Covers

[katie-buckley]

Hey! I’m wondering if anyone knows of anyone making gig bags/covers for smaller harps. I have a DHC light blue and I feel the costs of camac accessories are ridiculously expensive. So far, I had a hard case and a stand made for significantly cheaper than the camac products(and just as nice!) Any ideas on someone making covers?

[patricia-jaeger]

Katie, if you don’t sew yourself. or haven’t a sewing machine, I would suggest going to a fabric store where not only clothing fabrics but also upholstery and foam and other heavier fabrics are sold. Ask the clerks there about names of people they know who are skilled in using such items. Perhaps even one of the clerks does this! It’s helpful if you can carry one of your small harps into the store when you make those inquiries. Also leave your business card because brides shopping there for dress and veil fabrics, often want harp music on their special day. Another perk in such a store (in my large city) is the “Christmas in July” event, where customers can have a “workshop” on the premises where they learn how to use items sold in the store to make tree “skirts”, fancy Christmas stockings, and practical gifts of all kinds. I have brought a small harp to play carols as background music to such an event; you could do this too!

[katie-buckley]

Great ideas, thanks! Unfortunately, Iceland doesn’t really have a store like this. :-p The only place I’ve found here is a company that makes tents, and they weren’t really in to the idea. There are lots of fashion designers here, but, not so much designing for furniture with heavy weight upholstery fabrics. Most fabric for this kind of stuff is just ordered off the internet, so, its been difficult to find someone with the capabilities of doing this 🙂

[paul-knoke]

Hi Katie

I can recommend Four Seasons Harp Covers. They will make custom covers and cases for any harp. I have two fully-padded covers from Four Seasons, made to fit my Cousineaus, and I’ve been very happy with them.

http://harpcovers.com

[Gretchen Cover]

Katie,

You may want to ask a sailmaker if they can sew a harp cover for you. You could buy a moving blanket (quilted fabric used by furniture movers) as an underlayment and have the outlayer made of sail cloth.

If the duty and shipping do not add a lot to the cost of a Four Seasons cover, that may be the best way to go.

[Tacye]

In the UK Salopian Strings do custom cases. Also a company called Splash, and I think they are Splash Sacs who make boat covers and repair sails – I see sailmakers have already been mentioned.

[katie-buckley]

I will check out 4 Seasons before going to a sailmaker. We do have 26% VAT, but, I still think it might be cheaper than buying the Camac case and paying 26% VAT. Thanks so much for all the great ideas!!

[Sherj DeSantis]

Katie,
To echo a question from above, “Do you sew?” I have a pattern that works incredibly well. I can send it to you. I have done two and they were certainly decent covers, and turned out well. I also learned from the experience, and am better now than I was before. When do you need a cover, now or later. And exactly how much protection do you need in one?

[barbara-brundage]

Other options are enchantedharp.com and seraphimmusic.com, both of which will do custom work.

[katie-buckley]

Hehe…I could sew a wonky harp cover, I’m sure. I don’t think it’d fit anything though 😀

[Sherri Matthew]

Hi Katie,

I had access to some old window drapes ( the kind with the thermal lining ) and with minimal sewing one drape made an excellent cover so my kitty Jasmine leaves my harp strings alone. The thermal material goes on the inside and I found it doesn’t tear easily if it accidentally gets caught on my wire ends. I might dress it up a bit more one of these days and add a lace overlay to the outside of the material. It’s a casual cover; not really fitted or anything, but it does protect all the strings from a known harp-playing cat! 🙂 Nice to be able to recycle window curtains to a new use, though!

[katie-buckley]

Cool Sherri!

[christine-weatherford]

Katie I am planning to order a DHC 32 and I am going to get a case from Blue Heron Cases here in the US. That might be an option for you. Could you please tell me where you found a stand other than ordering from Camac?
Also how do you like the DHC? I see you play a pedal harp as well. Do you find it difficult to transition between the two? What do you think about the tension of the DHC?

[katie-buckley]

Hey Christine!
My stand, well, its a percussion stand on the bottom with an attachment I had custom made by a local metal worker. I basically took the harp to them, said what I needed, showed a rough drawing, and it works beautifully (will be better once I get permanently attached foam on the inside, now it just has pieces of foam I put in to place when using it.) It might be cheaper for me to find the cover somewhere in Europe. I can have it sent to Denmark and pick it up at Christmas.
As for the differences, the tension is a huge one. Pulling harder doesn’t give you more sound, just a worse sound. But, its really lovely to play! I’m recording on mine in a few minutes. 🙂

[christine-weatherford]

Wow are you going to post your recording on YouTube? I would love to hear it! I love playing rock and pop music and I just feel that it will sound different/better on an electric harp vs pedal harp. Do you agree Katie?

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