Electric harp choices & advice

[jeffrey-mcfadden]

Hi, all.

I’m a relative beginner on the harp, having piddled about with my Dusty Strings Allegro 26 from time to time but only becoming serious a few months ago. I regret not having 33 strings and will probably come to own a 33 string acoustic harp in due time.

I am studying with some books, and via Skype with Diana Rowan.

I played guitar for 35 years or so, have studied some theory since childhood and so forth, and I use the harp much like I used the guitar, as an instrumental support for vocals, learning various obscure blues / folky / country / folk-rock songs, and improvising. I read music but learned that for the flute many years ago so my bass clef reading is really awkward. I never read playing the guitar.

It would be safe to say that I use the harp in unconventional ways and am happy with that and don’t plan to change except incrementally over time.

That’s a long story and I haven’t even gotten to the start yet, sorry. Here’s the punch line: I jam with a couple old friends most weeks. They play electric guitars, and we use a drum machine. Too many amps for this little room but it’s how the host likes it. Right now I’m playing electric piano / keyboard at these sessions, but all I want to play any more is the harp, so I’m planning to get an electric harp to use with these guys, and maybe in my town’s monthly open jam. Current candidates are [Dave Kortier’s Solid Body electrics in 31, 36, or 40 strings,](http://www.kortier.com/elecinfo.htm) a [Lyon & Healy Sillhouette](http://www.lyonhealy.com/lever-silhouette-electric.htm) of which I notice there is one for sale here on the forum, a [Camac Electro 36 or Baby Blue](http://enchantedharp.com/camac-electric-harps.html) or whatever members here suggest.

OK, friends and neighbors, your turn. Any opinions or suggestions?

[bernhard-schmidt]

Hi Jeffrey,
Not as a neighbor…but see it as a friend’s opinions and suggestions.
First I believe that your decision for an electric harp will meet the best your needs.
You will be most free of any feedback problems.
For the different brand of harp manufactures I think you can use the harp you like.
If it comes to sound…you will find very different sound of the different harps.
The best pickups are used with the L&H harps. These pickups are each hand selected and measured to fulfill the needs. It is different for a string at the top with a string tension of 4 kg and a string tension of 20 Kg at the bass. I do not like the preamplifikation very much L&H uses. This doesn’t bring up all the potential of the pickup.
The Camac harp I have seen some years ago was even not shielded and the circuit board was very much the way I would call homemade. I don’t know if the newer one are made still this way.

Since I build myself electric harps I can only say to compare the different sounds and you will hear different worlds. I use for my electric harps the same pickup as L&H do…but I use a different preamplifikation.
When it comes to electric harps customer only see the two big manufacturer …but there are other also. And no I do not sale harps to oversea.
Here is a YouTube link my wife playing an electric harp made by workshop as you can hear this is a way different.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXQhRPYhyvY
And here is the site of my workshop where you find other sound sample
http://www.harfenbau.de/elektro-harfe.html
Best Regards

[jeffrey-mcfadden]

Thank you, Bernard. Your wife plays beautifully and I enjoyed the sound of your harp.

Camac fans, would you like to defend your choice? I really do hope to hear a variety of responses here.

[Allison Stevick]

I don’t own an electric harp, but Glenn Hill makes custom electric, acoustic, midi, and laser harps, if you were interested in going that route. (Someday I want him to build me a double-strung harp.)
http://www.mountainglenharps.com/

[jeffrey-mcfadden]

Ummm… yeah, thanks. He’s several thousand dollars out of the running. Beautiful, though, I’ll grant him that.

[jeffrey-mcfadden]

Jerusha, why are you selling yours?

[Jerusha Amado]

Hi Jeffrey,
I have too many harps (3), and also I used to play the Silhouette in a church band for a few years for contemporary services, but the group disbanded, and I didn’t have any where to play the harp anymore. It’s just not being used!

[donna-germano–2]

I accidentally deleted my own post while trying to edit it!

I just sold my Silhouette. It really takes a different playing style as I suppose any solid body electric would. You have to really thin out your left hand/bass playing because those strings just continue to vibrate and the electronics keep it going forever! You can end up with a very muddy sound. Lots of damping needed, or just very minimal playing on the lower strings. It is still a lever harp so it remains difficult to play jazz etc. I will agree with previous statements that the sound will depend on what you play it through. I purchased an acoustic guitar effects box which gave me some nice options. But I just never developed a good playing style with it. I think these harps will be suited to contemporary music styles that do not require a lot of chromatics. But it was hard work for me. If I had the money to spend, an acoustic/electric pedal harp would be my choice. One with pick ups on every string. I would like to see the electronics progress to more than the 3 band EQ.

For the styles of music you mentioned you might be successful reading from lead sheets and arranging to suit the instrument. Use that guitarist’s knowledge of chord structure and develop your own style!

[donna-germano–2]

And now that I’ve watched Christine’s video I see that she is doing exactly what I was talking about. Notice how seldom she reaches down to the bass notes. Most of her work is towards the top end of the harp with bass notes accentuating. You just can’t roll big chords like you would on an acoustic harp. Then later in the video she does some octaves and damps them quickly. It really takes some work to keep the sound clean like that. There is a point in the video where she plays a three note chord in her left hand if I recall. The notes are spread apart as much as possible.. Very nice sound and performance! Thanks for posting that link Bernhard!

[jeffrey-mcfadden]

For the style of electric harp that appeals to me, watch anything by Deborah Henson-Conant. She pretty much plays slap bass with a near-constant pluck-damp-pluck-damp style to keep the bass from muddying up on her. Christine plays beautifully, and has chosen an arrangement that works very well, but, well, in the words of DHC, “I wanna play the blues!”

[Author]

Posts