New Salvi Levers

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Tagged: Salvi levers on new harps

This topic has 3 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 4 years ago by charles-nix.

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September 30, 2022 at 3:34 pm #295378

Shannon Friel
Member

Hi all,

Is anyone else having issues with the levers on their new Salvi harps? I initially bought a Donegal in 2021, two levers broke and Salvi gave me a new harp. That was great, but fast forward to the new Donegal I have, delivered to me two months ago, and the third octave levers keep breaking my strings. I see it wear down the string before it pops. This is happening with the new strings it came with, which I believe are silkgut. It is also happening where it changes from the large lever mechanism to the medium lever mechanism— I changed the string to the recommended carbon fiber, but the string kicked off the peg whenever I engaged the lever, quickly breaking the string. I stretched the string and all, but the only solution ended up being to wind the string on the peg backward.

The levers also feel flimsier overall compared to the ones on my Salvi Ana (1985). I find the levers don’t raise to a true half pitch across the whole harp— I thought it was just an issue with the first harp.

Any advice or knowledge on this subject would be appreciated! I always loved Salvi and the sound of both Donegals is great, but I haven’t had these issues with any other lever harps and am frustrated.

Thanks in advance!

October 5, 2022 at 1:15 pm #295487

charles-nix
Member

Since no one else has taken this up, here’s my thoughts:

Levers should not wear strings quickly, period. Silkgut is a monofilament, and should be very wear resistant. The most common cause is rough spots in the casting or placement of the bridge pin height wrong for the lever mechanism.

A new harp should be IN regulation–meaning all the levers should raise a half step. My tolerance for proper regulation is within a few cents at most.

Silkgut is _not_ carbon fiber (fluorocarbon). If you replaced a silkgut with fluorocarbon, you may have caused that issue. Strings bumping off the bridge pin groove (assuming the pin placement and string angle are correct, which should not be an issue on a production-line harp) is caused by wrong string or lever mounting/regulation or bridge pin adjustment.

Short answer: you have another warranty issue, and need to bring it to the attention of the dealer and Salvi asap. Shipping two warranty issue harps in rapid succession does not speak well for their quality control.

October 5, 2022 at 8:42 pm #295493

Shannon Friel
Member

Hi Charles,

Thanks for the response, I appreciate it. I hesitated to even post this, but I wanted as much information/confirmation beforehand.

On 4 different strings that are perfectly in tune, when I lift the lever the pitch becomes noticeably too sharp— anywhere from 2-3 Hz on the bass notes to 4-6 Hz in the middle register, 7-8 Hz off in the upper register. Others are generally off throughout the rest of the harp, but not all of them are quite that bad.

I’m also looking at my 3rd string wearing away on the 3rd octave (F, then A, now waiting on G to break)— these are the (silkgut) strings the harp came with. The strings I’m putting on to replace are the fluorocarbon, but that’s also what Salvi/Lyon and Healy recommended, so the fact that the 3rd octave F doesn’t seem suited to that string is bizarre. I’ve never had strings slip off the bridge pin before, and no matter how much I stretched the string it still slipped off.

Altogether disappointing because I really like the body of this harp, but the levers don’t seem to be “professional” grade for their professional line of harps. I’m surprised this hasn’t come up for discussion yet.

Thanks again,

Shannon

October 6, 2022 at 7:08 am #295507

charles-nix
Member

To be that many Hz off (not cents) is too much. However, keep in mind that even the same number of cents deviation will produce twice as much deviation in Hz each octave you go higher. Even so, 7-8 Hz is way too much, but is actually closer than 2-3 Hz in the bass.

None of those things should be happening on a new harp.

If the levers have rough spots in the casting, it won’t matter which strings you use–they will wear away.

This is a warranty issue. Take it to the dealer and show them the damage, and ask them to check the regulation and see what they say.
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