supply, think about how hard it is for the manufacturer to establish the cause.”
Mooers notes that it could be as much as three or four years between the time a string comes off of the factory floor to the time you put it on your harp. So if there is a problem in the string’s supply chain, tracing that back to the raw materials and finding a cause is an extremely difficult process. And it is a process where each person is operating without the full knowledge of others. When strings break on your harp, you might go back to the retail dealer and raise your concern, that is, if you can remember where and when you bought that particular string. But unless you note on each string bag when and where you bought it before stuffing it in your gig bag, you will have no recourse if you suspect there may be a problem with the string when you put it on your harp. If you do mention it to your retailer or maybe your technician, how systematically does that information get relayed back to the string supplier? Anecdotally at best because there simply is no system in place for collecting this information across the entire field.
WHAT’S A HARPIST TO DO?
“I just want to know what to do,” says Melissa Tardiff Dvorak, a busy professional freelance performer and teacher in the Washington D.C. area. I’ve needed to change my strings on all my harps and I’m terrified—I’ve got this big stash of Bow Brand, but I’m scared I’m not going to be able to get replacements [if they break] and I’ll end up with a harp with five missing strings.” Dvorak says she has always used Bow Brand gut strings and has loved them. She hasn’t had it as bad as some others have as far as string breakage. “My students have had more problems with the strings than I have,” she says. “I have told them to just use nylon, but I’ve always told my students to use a lot of nylon.” But nylons won’t cut it for Dvorak as a professional player. She says she has ordered some Premier strings but hasn’t tried them yet. “I don’t know if their gauge is exactly the same, so the regulation might be off. I don’t want to change the entire harp, get it regulated, and then find out I don’t like [the new strings].”
Dvorak’s situation is common among professional harpists—loyal to the string they love, lots of money wrapped up in a replacement set and regulation, nervous the strings won’t perform, and equally afraid they won’t like the alternative.
So what’s a harpist to do?
The answer is there is no easy answer, but there are lots of things you can try. If your harp is strung with one brand of strings, you can mix in another brand. You might find you don’t like it, and you might have to make adjustments the next time you have your harp regulated, but mixing brands is an option, if not an ideal one. If you currently use Bow Brand, you can keep using it, but with a backup plan in case you pull a defective string from your replacement set in a performance situation. Have a skeleton set of additional backups available. You can use nylons to get you through a gig. You can completely switch gut brands, and if you don’t like it, replace them. You’ll be happy for the tax write off in April.
Obviously no one wants to hear that they might have to do some expensive experiments to find a gut solution that works for them. But Sue Mooers encourages everyone in the harp community to remember that everyone is doing everything they can to make it better. No one is in the harp business to get rich; everyone is working on tight margins, including the string suppliers. When you have an ecosystem as small as the harp world, the success of one level is critical to the success of all the other levels. As David Kolacny points out, “There is no single string maker that could fill the capacity of all the strings needed,” right now. The harpists don’t just need one instrument maker or one technician or one string supplier—harpists need all of them. •
