Possible purchase

[balfour-knight]

Hello, my dear friends!

Jackie, you must be my friend from Tennessee whose daughter is Amy, right?  What a nice posting from you!  I am so glad you have joined Harp Column.

Brook, I am also glad you chimed in about the Troubadour.  I have no experience with this model, so I bow to you folks who do!

Jerusha, it is so good to see your post, too.  I had no idea that you and Brook have this connection concerning your beautiful Gabriel maple Dusty FH36S.  I sold Brook my gorgeous Musicmakers “Bella” harp after I found my Cherie (FH36S).  My Dusty is brighter than Bella, which I love, and I think that Brook probably prefers the mellower tone of Bella and the Troubadour harps.  Now, Brook, Bella is quite jealous of the fine remarks you made about your new Marion, ha, ha!  You need to go and play Bella and reassure her that she is still your favorite, you know!  Too funny, my harp friends! 🙂

Mariah, we are all a “crazy bunch,” and I hope we have not strayed too far off topic.  Hope all of you are having a wonderful day.

Harp Hugs,

Balfour

[Biagio]

Balfour my friend,

Glad you joined the thread!

This next is probably way off topic and it is certainly not meant to “diss” Musicmakers who I like and admire…but here goes…

One of my very favorite “economy” harps is the MM 33 string Voyageur – with one caveat.  It is easy to put together from the kit and sounds good with standard strings and the tension is high for a lever harp (about 30 lbs./string on average).

The caveat? Tension and resistance to pluck take a big dip, then jump way up with standard strings in the transition zone (a few steps below middle C).  That can be disconcerting or even physically harmful if you play it a lot, with force.

Here’s the good news: there are alternative designs that solve the problem (one even dropping the range to a bass A instead of a C); without changing overall tension, but just smoothing it out.  It is a really terrific bargain even with the additional $200 +/- cost of those upgraded strings.

You are in a good place with Cheri, I know, and want that high C. I still cannot get over seeing her being strung and then you buying her. How cool is that??  It is also way cool to hear from Brook.  What a wonderful community we have!

Wire folks don’t gliss much ha ha, which seems to be where I am going  -just finished the design for a narrow spaced one. Not commercially available, ever, but I’ll give the design away for free. Who knows?

Maybe Mariah’s daughter will someday become interested in a REAL harp.

Just kidding….  But I digress (as usual).

Honestly, when people ask me, “What would you suggest in a 33-36 string for under $2,000?” that is what I tell them – get the MM Voyageur and upgrade the strings.  Add another $250 for a custom spruce SB and they have themselves on heck of a harp!!

Before levers of course – perhaps another $500 full Truitts.  Still one heck of a deal:-)

Hugs to you all!

Biagio

 

 

[Gretchen Cover]

Oh, my. This is wandering way off from the original topic. I hope by now that lovely Troubador is waiting to pop out as a Christmas gift.  I owned one and it was a great all-purpose lever harp.  As Jackie mentioned, it is a good stepping stone to a pedal harp. It might not be a forever harp, but you certainly could not go wrong with a Troubadour.  Don’t forget, the discussion is about a pre-teen student harpist and her possible first harp…

[Biagio]

Yep, you are right Gretchen and well done for bringing me back to the present:-)

I think we all agree that she will not go wrong with the Troubadour – what a wonderful Christmas present that might be!

Biagio

[JackieHarpFan]

Balfour,

You are correct!  Amy is my daughter and you and your sweet wife, Carol Lynn, are two of the people that I had in mind with my comment about the wonderful people we have met in the “harp world.”  I also must say that your playing is absolutely fabulous!  Your music added so much to the rehearsal and wedding reception that we all celebrated together.(And you were so kind to allow Amy to play your beautiful lever harp.) I look forward to hearing you play again in the future!

I am learning so much from this forum, which I pass along to my daughter, and am so thankful for the experience and kindness of everyone here.

Jackie

 

 

[balfour-knight]

Now, now, Gretchen, please bear with us, ha, ha!  I love the interesting way this thread has branched out, and hope it has been entertaining for Mariah!

Jackie, thanks so much for all your kind words.  Your wonderful daughter, Amy, is so talented and it was such a pleasure to hear her play my harp!  She has a great harp future ahead of her, and she is so special to share it with her family and all of us who have heard her play.

Biagio, I always love to read your technical expertise postings, and I think they should prove helpful to Mariah, to better understand that aspect of the harp.  There are so many different harps out there, and it is difficult to know what to look for in the instrument that is right for “you.”

Mariah, we also hope that the Troubadour or some other harp will be a fine Christmas present for your daughter!  I told my sweet wife that my two gorgeous harps are sufficient presents for all my birthdays and other holidays to come, for the rest of my life, but I will say, she just baked me the BEST cake I have ever had for my birthday, which is today!

Harp Hugs to all of you,

Balfour

[JackieHarpFan]

Happiest of birthdays, Balfour!  I think this is a beautiful time of year to have a birthday.  I hope you have a wonderful year!

Harp hugs back to Balfour, Carol Lynn and all of you,

Jackie

 

[Gretchen Cover]

Ha, ha, to you, Balfour. I’ll go off-topic and wish you a Happy Birthday🎂🎉👏.  Buy yourself another harp to celebrate🎶.

[balfour-knight]

Thanks so much, Jackie and Gretchen, for “going off-topic” to wish me a Happy Birthday!  I always love this Harp Column website and forums!  Kim, it seems to be working well this morning.  Thanks for all you do for all of us!

Harp Hugs and blessings,

Balfour

[mmezest1997]

Thank you all so much for the comments, suggestions and advice. My daughter is practicing about 2-3 hours each day and is still loving it. Her teacher said that she is really impressed with her progress. One of the comments I received from the teacher last week was “Warm-up: C major scale (GREAT job recognizing that you needed to put your F pedal up to play the scale correctly. I was blown away by this!) with just your second finger, hands separately”. She will have her first “concert” in a few weeks as she has been asked to play a Christmas Song at church during the service in front of about 300 people. She is so excited, especially since I told her we would get her a new dress!

When I went to discuss the used L&H harp with the current owner, she decided to increase the amount she was asking and it just didn’t feel right, so we will continue to look and when things are right, I’m sure it will be the right one for her.

Thanks again and I appreciate the warm welcome and friendliness!

Mariah

[Gretchen Cover]

Oh, too bad about the harp – probably the person selling read this thread about the price:)  There will be another harp and I’ll bet it will be a pedal harp.  Thanks for the update.  Maybe you can still give your daughter a tuning key in anticipation of her own harp.  Keep us posted on her progress.

 

[Biagio]

Well that is unfortunate and I’d bet that several here (at least me and Gretchen) were having a warm fuzzy idea of her getting that Troubadour for Christmas.

On the other hand, I think it’s safe to say that few beginners have a clear idea of where they will go with the harp in general, at any age they begin.  Many start with a lever harp thinking to move on to pedal; and while some do so, others find their way to very different instruments.

Or vice versa: one of the most admired teachers at  AHS gatherings  (Alfredo Ortiz) is also one of the most renowned artists on the South American harp.  Very definitely a different instrument!

Another and a friend of mine was a concert pedalist before her husband made her a wire harp and now her love is given almost entirely to that.  So be of good cheer!

And Balfour: a belated “Happy Birthday”!

Best to all,

Biagio

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