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Salvi Egan, Ana & Juno

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Home Forums Harps and Accessories Salvi Egan, Ana & Juno

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
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  • #69753
    Karine Benoit
    Participant

    Hello all! 🙂

    I’ve just started learning the harp, after 20 years of piano, and I’ve fell in love with the instrument. I am currently renting a 36 strings Rusnak celtic harp…but I would like to buy my own harp.

    #69754
    brook-boddie
    Participant

    Hi Karine,

    I’ve owned both an Ana and an Egan before, and they

    #69755
    karen
    Participant

    I am a bit unclear from your note whether you are looking for something that is very much a ‘celtic/folk’ harp so that when you have a pedal harp in the future, it is distinctly different from your pedal harp OR if you are wanting a harp that will guide you easily into the pedal harp in 4 years. If it is the latter, I highly recommend the Pratt Chamber or Empress harp. It is concert tension, concert spacing and the big, booming, rich sound of which you speak. It has a 19 inch soundboard which really creates an amazing tone. Also, just jumping in and buying a pedal harp from the get-go might make sense too. A celtic harp with nylon strings will feel significantly different if you go to a pedal harp someday but it is not insurmountable and would probably only take a couple of weeks to adapt to the spacing and tension. So many choices…so exciting! Enjoy the process!

    #69756
    katerina
    Participant

    Main harp:

    Take Egan. Sounds pretty much like a pedal harp. Nice instrument… but very big, pretty heavy and not any portable. It is a bit too expensive for its quality. I have seen many harps of other harpmakers for more-less the same price, but much better sound. Thormahlen (http://youtu.be/9rgB0wKU1-g here is the sound example) and Triplett in USA, Fisher in Canada, Thurau in Europe (he ships worldwide also).

    Travel harp:

    Don’t take Juno. I tried it on Musikmesse and for couple other occasions. It is the worst crap you can find for that money. Looks and sounds like Ikea-made stool with some strings on it, but with the exception that Ikea stool will be much lighter.

    Almost anything will be better. If you are in USA – Triplett is the choice. Really well sounding harps, cheaper and MUCH lighter weight.

    #69757
    poppy-rose
    Participant

    Wow, that’s pretty harsh! I own a Juno as a travel harp, and am very pleased with it.

    #69758
    katerina
    Participant

    Well, I tell what I experienced, I have no reasons to lie. I haven’t seen your particular harp, maybe it is super and you’ve got a lucky exclusion, or it works fine for your particular needs. But that doesn’t turn down the fact that all Junos I saw were badly constructed, robust and heavy with cardboard sound, so – rather overpriced in the end. I wouldn’t think they brought the worst harps they have to Frankfurt Musikmesse.

    #69759
    poppy-rose
    Participant

    The strongest opinion is not necessarily the right opinion.

    #69760
    cc-chiu
    Member

    The Bardic 27 by Camac is also a very interesting option. I own a Bardic and while it is rather hideous (it looks like a solid wooden harp, but when you look closer, the comparison to IKEA productes starts becoming reasonable) it produces a much better, fuller, louder sound than my ‘big’ 34-string harp. You wouldn’t expect such an instrument to produce such a nice and projecting sound. I often use it in church, as part of the worship band; it also holds up very well in sessions.

    Of course, my findings are only N=1, but if you’ve got the opportunity to try the bardic, I’d certainly take it.

    #69761
    katerina
    Participant

    Well, all mothers think that their children are genius, even if it is not so.

    Each person has own opinion, and your opinion is not necessarily the right one either.

    Don’t be angry or take it personal. I spent more than 5 years working on harp factory as an acoustics specialist and actual carpenter, so my angle of approach to the harps is quite far from romantics or politics, but rather technical. For the last 3 years I mostly work as a restorer and repairer.

    I understand your warm feeling to your own harp, but unfortunally from the specialist point of view the line to which your harp belongs is not superbly constructed, roughly made from cheap materials, with pretty bad levers and quite heavy. Generally, even Camac Bardic, which I don’t like either, wins in several points. Triplett Shanti 28 with full set of Camac levers costs the same or just 100-200$ more, but the construction is much better, the sound is nicer and louder (maybe because it is , it 1.5kg lighter, no matter 1 string more in more comfortable range (from down A, not C). Well, Camac levers are a lot more accurate, tender to the strings and eacier to operate than Salvi/LH. The strings tension is a little bit lighter than on Juno, but that is handy.

    If you are happy with your one, that is fine, congratulations.

    I won’t recommend anyone to buy it because there are the harps of sensibly better quality for about the same price. But that is just my specialist opinion, not necessarily the right one ;-).

    #256697
    jsmoir
    Participant

    “Generally, even Camac Bardic, which I don’t like either, wins in several points. Triplett Shanti 28 with full set of Camac levers costs the same or just 100-200$ more, but the construction is much better, the sound is nicer and louder (maybe because it is 1.5kg lighter, no matter 1 string more in more comfortable range (from down A, not C).”

    Katerina- Vielen Dank for your opinion. After getting nowhere trying to find current info on the Heartland Harp firm here on the forum, I’ve gone further afield. Looking at a Triplett Shanti for a Therapy harp, as I am a rather large (6’3″) man, and the Shanti is bigger than the Christina. Just got done talking with Triplett. This unsolicited opinion (even at the remove of @ a decade) helps.

    #256698
    Biagio
    Participant

    There are many considerations that go into choosing any harp but for what it’s worth, here’s my unsolicited comment…

    The 26 string Raphael by Harps of Lorien is the hands down preferred therapy harp of Laurie Riley. It is rather tall for a 26 but given your frame perhaps that would not be an issue. With Truitt levers on Cs and Fs the cost is $1850; additional levers are $24 each.

    They offer a discount to students enrolled in an accredited music therapy program.

    Laurie is one of the early pioneers in harp therapy.

    Biagio

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