Choosing wood for lever harp

[phillip-sauerbeck]

I’d love to hear how everyone would describe the various qualities of various woods used in the construction of the harp body. Are there general rules of thumb? What do you love and why?

I’m weighing options as I look to buy my first lever harp.

Thanks!

[jessica-wolff]

Maple is bright, walnut is mellow, and cherry falls in between. Cherry also deepens to a beautiful color.

[Katheryn]

I have a Dusty Strings lever harp that is made of bubinga wood and I love it. If you want to listen to a sound clip of it on Dusty Strings’ website, go to http://www.dustystrings.com/instrumentbuilding/harps/models/FH36S/tabid/276/Default.aspx. I think the sound isn’t too bright but yet has that sweet, deeply reaching quality to it (I don’t know how else to put it). The only thing I sometimes find annoying is its wight, the bubinga wood is definitely heavier than walnut and other kinds of wood.

[Katheryn]

When I said the sound wasn’t too bright I did not mean that it didn’t sound good. It is slightly more mellow than the brightness of the walnut, for example.

[sherry-lenox]

I played a Koa Thormahlen Swan and a Koa Dusty FH 34 last year at Somerset, and they were both gorgeous. I love Koa and Bubinga.

[phillip-sauerbeck]

Is it true that the harder the wood, the more mellow the tone? Or is there any correlation between wood hardness and tone?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janka_hardness_test

[jessica-wolff]

I always understood the denser the wood, the brighter the sound.

[deb-l]

Harpkat, I am a proud new owner of a bubinga dusty!

[diana-lincoln]

I think the type of strings may have a lot to do with the sound as well… That may be something to talk to the builder about relative to the wood.
Good luck!

[Katheryn]

Congratulations on your new Dusty!! The sound is just amazing and I won’t want any other kind of lever harp sound.

[deb-l]

thanks Harpkat, it has a very distinctive sound.

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