> I haven't noticed a direct reply coming in to your question about the harp > mechanism - if one did, could you pass it on, please? The idea is > intriguing, as the harp mechanism I've seen on harps is a hook fitted into > the harmonic curve of the instrument, which you can turn to touch the string > at the right distance for a semitone up. More sophisticated versions exist, > but one way or another they are fitted to the top block of wood at the wrest > pin end. Actually, come to think of it, the "Borodaj" torban in one of the museums in Kiev had been fitted with a mechanism that raises a pitch a semitome on any string going into the upper pegbox, sometime during the 19th century (the instrument itself is from the 18th), but it was removed during the restoration. I have a vague memory that Swedish theorbos occasionally had something of the sort. RT
______________ Roman M. Turovsky http://turovsky.org http://polyhymnion.org
