Hello, “Littlebuster,” you don’t say where you are located, so I don’t know what kind of harps are available where you live. I prefer Camac harps for that “rich, big sound” that you mentioned above. My only pedal harp currently is an Atlantide Prestige concert grand 47-string harp that I “lucked into” back in 2017, but I owned two nice L&H 85’s before that. I have played many Salvi’s in my long professional career, and they are nice harps, but heavy, similar to Venus harps. To me, their sound is more mellow, blunt, and traditional compared to the brighter, fuller sound of my Atlantide. I have to “work harder” to get a full tone out of a Salvi or L&H than I do on my Camac. Also, the shoulder end of a full-size concert grand Camac is a little lower, making it more comfortable for me to play. (I am 5′ 6″ and suffer from arthritis in my hands and shoulders, so I need comfort in a large pedal harp, ha, ha!)

I love the looks of the Salvi harps, especially the Iris in a natural maple finish with the blue accents worked into the gold soundboard artwork. I did once play a very nice Daphne SE 47-string harp at the Atlanta Harp Center, if this helps you at all. There was also an Aurora there one time I visited the AHC, but I liked the Dianna and Apollo models better than that particular Aurora.

All of this is just my personal opinion, of course, and others may post here who differ with me, ha, ha! Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Balfour

There is usually a good second hand market for all quality pedal harps especially in countries that don’t make them so you could in fact always change your mind later on. I have played examples of all those and have found that any one of each model can be very different from another so always try a harp in person if at all possible or at least listen to someone else playing it if really no choice although different players can make rather different sounds on the same harp!

Hi Littlebuster,

In case this is helpful to you, if you go on the You Tube channel for “Harpwinkel De Zingende Snaar”, you can see and listen to the same 1 minute music clip being played on a Salvi Aurora, Daphne 47 SE and Daphne 47 EX (as well as on dozens of other lever and pedal harp models and manufacturers).

Thanks,
Paul

All great posts, friends! When I saw and played that very nice Daphne SE, I liked it better than the full-size Daphne that was standing right beside it at the Atlanta Harp Center. Part of it was that the size suited me better, and it was more comfortable to play. The SE also had the full 47 strings range of the concert harps, even though the lowest strings did indeed sound better on the larger Daphne, because they are longer. But, each individual harp is different, so it is better to try them out first before you make a decision to buy. It would be well worth the cost of the trip to a harp center or festival, since you want a harp to keep “for life.” You can also take possesion of the harp right away, if you take your harp-carrying vehicle, and you can enjoy taking the harp home with you!

Have a great day,
Balfour