When we build new harps in the shop, we ideally give them a couple weeks of regular tunings before we put levers on. You can speed up the process a bit by repeatedly tuning it up 2-3 times a day. Some kinds of strings are stretchier than others, Wound strings tend to settle in pretty quickly, for example, and gut takes its own sweet time. When a string doesn't fall more than 20% out of tune in a day, you're getting there! On one of the older harps I've been playing, it's so stable it doesn't really need tuning more than a quick check once a month.
I had a lot of learning to do with my first lever harp. I got it near the end of the summer, and tuned it at least once per day. It came with a tuning wrench shaped sort of like a screw driver with a slight bend on the shaft. I found it fairly uncomfortable to use, so I searched around until I found I T-handled wrench that was more comfortable.
Compounding the fact that the temperature and humidity were gradually changing each day on into winter, I was leaving my harp next to the living room sofa below a skylight where the sun shone on it every morning. By mid-winter I had worn that tuning wrench from crisp and tight to very loose. As you have done, I began searching for advice online.
This harp has zither pins, they are only on the left side of the arch. That added to my problems. I had tightened two of them to the point where they were bottoming out in their holes. Trying to turn them further is rather bad for the harp, not to mention the wrench.
It did not take long for me to learn this, fortunately. I removed all of the over-tightened pins and restrung them, and began storing the harp more carefully. That made the tuning go a lot easier.
I bought a 2nd hand harp that hadn't been used for over a year and it took about 2 weeks of regular playing and tuning to start holding its tune better.
The strings are plastic and will stretch quite a bit before settling. I think mine mostly settled in about a week, week and a half. The amount of retuning they need each time will gradually decrease though.
When we build new harps in the shop, we ideally give them a couple weeks of regular tunings before we put levers on. You can speed up the process a bit by repeatedly tuning it up 2-3 times a day. Some kinds of strings are stretchier than others, Wound strings tend to settle in pretty quickly, for example, and gut takes its own sweet time. When a string doesn't fall more than 20% out of tune in a day, you're getting there! On one of the older harps I've been playing, it's so stable it doesn't really need tuning more than a quick check once a month.
I had a lot of learning to do with my first lever harp. I got it near the end of the summer, and tuned it at least once per day. It came with a tuning wrench shaped sort of like a screw driver with a slight bend on the shaft. I found it fairly uncomfortable to use, so I searched around until I found I T-handled wrench that was more comfortable. Compounding the fact that the temperature and humidity were gradually changing each day on into winter, I was leaving my harp next to the living room sofa below a skylight where the sun shone on it every morning. By mid-winter I had worn that tuning wrench from crisp and tight to very loose. As you have done, I began searching for advice online. This harp has zither pins, they are only on the left side of the arch. That added to my problems. I had tightened two of them to the point where they were bottoming out in their holes. Trying to turn them further is rather bad for the harp, not to mention the wrench. It did not take long for me to learn this, fortunately. I removed all of the over-tightened pins and restrung them, and began storing the harp more carefully. That made the tuning go a lot easier.
I bought a 2nd hand harp that hadn't been used for over a year and it took about 2 weeks of regular playing and tuning to start holding its tune better.
The strings are plastic and will stretch quite a bit before settling. I think mine mostly settled in about a week, week and a half. The amount of retuning they need each time will gradually decrease though.