I’d get a Bardic 27 from Camac in a choice of 10 colours but nylon strings, weighs 6kg and looks to be more compact, possibly cheaper and the carry case is a good rucksack, the Camac cases are always excellent. The Ravenna 26 in it’s case is not particularly small & I fear you might find it cumbersome. The strings are new carbon fibre (can’t remember the proper name) and feel better than nylon. Why not compare the relative weights.

I have played larger Dusty Strings harps in gut so they may have tried the Ravenna too. Stoney End is another make with nice harps and I changed my nylon strings for much higher tension brass, so am sure gut would be possible.

Sorry to bang on about the Harpsicle yet again but I wonder whether one of these might suit your needs (the Fullsicle has full levers). They are quite basic-looking though they do come in a nice variety of colours. They are also very light (the specs say 4lb but I’m sure that can’t be exactly the same for every model as the levers must add a little extra weight, though probably not enough to worry about). However, at 33″ in height, I woinder of they might be a little taller than you want. The tone is lovely and there is a demo on the website – http://harpsicleharps.com/harps.htm.

As for the Mountain Glen harps, I haven’t heard one played but to look at they really are the most beautiful things. I have spent many a happy hour drooling over their website. Good luck with whatever you go for and enjoy the hunt!.

I have some info on the Dusty FH26 Mia, they are in Seattle, WA.

A walnut FH26 weighs 13 lbs. You can order one with gut strings for strings 5-20, 1-4 Nylon 21-16 wire/composite with an extra cost for the option, $170, or if your harp has nylon, you can get a conversion kit that would also involve switching out a couple of the loveland levers. Lovelands aren’t pretty, but they work and if you don’t do a lot of lever flipping it’s just a matter of cosmetics. There is an option to get camac levers but that will cost you extra too, another $265. They don’t do decals but they have abalone inlay such as knot of eternity and Trefoil, as well as options for Koa soundboard veneer and trim and birdseye maple soundboard veneer. The options can run from 170 – 475 additional. The harps have a solid wood body which means the walnut sound of the wood will have a unique timber. I can imagine it’s easy to get caught up in all the options if you want a custom harp, but I have an FH36S with nylon strings and none of the extras, has the plastic lovelands too, and it was worth the extra cost to get a harp with their fine workmanship and highly resonant sound. The harp is rather on the larger side for a ‘lap’ harp, it needs to be played propped on a stool or with the legs, the case and the harp with the leg extension make it not the most convenient harp to take with you.

The Bardic 26 is about the same size height and same range, but it has a round back and is smaller and lighter woods. It has nylon strings, the lower are carbon fiber. I used to be a die hard gut string fan but I find I like the nylon and savarez better now. The case this harp comes with is much more convenient to bring with you. As far as options, I don’t like the look of the painted ones as much as the ones in Natural. I think I would ask Virginia Harp center to order one in Natural from Camac. Other than that there are no decals, options for veneers or gut strings.. but it is a very sweet sounding harp, it has the camac brightness which people seem to either love or hate. I’ve heard some videao clips, I’ll try to attach one later.

you like the performance levers Mia? I’m much fonder of camacs.. anyway the Salvi Juno is small round back with performance levers. It doesn’t have gut strings but Salvi calls them ‘silk gut’ they are some sort of synthetic.