L&H prelude or Salvi Ana deluxe

[Lisa Blythe]

Hello fellow harpists.
I am very new and looking at a lever harp with the view to possibly learning pedal harp later on. I cannot see the harp I want to buy due to Covid problems where I live. Any suggestions regarding the Prelude or Ana deluxe? I have only found a few websites that actually play the harps for me to see. I have been told that the Salvi Ana has pedal gut strings in Australia, but the ones I see online say they are lever gut strings! I would love to know if anyone finds the higher notes more or less pleasing than the Prelude 40. I prefer the look of the Ana, but want the best sounds. Also if you know of any issues with the levers on either harp. Thank you so much. Sugarplum 🙂

[wil-weten]

I bought a L&H Prelude, because it has a bit mellower and warmer sound than the Salvi Ana and the performance levers on the Prelude are much quieter in use. Also, it was significantly cheaper than the Salvi Ana.

The Salvi Ana has a bit brighter sound.

Formerly, about 10 years ago or maybe even a bit more, Salvi Ana came with pedal gut strings, but nowadays, at least in the Netherlands, they come with lever gut strings. Perhaps you can still get them with pedal gut by special order.

The only pedal gut strung Salvi lever harp model nowadays is the 38 string Salvi Gaia.

I’ve got no idea of harp possibilities in Australia, you may also be interested in the Camac Mademoiselle (40 strings), the Camac Korrigan (38 strings), the L&H Troubadour (36 strings) and the L&H Ogden (34 strings).

You may also like to know that you would rather quickly get accustomed to the tension of pedal gut strings, if you are used to lever gut strings, as the Bow Brand lever gut set still gets you a rather firm string tension.

So, you’d best go for the harp which sounds the nicest in your ears, be it strung with pedal gut, lever gut or even fluorocarbon.

Am I correct that you are looking for a classic kind of sound? Otherwise, you may like to have a look at the Camac Isolde (both the Classic and the Celtic one) and the Camac Excalibur (the latter being strung with a tension between celtic and pedal tension strings).

[Lisa Blythe]

Thank you, Wil- Wetin,

Your comments are very helpful. I do like classical and pop and most likely will not play Celtic-style music. (Never say never, will probably look back on this years later and disagree with myself!) I love the Prelude natural but have been told there is a 6-month wait. I would gladly buy it in cobalt blue or the lovely Salvi green but not the dark timber colours! I wish I could travel to the Chicago store to choose my own harp by sound. Then again, I am thankful for a fabulous teacher and good health. So far Prelude is in front!

Happy harping.

[wil-weten]

Yes, it would be best to try before you buy. You may like to try and visit a harp showroom where they have L&H lever harps in Australia or New Zealand. Even if they wouldn’t have the colour of your choice, it would be a great experience sitting behind the harp and feeling the strings.

By the way, if you’re thinking of playing together with your friends, you may think of a L&H Ogden. While the Prelude weighs almost 20 kilo, the Ogden weighs 12.8 kilo and is much easier transportable, and is also significantly cheaper, of course.

And yes, the sound of the Prelude is richer, but I think the Ogden is still a very nice harp and with its 34 strings, you could play almost all lever harp music on it.

Also, some shops rent

[Gregg Bailey]

Hi, Lisa,

I recently bought a new Prelude in natural from the Virginia Harp Center earlier this year. I agree that the Ana looks nicer, in certain respects, especially the gold-plated levers! I don’t understand why Lyon&Healy doesn’t offer nicer-looking levers. Anyway, I wanted the lever harp model that is designed to be as close to a pedal harp in terms of feel/sound/look as possible, which is the main reason I chose the Prelude. While the Ana can be strung in pedal-tension gut, it is primarily designed (for whatever reason) as a lever-tension harp. (Does anyone know why this is the case??) The Camac Mademoiselle bothers me (as a pre-pedal harp) in that the wire strings continue up 3 more notes than pedal harps up to 5C, so you don’t get the gut feel and sound until 5D. When I’ve heard them played in demonstration videos, my ear picks up on that wire sound going up higher. Plus, that creates a very different feel for those 3 strings compared to pedal harps.

I was lucky that the Virginia Harp Center just so happened to have a Prelude in natural finish in stock (I specifically wanted natural), because someone else had ordered it several months before but became unable to pay for it once it arrived. I happened to inquire about that model before they even put the harp up on the website!

Just a word of warning, though, the base on mine is a little crooked to where the bottom of the soundbox corners aren’t the same distance from the front of the base by a difference of about 3/8″. It’s not readily apparent, but I’m surprised it made it out of the factory like that. I’ve just learned to live with it.

Do let us know what you decide!

[balfour-knight]

Hi, everyone!

I agree, for anyone wanting a lever harp that is as much like a pedal harp as possible, you could not do better than the L&H Prelude. I, too, do not understand why the Salvi Ana and the Camac Mademoiselle are not strung exactly like pedal harps. There are enough other models of harps being made in the folk-harp or Celtic style.

Harp Hugs,
Balfour

[wil-weten]

@Balfour, The Camac Mademoiselle is strung with pedal gut strings and lever wire strings for the bass notes up to the full octave below the middle C (and I seem to remember some nylon strings for the highest notes). This harp sounds pretty classical, though brighter than the L&H Prelude

Gut strings need a certain minimum length in order not to sound dull and I guess that is exactly the reason why the A and B, which are pedal gut at the L&H lever harps, are strung with wire on the Mademoiselle.

I’ve got a Prelude and the A and B sound a bit dull and I heard several people say they changed these gut strings therefor for wire. Sometimes I’m tempted to change these 2 strings with fluorocarbon, but I guess the levers will have to be regulated then.

Now, to the question why the Camac Mademoiselle uses lever wire for the bass strings. I guess this is, because it allows the soundboard to be built not as heavy as would otherwise been the case. Playing the Camac Mademoiselle feels like the string tension is significantly lower than that of the L&H Prelude, while boths harps are strung with pedal gut.

[Lisa Blythe]

Thankyou so much for such detailed and helpful advice Wil, Gregg and Balfour. I am leaning towards the Prelude. I did see Greggs earlier post about the uneven base and will follow up on that prior to purchase as symmetry is important to me as well as sound. I had considered a smaller harp such as the Ogden, but It is unlikely that I will be taking my harp on outings, and If I don’t buy a pedal harp in the future I will still have a pretty (by that I mean in the classical style that I prefer) and beautiful sounding harp. Best wishes Lisa.

[wil-weten]

Hi Lisa, yes, the L&H Prelude would be a great ‘forever’ harp. By the way, if you have to wait half a year for it in the colour of your choice, the shop may be willing to rent a harp to you and deduct a lot or even all of the renting costs from the purchase of your harp (most shops I know rent harps for people wanting to try out an instrument for some time). That way, you could start right away ;earning the harp.

I wish you many happy hours with learning to play the harp.

[Lisa Blythe]

Update, I just heard back from Salvi technical department. They said you can order the Ana with lever gut or pedal gut strings.
In Europe the lever version is more popular, in US or Hong Kong the pedal version is more popular. Will ponder my choices a little longer!

[Gregg Bailey]

Lisa,

Another thing to mention is the fact that the Ana comes with levers on the bottom 2 strings, whereas the Prelude doesn’t. When I asked L&H about this, I was told that the reason is that the bass wires in pedal tension vibrate too much to work with levers. Since the Ana in pedal tension would presumably still have levers on those 2 bottom bass wires, maybe the lever style has something to do with the difference.

When there are no levers on certain strings, it’s customary to tune them in natural, which means that you no longer have low Ab or Bb on the Prelude unless you tune the strings down to those notes. Neither model has levers on the top 2 strings, while the Camac Madamoiselle has levers on all 40 strings.

I’m overall happy with my choice to get the Prelude, but I do have curiosity about the Ana in pedal stringing but didn’t have the opportunity to try either one.

I hope this doesn’t further add difficulty to your decision, but I did think I should point it out!

-Gregg

[wil-weten]

Hi Gregg, both the Salvi Ana as well as the Camac Mademoiselle have lever wire.
The L&H Prelude has pedal wire. Pedal wire is too heavy for levers.

So, the question has not to do with a difference in the used levers, but in the used wire for the bass strings.

Edit thanks to Gregg enlightening me: the Salvi Ana strung with lever gut comes with lever wire, but the Salvi Ana strung with pedal gut proves to be having pedal wire.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by wil-weten.

[wil-weten]

By the way, I’ve never missed levers on the upper and lower sides of the L&H Prelude. They simply seldom or never get used.

[Gregg Bailey]

Hi, Wil,

So you’re saying that, even when the Ana is strung in pedal-tension, that only applies to the gut and nylon strings, and the bass wires are still lever-tension? That seems odd. Also, where you put that pedal wires are too heavy for levers, you must mean only below 6C, since, as you point out, the Prelude uses pedal wires, correct?

Thanks!

-Gregg

[Gregg Bailey]

Hi, Wil,

I just checked the Ana 40 Pedal stringing on harp dot com, and the bass wires indicate Bow Brand Concert Pedal wires, so I’m wondering how well those work on the bottom 2 notes with levers. Apparently, the issue can be when the levers are disengaged, because the vibrational displacement of the wires can possibly rattle in the lever cams when the levers are down.

It would be nice if someone with an Ana 40 in pedal stringing would see this thread and provide feedback about that.

-Gregg

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