Each harp is going to have it’s own “quality” regardless of the make or style. Yes, it is probably harder to find a good Chicago, but they are out there, I’m sure. It is probably going to be easier to find a good 85CG than a Chicago, though. One of the best harps I ever played was a 100. (Of course, all statements are to my own particular taste in sound and response).

I am not good enough or patient enough to get the Camacs I tried to sound the way I wanted. I have heard others make magic on them, but that magic doesn’t seem to be in me 🙂

It’s going to come down to which individual harp you like the best, as another Arion won’t be the same as the one you tried in person. What held you back from the Arion? Wanted options?

I have the “R-Harp”. Wonderful harp, with beautiful tone and tension. Great customer support as well.

Each harp is going to have it’s own sound. Since each is made from wood that is a natural product and will have variation, I would never purchase a harp I haven’t played personally. Not just the style, the individual harp.

For Semi-grand vs concert grand, I would go with whatever harp you find to sound nice and fits your body. I, personally, didn’t feel comfortable behind a semi-grand, it didn’t fit my proportions well. Which is unfortunate because I really preferred the smaller size to try to fit into my Prius!! That being said, you have a different body than I do and may feel equally comfortable behind both.

It seems to me that you have access to many quality instruments. My advice would be to choose the one you don’t want to stop playing. I know you can’t put the Salvi next to a Lyon and Healy, so maybe it will take a couple return trips to begin to sort out what you like and don’t like.

I played a lot of pedal harps, even before I was ready to purchase, when I changed from lever harp. I wanted to get a feel for what is “normal.” After a while, I started to identify the things I liked and didn’t like. I was looking for an evenness of sound (some harps boom really loudly in a small range that I was hoping to not always be accounting for), a degree of projection (some feel like the sound gets absorbed back into the harp), but not too much (I think some harps get muddy because they resonate so long). But those are all the things that I found were important to me. Honestly, I found I was able to identify things I didn’t like more than things I DID like. I guess I’m a pessimist. 🙂

You seem to be concerned about quality. All of these harps are well made, by trusted manufacturers, so don’t get caught up in who makes what. Also, price doesn’t have any reflection on how much you will like the instrument. Since every instrument is different, I have played an 85CG that I liked better than a Salzedo model in the same showroom. Again, my preference.

I haven’t seen a harp dealer sell off “last year” models. Every now and then a style may go on sale.

In short, I’m afraid we will not be able to tell you what harp to get. The decision comes down to your preference. While harp sound changes with the player, it may be advantageous for you to do a blind listening to some of the harps that you are interested in. Go the the far side of the room, close your eyes and ask someone to play a few harps for you. Write down notes, come up with a score sheet and rate their sound. You are not deciding between Salvi or L&H. You are deciding between individual harps.

Biagio, I would even go so far to say that the lever harp is much more difficult than the pedal harp! Things that I can play with ease on the pedal harp, like The Swan by Saint-Saens, are very difficult on the lever harp because of having to change so many levers! Thanks to Carl, Susan, and Alyson, too, for their posts. Each harp is unique, and it depends on how YOU play it!

Best wishes to all,
Balfour

Dear Califa, for the Mademoiselle u can do 2 changes.

1 use gut for C, B and A. A is a bit marginal and this needs redrilling of holes for lever screws.

2 use slightly thicker bass strings. this fixed what I didn’t like.

cheers