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In light of Stardust’s problems I went and took a look at this – lots of red flags raised:
They claim that their harps are made in house and there are three groupings: Heartland, McHugh and Camac. Oops: The “Heartlands” and McHughs are all obviously Pakistani designs. Do they just get the parts and put them together in Dublin? They ceraintly do not make real Camacs in Dublin.
Heartland Harps is a registered trade name for a well known maker in the US (Dave Woodward).
Camac does not list Muzikkon as a licensed distributor in Dublin – they do list Walton’s which has changed it’s address – is this now Muzikkon? Dunno.
They claim that their harps have “Sprucewood” sound boards. I can virtually guarantee that those Pakistani harps have plywood boards, certainly at the offered prices – definitely not real spruce (space) wood.
For Stardust’s 27 the picture shows what appear to be Camac levers..but at the offered price of 569 euros real Camac levers would be 60% of the price alone.
Perhaps when confronted with these observations Muzikkon might offer some dubious explanations (“those names are generic”, or “we were referring to Camac spruce boards” etc.) but I’m not buying that if it were me. As far as I am concerned this smacks of deceptive advertising.
Usually I would keep my virtual mouth shut but I find this upsetting as a friend of many harp makers and one myself. We work long and hard to make beautiful instruments; it is upsetting to see this sort of thing, and upsetting to see beginning players misled.
Biagio
Hi Biagio,
Concerning Muzikkon. I once bought a small lyre, with a historic biblical design, from them through ebay. I wrote to them and asked where it was produced, and the answer was – in Pakistan. It was their design, they said, but they had them made in Pakistan.
So, your hunch isn’t that far away from the truth. When I see harps from Muzikkon I think they look a lot like pakistani made harps, so I suggest they really are. The instruments from Muzikkon may be better than the more easier recognizable harps that we know are made in Pakistan, but I don’t know that. They certainly look like they could be better, but looks can deceive, so one only knows the answer by actually trying them out and seing for oneself.
As to the small lyre, I am content with it. But it’s not an expensive instrument and I bought it mostly just for fun, not to use it a lot. I also put new strings on it that give a better sound. For that purpose, on cheap instruments, I use high quality fishing line in different millimeter-size. It works great, actually, even on the pakistani harps. Almost anything is better on them than the strings with which they come. Fishing line is softer and keep the tuning better.
Hi Biagio,
Thanks for your reply. I have tried only a few different fishing line types, and ended up prefering Soft & Strong by Climax.
It’s color is white/blanc (not green or blue pink, and I use a marker for the red C and blue F), and it is really soft and strong, which I prefer when working with paki-instruments (I fix instruments for others too).
And of course, It’s cheap, meaning I can afford to experiment a lot without having to pay for expensive harp strings, which normally are better (exept for the one’s that come with the pakiharps, they’re really bad; hard plastic, sounding ’empty’ like ‘cardboard’).
With the fishing line in differen mm-sizes I get an even tension that is pretty much alike for all the strings, making them keep the tuning well and sounding harmonious and pure. I have actually been surprised by how well this works concerning it’s a cheap solution, not professionally optimal. But for hobby players it’s good enough concerning the price.
I love to see newbeginners get their harp dream fulfilled when they get a cheap, nice looking and good enought sounding harp in their hands. Their gratitude and the smile on their face is priceless.
Some of the smaller, newer and better pakiharps can actually function ok with fishing line strings well adjusted on them. After having experimented over some time one several types on these harps and lyres, I have learned enough to be able to be a start-up assistant for newbeginners. It brings a lot of joy.
If the line gets too thick, over 1,20 mm, they don’t give very well sound. But from 0,40 mm and up to 1,20 mm (perhaps even 1, 40 mm) they can work.
The thinner strings break easier, of course, that goes without saying, but when I adjust the size to the string distance and tension, and try out different solutions, I always end up with a result I can live with.
It just takes time. I have to let the instrument stand for a while, play on it a lot and see what remains steady and what doesn’t. Then I do changes according to the need. After a while I’m content.
Wow – thank you, wil-weten! 🙂 What a nice surprise. 🙂
Yes, I would very much like that, you can copy and post it here, if you like. I haven’t got a copy of it myself. Or perhaps you should send me a copy so I can post it myself? Is there an inbox system here?
It got deleted when I made an editing of the message. I submitted the edited version and suddenly it was gone and I couldn’t get it back. Next time I write a longer comment I should take a copy before I post it. Lesson learned. Thanks for your help. 🙂
Hi Harplynx,
Below you find your message that got deleted by the silly spam algorithm:
harplynx wrote:
Hi Biagio,
Thanks for your reply. I have tried only a few different fishing line types, and ended up prefering Soft & Strong by Climax.
It’s color is white/blanc (not green or blue pink), and it is really soft and strong, which I prefer when working with paki-instruments (I fix instruments for others too).
And of course, It’s cheap, meaning I can afford to experiment a lot without having to pay for expensive harp strings, which normally are better (exept for the one’s that come with the pakiharps, they’re really bad; hard plastic, sounding ’empty’ like ‘cardboard’).
With the fishing line in differen mm-sizes I get an even tension that is pretty much alike for all the strings, making them keep the tuning well and sounding harmonious and pure. I have actually been surprised by how well this works concerning it’s a cheap solution, not professionally optimal. But for hobby players it’s good enough concerning the price.
I love to see newbeginners get their harp dream fulfilled when they get a cheap, nice looking and good enought sounding harp in their hands. Their gratitude and the smile on their face is priceless.
Some of the smaller, newer and better pakiharps can actually function ok with fishing line strings well adjusted on them. After having experimented over some time on several types of these harps and lyres, I have learned enough to be able to be a start-up consultant and practical assistant for newbeginners. It brings a lot of joy.
If the line gets too thick, over 1,20 mm, they don’t give very well sound. But from 0,40 mm and up to 1,20 mm (perhaps even 1, 40 mm) they can work.
The thinner strings break easier, of course, that goes without saying, but when I adjust the size to the string distance and tension, and try out different solutions, I always end up with a result I can live with.
It just takes time. I have to let the instrument stand for a while, play on it a lot and see what remains steady and what doesn’t. Then I do changes according to the need. After a while I’m content.
Edit: I just adapted the text to Harplynx’ wishes.
Harplynx, unfortunately, it’s not possible anymore to send personal messages to each other (probably because of the spam problem), so I couldn’t send the original text to you for you to publish it again.Hi wil-weten,
Agian – thank you so very much for you help. Very much appreciated!
And concerning my grammar faults: english is not my mother tongue. So I hope I am understood and excused for not writing perfect english. 🙂
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