easy to adapt to different harps?

[deb-l]

I’m wondering what other peoples preferences are, one harp or many.

I learn every song twice, the Dusty and Aziliz are so different. Two very differently sized harps and nylon and savarez. Although the string tension and spacing is very similar, I have to relearn every song a second time. Is it normally hard to play different harps? Or is it easy to adjust to different harps without having to relearn a song?

[Allison Stevick]

Deb,
I only have one right now, and I’m glad about it. When I got it, I still had my lap harp that I learned on. However, once my Delight came out of the box, I barely touched the other one ever again! I sold it a few months later and haven’t missed having two. Of course, for me the reason I thought I would keep the little one was for portability, but since the Delight is so portable anyway, I really didn’t need it.

All that being said, I do hope to get a small double-strung harp someday! I feel like that might be different enough that I would be good about playing both, and having different uses for each one. We’ll see if I’m right or not when the time comes… 😉

[deb-l]

Alison was just looking at the specs for the delight and couldn’t believe it’s only 10.6 lbs! that’s amazing, they sound very nice on the demo too, and pretty.. congratulations..

would you get a double strung over a cross strung Allison? They both look really hard to play to me .. I have trouble with single strung most of the time : )

[Allison Stevick]

Oh yeah, it is very lightweight! I was playing at the hospital the other day, and an elderly gentleman stopped to chat. He was intrigued that it was not made of wood, and asked to lift it… And heaved it up in the air because it was much lighter than he expected. It was a fun conversation!

I would definitely go for a double strung lap-harp. I like the idea of doubling notes and crossing over, and also being able to play both hands of larger-range arrangements on a small harp. I’m not really interested in cross-strung, because I really like not having to think about adding accidentals while playing tunes. Piano was my first instrument, and I still like to play it, but I like the way a harp works with not having to think about key signature once the levers are set. 🙂

[rosey-brumm]

Hi I have had lots of harps and it is a memory mapping issue. I had to do daily practise on both, all. I found when one harp had dark blue low Fs and lighter hi and the others the opposite thru me. The shape of the back between round and staved I found difficult to sit right consistency. And the width of reach to bass strings. And different levers. Plus pitch due to the differing levers. I also love gut and have to have both.
What I did is I am selling and sold all my harps and I have standardised on Camac Mademoiselle 40, one with folk gut and one with Classique tension gut. A Camac Stivell in folk gut 38 and birds eye maple and the Melusine de Concert nylon 36 strung. They are all fantastic harps about the same size all round backs, all levers are the same and best and I have always stayed with nylon not the newer strings and after much experience know your gut diameter and tension because they do differ before buying. I do have special requirements. so I know this is a bit much for most but if you are going to have two harps I would match their feel and sound as much as possible.

[deb-l]

Hi Rosey, I still think it would be a blast to have a room full of different harps! I agree that the shape of the back and reach to bass are two of the most important factors in how much you have to adjust to a different harp. It’s like driving in a big pick up truck vs a little VW Beetle.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t mind a total of three. I have two thus far. One is a 29 nylon string Minstrel, I also have a 38 string Camac Concert Melusine. I babysitted a Tripplett harp from my teacher for about week. I love the sound of them all.

My Minstrel actually has issues while I play with the levers raised. The tone is muted. I had it for about 5 years, and it was cheap for an instrument of this magnitude ($400).

I purchased the Concert Melusine. What a beauty in sound and in tone. I love the gut strings (in the bass area, if you will). The other strings are nylon. I love the rich tone. I love the sound with my singing.

My teacher’s Tripplett harp is beautiful. All the strings were thick and it was a big difference in the amount of strength used to play. I loved it! I would love to get one like this in addition to my Concert Melusine.

I would use the Concert Melusine for playing and singing. And I would use the Tripplett harp for instrumental 😉

[deb-l]

I hope for a Triplett harp too someday, not sure if I want a Celtic IIS or Catalina Delux. I like the light sound they have an have been leaning more and more towards the low tension strings. I’d love to get one with Marquetry or abalone inlay along the soundboard (or both! lol)… someday.. The melusine is another dreamy low tensioned harp.. that crisp bright sound, would love to play traditional on either of those harps.. the Janet is also a very sweet, balanced low tensioned nylon strung harp, nice and small and portable too.. and I love Habison’s arrangements hmmmm I feel a wave of harplust coming on..

A Fischer Errienne is on my wish list as well as a Webster Rhionna.. that five right there, and I could list more.. but seriously I think 2-3 harps max, otherwise they take up too much room, money, time to tune.. 3 sounds like an ideal number..

[Amber M]

Personally, I like having multiple harps! There is always one that sounds better for certain songs, and different tones to match my moods. Plus, have the added bonus of having harps available for friends who want to come play. 🙂

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