[Harp-L] test tube rack harp case



A friend of mine who's much better at wood working than I am has used a harp case of his own design for many years. He added a shadowbox/pigeon hole segment to an old suitcase. He stores the harps vertically, each in its own pigeon hole.

I didn't trust myself to make a shadowbox so I used some particle board--you could use plywood too--and used a hole saw to make 1 1/2" holes. I used three pieces of particle board. The top two tiers had matching sets of holes and the bottom is the base. It works like a test tube rack. The two pieces of particle board with the holes keep the harp vertical. I glued pieces of wood between the tiers to give a total height of a little over 3", about right for a diatonic harp. From the side it looks kind of like this. The "()"s are the holes. I made a 3 x 4 grid.

--()-()-()-()--
||           ||
--()-()-()-()--
|||||||||||||||
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It's not the most elegant piece of cabinet making ever, but it holds 12 harps securely. I put it in an old makeup case--available on Ebay for under $10--so the worst looking parts are hidden. An inexpensive plastic tool box would work too. There's room for a couple of mics, some spare harps, and a cord. I imagine that if I had a table saw it would look considerably nicer. I'm still debating about painting it.

Tools needed--saw, drill, hole saw. I also used a combination square, but that's a frill. <g> I also thought about gluing together twelve 3"-3 1/2" pieces of plastic pipe. The half sheet of particle board fit into my car better than a long piece of plastic pipe. The pipe method gives you a lot of room to expand.

Since the case I've used for the last twenty years is the lunch box my daughter used in pre-school this is a significant step up.
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It's never too late to do something your parents didn't want you to do. When that time comes Barrelhouse Solly will be there for you. He cares.


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