Choosing a “green” harp

[jennifer-buehler]

Just out of curiousity, what qualities do you look for in a new, un-broken in harp?

[rod-wagoner]

I have an L&H Folk Harp.

[tony-morosco]

I don’t know how to tell how it will develop, but I have a Lyon and Healy folk harp that is almost 20 years old and it sounds fantastic. People compliment its tone all the time. If you closed your eyes you would swear

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Oh, I thought you meant an “environmentally correct” harp!

[lauren-d]

Are there any brands out there that focus on that?

[kreig-kitts]

I think when you start trying to figure in things like wood sustainability, miles shipped to get materials to the harpmaker and the harp to the consumer, metals, electricity to make it, maintenance over its life, and on and on, it’s almost hopeless to try to calculate whether someone is making

[shelby-m]

I think it’s worth chopping down a tree to turn it into a good harp, myself!

[michael-rockowitz]

I wonder what others think.

[kay-lister]

In response to Michaels post (just my 2 cents), I look at it more as if when there is a vocalist who starts out having a good, even great sounding voice.

[tony-morosco]

I agree. I have never heard of a harp ending up sounding completely different, or getting worse as it ages.

I think that if you start with a good sounding harp you, at the least, end up over time with a good sounding harp.

But you can also end up with, and I think often do end up with, a really good or great sounding harp.

If what you start with sounds good I think it reasonable to expect that it will always sound good and end up sounding even better down the line.

A few months ago one of the harpists from the local symphony tried out my Lyon and Healy and she confirmed my (perhaps biased) opinion that despite it being a very young harp it sound really nice. That made me feel very good because I believe that it will only get better from here.

[sherry-lenox]

Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear a Wurlitzer or Lyon and Healy that didn’t make it to the selling floor because it wasn’t up to snuff?

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