Re: [Harp-L] A New Kind of Harp Rack Needed

[Vern <jevern@xxxxxxx>]

On Sep 9, 2010, at 6:23 PM, Ken Deifik wrote:

> Jon Gindick wrote:
>> Damn, I hate ALL the racks out there.
> 
> I don't like how they look either, though Vern's rack looks darn cool.

The rack that I designed is now made (with improvements) and sold by Chris Reynolds as the Ergonomic-Neck-Rack (ENR).
See:  http://www.builderofstuff.com/enr.html
It was originally intended to hold the Hands-Free-Chromatic but diatonic players like its adjustability and stability.  Unobtrusive delicacy is not one of its assets.

Paul Oscher uses one to hold a ton of hardware.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-5KoP4o4Xc

Enrico Granafei also uses one to hold his Hands-Free-Chromatic.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoULWTqxjOs

It was designed for adjustability, comfort, and stability.  However, it is more massive that the rig shown in Gindick's video.  For that reason, I doubt that it fulfills his requirements.

I emailed him off list with a description and pictures of the rack that attaches to my guitar.  That is what he seemed to be looking for.  Unfortunately, it must be custom fitted and cannot be marketed as a standard product. If anyone else is interested, let me know and I'll send a copy of the email.

> But the rack that has haunted me for 42 years was one I saw Spider John Koerner play at the Gaslight in Greenwich Village in 1968.  Koerner played harp very well, and coordinated it with his amazing guitar playing with great magic.
> 
> However, the thing that got me was that when he was singing the thing was down, his face wasn't covered, and the moment he needed it he could bump it upward with his arm and it snapped right into place.  And of course he could knock it back out of the way when he got back to singing.  I have never seen another rack like that.  I wrote him about it a few years back but I got no reply.
> 
> About five years ago I got a tremendous idea: magnets.  Being mechanically incompetant my attempts at trying to set up a pair of magnets on each stem in such a way that they would face each other and click together when needed were pathetic.  I discovered that you need very powerful magnets, the kind called Neodymium, as the weaker ones do not hold worth a damn for this use.
> 
> I feel certain that there is off-the-shelf hardware that would assemble well and be adjustable - I just don't have the knowlege to make it happen.  If anyone comes up with the assembly, please publish it, or sell it.

Such a design requires an up-position detent just strong enough to hold the harp steady when being played and just weak enough to be over-ridden when the player wishes to move it to the down position.  This is a delicate balance.  Although magnets are a possibility, I suggest some form of cam -and follower.  Follower spring tension could be adjustable by the player by means of a screw.  This would be necessary because no two players would be happy with the same holding force.  That design would also move easily between the "up" and "down" positions when free of the detent.  The "down" position would have to be carefully determined to avoid having the harp touch the guitar.  (How did Koerner avoid that?)

It would not be difficult to implement.  I enjoy tinkering in my shop on harp-related mechanisms.  Is there a market at $250 ?

Vern