Choosing a Harp

[another-husky]

Hello everyone!
I’m planning to buy a harp this summer and I hope I get get some help here from some experienced harpists. I’ve played piano for several years but now I want some new and I know I want a harp! I’ve searched for some time, trying to find the harp for me, but It’s hard without the right knowledge. But I will show what I’ve searched for and hopefully someone can help me make the right choose or give suggestions.

The harp I want is a like this:
– Lever harp
– 29-36 strings
– Levers on all strings
– A student harp (This is going to be my first harp)
– Cost $1500 to $2800 (Maybe even more(?))
– Inside of EU or close to Sweden

One of my options I’ve found is buying a harp from MusicMakers (http://www.harpkit.com/), more specific the Voyageur Harp kit to build the harp myself. The harp kit costs $1245 and the sound from recordings on YouTube is really wonderful! The problem here is that ordering the Voyageur harp from USA to Sweden is really expensive. Doing some math, together with the shipping and all other fees, the shipping cost to Sweden is going to be around $700, which is crazy!
And if that’s not enough, I need to order the all the 33x levers because they don’t include, adding 412.5$.
The final price is almost twice the cost of the harp itself, making me thinking if it’s worth buying.
There is a re-seller of these same harps in Sweden, but the price there is even more that ordering directly from the MusicMakers.

The other option is buying a Salvi harp from Italy (http://salviharpsinc.com/leverharps.htm). I’m thinking about the Mia or Titan harp but don’t know if they’re better or worse than the MusicMakers harps. I know Salvi to be one of the most leading harp builders but they also cost a bit more, but I don’t expect otherwise.

I wish for some suggestions and guidance on where to look for a good quality harp. Maybe it’s not MusicMakers nor Salvi I’m looking for? I can imagine myself building a harp and I have tools for it, but maybe it’s better letting the professionals build the harp?
I appreciate all suggestions and help I can get, so thank you! 🙂

[Eric Allison]

Stoney End builds four 29-string harps, two gothic, two celtic, each type strung G-to-G or F-to-F. All are sold in a package with full Loveland, Camac, or Truitt levers in the low-to-middle $2000 range. I ordered a Briar Rose last year and am pleased as punch with it. You can see them here:

http://stoneyend.com/floor-harps.php

with a price list available:

http://stoneyend.com/_downloads/stoney%20end%20harp%20price%20list%20Jan,%202013.pdf

Good Luck with your search!

[e-nb]

A pity you missed the Edinburgh harp festival a couple of weeks ago! (It’s on at a similar time of year next year if you are prepared to wait that long, but that’s a looooooong time away!)
I don’t know if this will be helpful or not, but I will include a list of all the makers who exhibited at the festival this year – all these harps are available in the U.K. and probably many outlets closer to Sweden as well. Then you can google them if you haven’t done so already.

Ardival Harps
Early Gaelic Harp
Tim Hampson Harpmaker
Holywell Music
Killarney Harps
Clive Morley Harps
Mark Norris Harps
Pilgrim Harps
Salvi Harps Limited
Silver Spear, Harps and Dulcimers
Starfish Designs (Scotland) Limited
Telynau Teifi Harps
Telynau Vining Harps

Choosing your first harp is never easy. Good luck!

[haromagik]

Also check out Dusty Strings. I know they sell them in the UK as well. Good luck!

[shelby-m]

I can second the suggestion for a Dusty Strings. 🙂 I’ve had the Ravenna 34 model with complete levers for almost 3 years and I’m very much in love with it! It holds its tune pretty well (about 3 days in steady temperature/humidity) and I’ve had several professional harpists comment on how much they liked the tone. It’s a bright sounding harp and very easy to get big volume out of it. 🙂 I purchased mine new, with padded case, for $2,100 (USD). Dusty Strings makes very solid instruments and I’ve only ever heard good things about them from fellow harpists!

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