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Thanks for the reply, Evolène!
The seller is Muzikkon. Situated in Ireland. The harp parts are made abroad, and then assembled and tested in Dublin – I was initially sceptical about this, as the parts probably are produced in Pakistan… But the fact that Muzikkon is cooperating with a harp teacher made me decide to take the risk. My budget is rather limited.
As far as I know, Muzikkon is a rather new brand, but seemed to have received some favourable ratings online.I admit it was a rather “desperate” purchase, as I live in Sweden where harps are basically extinct… And I wasn’t able to find a shop where I could try some out. So that, combined with the aforementioned budget, made me go for the Muzikkon harp when I found it.
It’s a nice harp, feels comfortable to hold (roundish back) and balances well when I play it. My only issue is with the strings, and then the fact that they didn’t give me a string chart or a warranty. Both of which I had kind of taken for granted that I would receive with the harp…
I have emailed the dealer about this. No reply yet.You wrote,
“However, you are right, harps are built to fit specific string tensions. Furthermore, it wouldn’t make any sense to just swap the last string from E (or A) to C, because you would have a gap in strings.”
To make it clear, the bottom string isn’t the only one that is swapped if that is so – the strings are all in the correct order! Just beginning with a (red) C instead of the A that is shown in the picture.
Maybe there’s an explanation. I don’t know…I hope I’ll receive some more information from them soon, so that this can be cleared up. I am very unfamiliar with harps in general – I only recently decided to get one, and there’s no harp teacher in my area so I’ll be taking online lessons and learning from books (got the one by Sylvia Woods for starters). I did some binge-reading and Youtube watching before I placed my order, and hoped that was sufficient. Apparently not…
Anyway, I appreciate your reply! And I’ll look into the link you provided me with. Thanks,
Stardust
EDIT: forgot to mention the price range! The harp cost me €567.00
Jumping in late here and I hope everything works out for you. Just a few comments in case it does not….
I think it is great that Muzikkon has contracted with Aine to perform quality control. That has been the most frequent source of frustration with harps made in Pakistan – one does not know if the actual makers were consistent. In any case the “shifting of strings” worries me a little – unless the person who did this also changed many of the others to keep the tension close to what it was intended.
Not to question Aine’s qualification (since I don’t know her) but I must say that being a harp teacher alone is not a guarantee that the teacher actually understands harp design and construction. For instance a good friend and internationally respected performer/teacher I know has no idea of that aspect. Perhaps Aine does, but there are very few excellent teachers/players who are also excellent harp makers.
With respect to Norse harp makers: Sally Sehlin (in Sweden) no longer makes harps but did (and still may) carry Musicmaker kits. This is not uncommon – several fine harp makers got their start that way, first just putting the kit together, then branching out into customizing them or coming up with new designs based on the kits. Anyhow, here is Sally’s website:
Best wishes,
BiagioGreat that everything turned out ok! And thank you for keeping us updated, it’s always important to know harp quality.
Furthermore, Aine tells me it’s usual for Celtic harps not to be branded. So I’m not worried about that anymore either
Not quite sure what you mean by that.
It’s true that I have seen few celtic harp smaller than 34 strings that have some kind of logo with the brand. For example, my FH26 by Dusty Strings does not have any exterior symbol marking it as Dusty (but there is the sticker inside the soundbox with the serial number). On their FH34 and FH36 though, they have pretty plaques with their logo, as you can see here :
So if this is what you mean by “branding”, I wound’t worry!
It’s interesting that you feel that this might not be the only harp you buy, just the first one. This could be a harp that one advises parents to buy for their child… when nobody is really sure if they will keep at it for the next 10 years, but that is still reasonably good quality so that the bad sound isn’t discouraging.
I assume Aine meant it’s normal for smaller brands?? Dusty is one of the giants, isn’t it? Or do you think I’ve been misinformed somehow?
To clarify, I was not referring to the lack of a logo like the ones shown in the picture (off topic: those harps look marvellous!), but how there didn’t appear to be anything inside the soundbox.
I’ll need to peer inside the soundbox again to double-check this; maybe there is a serial number I’ve overlooked. Don’t think so, though…I’ll keep the thread updated if there’s anything to mention – might be helpful if anybody else is considering buying a harp from them. There are not many reviews up yet.
The harp stays well in tune now. I’ve had a couple of strings break, but I understand that’s to be expected? Quickly changed anyhow 🙂
I’m practicing loads! About 3-4 hours a day these past few days.EDIT: Didn’t see your modified post at first.
The harp should have been tuned and the levers regulated before it is sold, and the strings new. It is not usual for those strings to break so early.
No. It is not “usual” for Celtic harps to be “unbranded” if by that Aine means that the actual maker is unwilling to be known by name. There have been several scams – one reported here quite recently – where a seller claimed the harp to be something it was not.
It may happen once in a while that some will be licensed by the original maker to a third party manufacturer – for example Marini Harps sells Musicmaker designs with their own “brand” (Marini is licensed by MM); L&H was licensed to make the Clark Irish harp by the Clark company. The licensee is sometimes free to sell them at any price they choose. Sometimes within limits.
But I would not call that “common”. At least not yet.
Some have predicted that the market would evolve the way guitars did 40-50 years ago: low end beginner instruments, middle quality student types, and higher end named brands.
Those of us getting long in the tooth will remember those Beatle-mania days. Some of the those guitars were OK,some were excellent and some were really junk. Perhaps that is what is going on here.
Biagio
Hi Stardust, when you are not happy with your harp outside of the period of being able to return it without costs, you may like to try the easy solution which several reputable harp builders offer: you can get your money back with substraction of the money you would have paid if you had rented that harp for this period.
As you live in Europe, you may also be able to invoke the consumer protection the European Union is offering you. This is a little bit harder, but it might work. In your case, I would call a consumer protection agency in your country for help.
Possible arguments to get your money back or to get it repaired properly, would be that the current levers are unsuitable for their goal. As to why the strings break, this may be a matter of bad strings, or of bad calculated strings, or of rough spots getting the strings to wear out much too soon.
Edit: I see that the seller, Muzikkon, is in Ireland, which, fortunately, is part of the EU. This, at least in theory, should make things easier to fix than when you would have to try and correspond with someone in Pakistan.
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