Chromatic harp on a line

[lili-monogatari]

Hi!
I’ve just bought a lap cross-strung harp, but as I’m a diatonic harpist, it’s very difficult for me to play on it for the moment.
In France a luthier created a chromatic harp with only one line of strings!
http://www.harpe-volant.fr/innovations.htm
This system is clever and, as very few people play on it… this model is very expensive. So I wander if another luthier makes this kind of instrument?

[michael-rockowitz]

Lili,

I think the problem you’d find with the inline chromatic is that, if the strings were spaced so that you could play them with the pads of your fingers, the octave would have to be more than 1.5 times the width of the octave your accustomed to on the diatonic harp (as you would now have 12, rather than the usual 7 strings comprising the octave).

[lili-monogatari]

Hello Michael,

thank you very much for your answer!
A luthier amateur made a 6/6 lap harp for me.
It’s amazing, but difficult for my hand, especially for chords.
Yes, Philippe Volant created a chromatic harp with all the strings on one line: here you can see it, played by a young french harpist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r_1a8ATRJE

[michael-rockowitz]

Wow! Ms. Peruddin really does play that inline chromatic with the pads of her fingers.

[Author]

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