Dusty Strings pickups for pedal harp?

[Stephanie Bennett]

Has anyone tried the Dusty Strings pickup for pedal harp? Wondering if it could be worth the $400…
http://www.harpcenter.com/product/dusty_pedal_harp_pickup#

[patricia-jaeger]

Stephanie, I remember reading, several years ago, that Paul Baker of Los Angeles had it installed in his harp.. He’s in the AHS Directory, on the same page as you!

[Stephanie Bennett]

Thanks Patricia, I’ll check with Paul!

[Maya]

I have it installed in my LH30. It’s by far the best pickup I’ve tried in that the sound of both the bass and the treble really come through with the same aggression or subtleties that you play them, rather than one vastly overpowering the other. When working in popular music, sound engineers are rarely going to know what to do with a harp & while this pickup won’t resolve this, it does leave significantly less room for error due to the fact that the pickup does most of the work. By having four appropriately sized mics down the soundboard all going through one jack, it takes away the fiddly & complicated nature of having to amplify the harp through many different mics, often creating a patchy but boomy sound. The instructions seriously overcomplicate the installation process; it’s really just a matter of removing the adhesive backing & sticking it in place. I’d advise not glueing the contact mics in at first but using some putty or blue tack until you find the sweet spots on your harp; it may not be exactly where recommended in the instructions & it won’t be until you play in a live situation that you know for sure. A big issue I have with it is that the construction of the pickup (not the mics themselves, they do a fantastic job) creates a huge about of buzzing sounds. This can be sorted with a few rags, however it is a bit of a pain as they often fall out wall transporting the harp. Also, the last gig I played with it I also had an issue with the glue melting & pickups becoming detached from the soundboard which made for a interesting set. There is also the problem with feedback. It really doesn’t cope well if there are any loud instruments or speakers nearby which face towards the pickups. For the kind of gigs I play, this can be a bit of a nightmare as often there are many musicians on a cramped stage. Monitors facing towards the soundboard or amps directly behind cause all sorts of problems with staging & is perhaps the biggest drawback with this pickup. Even using a practice amp at home, it took me a while before I found a set up that worked without being dangerously close to blowing a speaker. Despite this, I’ve tried a lot of mics and none of them deliver a sound that so closely amplifies every nuance of what I play. Moreover, it has really facilitated gigging for me. I used to never be able to get anything close to the sound I wanted & now I have gigs where I come away quite overjoyed and pleasantly surprised with how good it was. However, in the future I do hope to purchase a Salvi Rainbow, due to the fact that there will always be problems using any pick up for the very electric sound I need from the music I play.

Hope this was helpful & you found my ramblings somewhat coherent!

[janet-king]

Hi Stephanie, my friend Maria and I both brought our pedal harps into NYC to have Ray of Dusty Strings install his pickup on our harps, last year when the AHS Conference was in NYC. We are both pleased with the pickup (I dare speak for her!!).

I gig weddings mostly, so I’m not looking for the same level as Maya above. But I find that it’s easier to pump the sound out than it was with the Fishman I was using from Deborah Henson-Conant’s kit. It covers the full range with ease, which a single Fishman pickup does not, to my ears; although in fact, I need the DHC kit’s pre-amp to tone down the bass, which can be overpowering. I also love just plugging the jack in — I had Ray drill a hole in the base of the harp so that it is reeeeeallly permanent. Maria did not do that, and some tech person pulled too roughly and damaged the end of the jack (Ray helpfully is sending her a replacement part — he is Top of the Line for customer service!!). We both felt that it was a good thing to have Ray install it himself: he has such a fine attention to detail, and we watched him do it, there was a lot of subtlety to choosing where this and that… or so it seemed to us. I note Maya’s comment that it was easier to install than would seem by the instructions… perhaps!

In the end it was admittedly a pricey investment for me, and I could second-guess myself that in these slower times, the Fishman would have been good enough for my gigs. Yeah, probably. And I was a little taken aback by the brightness of the sound — I had muffled the too-bright Fishman by inserting layers of double-sided padded tape between it and the harp, and I can’t do that with the DS, because Ray used permanent glue, yikes. But every time I use it now, I’m pleased. It just feels easier to deliver a big, balanced sound when I need help pumping it out. And that makes playing the harp in a noisy room that much more pleasant for me (it’s just a drag when I can barely hear myself…), not to mention that I can do a better job for my customers. Maria has performed as well as gigged with hers, and she’s very pleased.

We are both deeply impressed with Dusty Strings — Ray and Sue — with their passion for excellence and innovation. They are pretty amazing! ! I mean, have you looked at their website? It explains their choices about everything, down to the bridge pins… impressive, I think.

[janet-king]

PS, we saw Ray again at the recent Somerset Folk Harp Festival, and he’s now invented the jack clamp, so that you don’t have to drill a hole in your harp’s base to securely install the jack, if making a hole in your harp offends you. It looks very cool.

[Stephanie Bennett]

A belated thanks to Maya and Janet for the answers! I use the KK Sound Big Twin pickup currently in my acoustic harps for most casuals – two-part pickup for $76 is a more balanced sound than the one-part Fishman, I find – and already own an electric harp (Lyon & Healy) for when I’ll be onstage with a band – so I guess I’m set for now. I appreciate the input about the Dusty Strings pickup! Thanks to all who replied.

[Author]

Posts