Carbon fiber is new to the harp world, and it’s coming to Toledo on June 22.

Dave Woodworth has been building wood harps for more than 26 years and, as far as he knows, he’s the only mainstream harp builder to produce harps made primarily out of carbon fiber.

Woodworth will give a presentation on the process of building carbon fiber harps at 3 p.m. June 22 in the Professional Building, 1838 Parkwood Ave., as part of an annual Harp Week founded and directed by local harpists Denise Grupp-Verbon and Nancy Lendrim.

Grupp-Verbon and her husband, Michael, run a harp festival every May in Archbold. Last year, Woodworth presented his first carbon fiber harp at the festival. Grupp-Verbon was the first to play it publicly.

Since then, Woodworth has built and shipped about 35, he said, and he already has orders for about 20 more. He’s sold carbon fiber harps to people all across the country, and Canada and Australia.

Woodworth said he’s seen other traditionally wooden instruments, like guitars and cellos, made from carbon fiber, but because of a smaller demand, it’s expensive to make harps from carbon fiber. The development cost for carbon fiber harps runs about $25,000, he said — compared to less than $1,000 for wood harps.

Despite the high cost, Woodworth’s customers like the carbon fiber harps. For one thing, they don’t weigh nearly as much as traditional wood harps. A 27-pound wood harp has a carbon fiber equivalent weighing only 11 pounds, he said.

This makes a huge difference when harpists have to carry harps into churches and recital halls and when playing, he said. With most harps, the harpists must lean the instrument on their shoulders in order to play. As musicians age, this can cause neck and back problems, and many harpists stop playing.

Woodworth won’t perform, however. He doesn’t play.

“I’ve been building for 26 years but still can’t play worth a darn,” he said. “I’ve been so darn busy building harps that I don’t know when I would have stopped to play them.

His wife, Pamela, plays quite well, he said. According to their website, www.heartlandharps.com, she has released nearly 20 CDs of harp music.

Harp Week participants will give a concert at 7 p.m. June 25 in the Great Gallery in the Toledo Museum of Art. Concert is free and open to the public.

Tags: Harps

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 17th, 2010 at 4:27 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, Music.
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