Lever harp recommendations?

[balfour-knight]

I know the feeling, Molly! Each time I have gotten a new harp, I have ended up playing it all the time. My sweet wife has had to “tear me away from the harp” even though she is thoroughly enjoying my playing, ha, ha! I get up during the night to make sure the harp is really there, that I haven’t just dreamed it. I am still in love with my two harps, even more now than the day I got each of them. It has been an enjoyable journey, owning several harps along the way, to finally arrive at this point of wanting to keep these two particular harps the rest of my life. Be sure not to make your fingers too sore, like I did mine when I first got my Cherie (Dusty FH36S). I normally play the harp so much, I rarely make my fingers sore, but it DID happen with Cherie, and I wrote Dusty to let them know, ha, ha!

Thanks for all your posts, Molly, and everyone here. We all are sharing your excitement!

Harp Hugs,
Balfour and Carol Lynn

[balfour-knight]

I will try to attach a photo here of Cherie and myself, Molly–enjoy!

• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by balfour-knight.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by balfour-knight.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by balfour-knight.

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[Molly]

Your post made me smile- I am sure my husband will have to tear me away from my new harp as well! Which I have yet to name… and thank you for the beautiful photo of Cherie! She is gorgeous and no doubt sounds as beautiful as she looks. Cheers!

[balfour-knight]

Hi Molly,

How did it all turn out? Can you post a photo? We are so excited for you!

Harp Hugs,
Balfour and Carol Lynn

[Molly]

Hi!! Everything went great with the pickup and my husband and I have been thoroughly enjoying having a new addition to the family. I have attached a photo! We have the gold feet and crown which we plan to install over the weekend 🙂

I am still figuring out all the little quirks to this harp and getting used to how LOUD it is – I don’t have to work very hard at all to get the strings ringing and, actually, I have to tone my playing down quite a bit as the melodies can get drowned out for the sheer volume and resonance of the harp. The sound just keeps on going!

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[balfour-knight]

Hello Molly!

How very beautiful your harp is! Thanks for posting the photo. The gold feet and crown will be the “icing on the cake,” ha, ha!

I, like you, had to get used to the sheer volume, resonance, and long ringing tone of my Camac Atlantide Prestige. I will try to post a photo here–you saw how it took me so many tries to get my Dusty Cherie photo to post, ha, ha! I had owned L&H 85’s before the Camac, and they were wonderful harps, but nothing like this Camac. Her name is “Angelica.”

Let us know what you name this new Prelude!

Best wishes and harp hugs,
Balfour and Carol Lynn

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[Gregg Bailey]

Hi, Molly,

Congratulations on owning a Prelude 40! Yours is such a nice-looking harp! Mine was built new in October 2020 in natural finish, and I love mine, too! I haven’t tried putting the claw feet on, but I do like having the brass/bronze crown on, though I had to get shorter screws from a local hardware store for it, as the ones that came with the harp were way too long to work with the bronze crown due to the limited depth of how the screw holes were drilled in the top of the column. I also had to fiddle with the orientation of the crown to get it to look reasonably centered, as the screw holes in my bronze crown weren’t drilled in symmetrical locations.

I’m sure you will LOVE having the extra strings like I do!

Happy harping,

Gregg

[Molly]

Balfour, your Angelica is absolutely stunning!! I know some people are split on Camac harps, (my teacher is not overly fond of them), but every Camac I have heard has been gorgeous. I heard someone on YouTube playing a Clio, and it sounded amazing. Enjoy!!

And thanks Gregg! I am thoroughly enjoying my Prelude! Good to know about the screws, too- I will have to watch out for that and make sure the crown will screw down flush with the rest of the column. Can you post a photo of yours?

Another thing– has anyone noticed with having a new harp that even when it’s tuned properly, some of the strings just sound “off”? Maybe it’s just the little differences in the sound between harps. Maybe I’ll just have to get used to it?

[Gregg Bailey]

Hi, Molly,

I’ll try to post a picture of my Prelude soon. The problem with trying to use the longer crown screws on mine with the bronze crown is that they would stick up even though the crown itself was still flush against the column. The screw heads couldn’t be seen when looking at the harp from a normal angle, but when I got on a step-ladder and looked down inside the crown (which is how I swapped the crowns in the first place), the screw heads could clearly be seen sticking up. I could’ve just left it that way, but I thought it best to just get shorter versions of those screws instead. When using the wooden crown, the longer screws are best, as the wooden crown is much thicker than the bronze crown.

When you mention strings sounding not quite right, are you referring to when the levers are engaged or disengaged? On mine, the top-G sounds maybe a little false and therefore never quite in-tune no matter how I tune it, but I’ve been too lazy to replace it! Also, when levering notes, the levers can impart a bit of falseness into the tone on certain strings. In addition, if the levers aren’t regulated properly, the lever may not be changing the pitch of the string by the proper amount.

I hope this helps!

-Gregg

[Molly]

No I don’t think the levers are engaged on the strings I’m noticing it on, it just sounds a bit weird to me. I notice the same thing on my lesson book recording as well, so maybe it’s just me. Maybe some harps just sound different?

[charles-nix]

Regardless of string material, it is absolutely possible for a single string to sound duller, brighter, make only a dull “thunk” compared to strings around them. Any string over 1-2 yrs old has increasing odds of sounding false, however, some sound false right out of the package (even nylon monofilament).

It is also possible (not even uncommon) for a string to sound out of tune with itself when the harmonics are out of tune with the fundamental. Even for new extruded (not rectified) nylon this happens fairly often. It is even more common with gut, though less noticable.

[Gregg Bailey]

Hi, Charles,

Where you mentioned about a string’s overtones sometimes sounding out-of-tune with the string’s fundamental, I thought that was the definition of a “false” string. Does “false” actually refer to something else?

Thanks,

Gregg

[charles-nix]

Yes, you are correct. Some people use the word “false” more broadly.

And I wrote the post somewhat hurriedly also 🙂

[Molly]

Thanks for suggesting a possible issue- admittedly, I do not know what “fundamentals” are so this goes a bit over my head! But I get what you are saying about an old string maybe being out of tune with itself. My teacher is coming by today to take a look at my new harp so I will get her opinion on it as well and see if I maybe need to change some of the strings. I wouldn’t be surprised depending on how long the harp was sitting with the previous owner without being changed.

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