Glass Goblets

The Glass Goblets are a set of water-tuned wineglasses attatched to a sound board. This instrument is from a large family of glass instruments, the most famous being the glass armonica, first built by Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century. Our configuration is also called a glass harp or seraphim, and dates to the 15th century. For a particularly wonderful history and explanation of glass instruments, please visit William Wilde Zeitler's glass armonica site. Because the workings of glass instruments are therein very adequately described, I will only go on to describe the peculiarities of our own instrument.

Our glass goblet set was designed and built by Dax Tran-Caffee. Standard wine glasses are used, all acquired second hand, none of which are quartz glass ("crystal"). They are arranged in the pattern of a piano keyboard with two rows, the "C major" scale exposed. Wineglasses were selected based on pitch potential and sustain, which is determined by the thickness of the walls of the glass as well as size and shape of the bowl. Shorter stemmed glasses are preferred in order to minimize variances in height, which speeds playing. For tuning, the glasses are filled partially with water, with the pitch deepening as the water level rises (I have not found a suitable scientific disseration on this principle as of yet). All the glasses are marked with grease pencil at variable water levels to note different pitches and different tunings: one set of marks with A=440 for accompanying our accordion, and one set of marks with A=450 for accompanying our harmonium. The grease marks serve for a quick tuning for performances, but are not perfectly accurate. For recording, we tune each glass individually with an electronic tuner.

The base of each of the glasses is anchored by strips of vinyl screwed into the sound board. A consequence of clamping the bases is a shift towards a lower harmonic (I am totally clueless as to why), calling for a lighter touch when playing as well as demanding that there be at least some water in each glass (empty glasses are more prone to jump harmonics). Because they are not glued, however, they can be swapped out when we find new wine glasses with better tone or sustain, or when one of the glasses breaks. Originally the glasses were glued to shims which could then be swapped out, but we have opted for direct contact with the sound board so that the tones can be picked up by a single piezo strip (contact microphone) attatched the underside of the board. Contact microphones facilitate amplification for performances that bypasses a tendency for feedback, which is one reason why glass harps are rarely played along with other amplified instruments. Because of the high range and unique sound quality of the glasses, and the sensitivity of the contact microphone to low harmonics (rubs and squeaks), standard microphones are still used for recording.

Glass harps are the simplest, cheapest way to have a tuned glass instrument, which is why they have managed to survive the invention of the glass armonica. To my knowledge, there is only one professional manufacturer of glass armonicas in the United States, Finkenbeiner Glass in Boston, although their continuation in this field is questionable after the loss of their founder and master glassblower, Gerhard Finkenbeiner. On the other hand, anyone with access to a thrift store can build a glass harp. It should here be noted, however, that interpreters of glass instruments are at higher risk for neural damage, instability, or insanity, for various theorized reasons.

The Glass Goblets can be heard in a majority of our songs as a harmony instrument.

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