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In the late 70s Rick Rubarth was a young singer / songwriter / guitarist working folk clubs in the Detroit area when he heard his first harp on a recording by Robin Williamson. Seduce by the beautiful sound of the Caswell harp on the album , Rick praised, and it became a harpist. But how do you get a harp if you have a starving artist with no additional money for new instruments? solution: build your own. It took about six months working Rick evening in a small work area in his apartment, a very credible first instrument on which to learn how to play. Thirty years later, harps and 1100, at the age of 52, Rick Rubarth has unfortunately only a modest harpist, but fortunately for the harp world, he is one of the best builders on the scene today.

As an instrument builder of any kind requires great sensitivity to sound and a compelling desire to objects with their own hands. Rick had both grades early. He grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, a member of the musical family, who gather every Sunday after church at Grandma's house to play and sing old-time classics from vaudeville era, such as sidewalks of New York and Bicycle Built for Two. Strumming guitars were Rick's father and older brother, while his mother played piano. "" It was a real talent in the family, ' "recalls Rick. "" She could sight read music and play by ear and. She played everything from Chopin and Copeland to Rhapsody in Blue and Boogie-Woogie. Unlike many classically trained player who could improvise and choose the things by ear. I do not have a formal statement from her, but I have some musical genes. My father showed me how to play guitar. At 14, I had written my first song. "

In view of the craft side of the equation, Rick remembers always something or other buildings during his childhood. Model planes and boats were a popular pastime, as elaborate Rube Goldberg-style constructions made of cardboard, to deposit a coin into a bank in the complicated manner possible. Later, in high school wood shop as a particularly rewarding and kindled a life long interest in wood and its properties.

Rick had finally sold, the first harp during one of these inevitable lean times, a working musician, but this was the opportunity to build a new harp, which I hope will still sound better than the first. During the early phase of his career, he would be one or two harps at a time and then think about what he could change to improve efficiency. In the early years was the goal not to live, but a craft to learn and discover the secrets of the instrument.

In 1977 Rick, Ann Harbor, Michigan, where he served as industrial electrician in the automotive industry. Most of his spare time was devoted to the harp. "I lived near the Stearns instrument museum and the curator would I enter the room back to the old harps in their collections. These were important historical instruments - it was a beginning Morley harp and a very old copy of the Queen Mary harp - but they fell apart and lay in pieces on shelves, some time in the future if they re-established. This was an incredible opportunity for me, because I was able to see the inside! I have a lot of measurements and observes how the tops were carved and attached. It was a great foundation for my future education. "

Four years later, Rick, now married, moved to Denver, Colorado, where he has lived since. He established a model to work part time, gigging in the city, buildings, and harps. In the late 80s, a music retailer has proposed a niche in the market for small harps, so Rick, a 22-string instrument, which proved very successful. Over the years he has built and sold more than 700 of these affordable harps, but remained larger harps his true passion.

He devotes his entire attention to its design Merlin, a 36-string harp that Rick believes, is the culmination of his life work. Design and refinement of the "Merlin" has more than ten years of experimentation and hard work. "" A harp is a complex puzzle whose pieces have to be in complete harmony, "he explains. "" If you have one element - the extent of the length of a string, for example, all others are affected. You have to build new harps to your ideas. Sometimes improvements are small, sometimes they are dramatic. It takes time and patience. ""

The Merlin has a staved back coopered solid maple, a soundboard of aircraft birch ply, and a carrier-rod system in the column so that the harp to be extra strong, but not too heavy. But what really sets apart the Merlin is a unique system of struts in the document, which consists of a plastic material, unlike wood, does not lose strength over the years. The Struts relieve much of the large voltage (about 1100 kg), that the strings on the soundboard to exercise so that they can move more freely and a stronger, richer sound.

I recently interviewed Rick to find out more about this unique harp.

Ken: Why do you use plywood instead of a solid spruce top?

Rick. The traditional solid spruce top will swell and shrink as much as a half-inch or more, which inevitably lead to cracking. The special aircraft plywood I pretty amazing things. Five leaves of birch are resistant composite form together to build a strong elastic panel eighth-inch thick. It has no cracks, and it creates a fantastic sound. I still employ traditional techniques completion - I thin areas of excellence in order to improve the vibration. I am always sound better than I do with my spruce resonance soils. By the way, there's a good discussion on this topic, you can musikit.com.

Ken: You are one of the few builders with fluorocarbon strings.

Rick: Yes. I think Kortier was the first, and I jumped on the train early. I am convinced that everyone will someday be her. The string is 20% more density than nylon. It's great for mid-range strings. I use nylon on the first octave and a half, then fluorocarbon to the six bass strings, the wound steel. Unfortunately you can not just slap fluorocarbons harp on and expect a big improvement - you have a tool to maximize what specifically fluorocarbons can do. It took me a lot of experimenting to make it just right.

Ken: I have noticed that "Merlin" has three sound holes instead of the usual four.

Rick: You must be very careful about the number of square inch up to the sound holes. A cello, for example, can fill a concert hall and even the F-holes are a small fraction of the total land area of the soundboard. For the best bass I do not want the sound only from spill. Instead I would like the sound recorded at the moment - to mature in the box before it is released. I've found I can make it through the elimination of the lowest tone hole. I have a special access code in the database, you can remove to access the bass strings, when you need to change them.

Ken: What attracted you to the unusual struts Merlin in your model?

Rick: The harp is a brutal instrument. All these strings to the soundboard rip right out. Unlike a violin, dynamically balanced and can last for centuries, a harp is unbalanced and has a relatively short lifespan. If you have a thick top-order against the string tension to affect the ability to oscillate. If it is just too thin apart. So the traditional solution is to graduate from the top - which means that they thin carving for the treble strings and gradually make it thicker on the bass strings. Wood brackets are also added to the bass end stronger. I have spent countless hours trying to perfect my system of the conclusion leads to the best sound. But there is always that conflict between the harp, the soundboard strongly to string tension and light so that it vibrates and sounds and projects efficiently.

For a long time, I felt that I think the harp to the limits of conventional methods, this would do, and try something new. One day I saw a video that the photographs of the famous Tacoma Narrows bridge collapsed under heavy winds, with the roadway flopping around like it was a carpet. I stared at the bent wire and the rolling deck and it was me something. Eventually I realized that I wanted to string tension with curved struts only way a suspension bridge opposite to gravity, with its curved suspension cables. In the Merlin, this against the quest string tension, relieve the stress a lot on the bass end of the soundboard, which is much freer vibration. You get a huge improvement in the quality of the bass notes and the harp has a longer lifespan.

Ken: The Merlin has exceptional projection. I've heard it can be its own against an orchestra without electronic amplification.

Rick: I get that feedback from some of my customers. You know, good projection was a goal of mine for decades, but ultimately, what I really want is full of expressive power in the entire dynamic range. I want my harp, so as fully as possible what the players feel inside. And I want it in the hands of as many players as possible. I have intentionally released my harps of expensive decorations so that they remain affordable. I have a working musician my whole life and I'm building for other musicians.

Everything I ever tried to do so is the harp, I would also, if the cost does not matter. The Merlin is my favorite harp there. I have solved the riddle to my satisfaction. Now I just want to make many of them, ship them to the world, and a few for me.

Author's note: You can see Rick's harps on rharps.com

Ken Goodwin is a custom wood in Denver, Colorado. You can visit his website on linked text