Salvi Eire

[unknown-user]

I have this lap harp and know nothing much about it. It is a Salvi Eire lever Harp.

Who would know about this instrument? selling it etc.

It is beautiful, in great condition, and comes with a green Salvi carrying case.

[john Doe]

Hey Spike,

You ask about the Eire,

The Erie Was Made and disgined by Salvi.

It was made as a “toy”. Some thing for the lap harpest to play!

It is a cool harp but it does not have strips of wood that wrap around the edge of the sound board. There is too much presure on that little soundboard and they have been known to rip right off the harp!

Meny of the harps were sent back to the factory and they stoped makeing them with the salvi name.

They start makeing them in China at there other factory were thay make the troubdor and bretons.

[Kelly R]

Hi Spike,

I would just like to pop in and say that I own a Salvi Eire harp, and I don’t think it sounds like a toy!

[Kelly R]

actually it was December of 2001 when I got it

[Leigh Griffith]

Tuck it up, your bias is showing! A lap harp is not a “toy” because it
is small, nor are people who play the lap harp only good enough to play
“toys”, which is what you are implying. I am only 4′ 9″ tall – this
does not make me a child, just because I am short.

Leigh

[john Doe]

I am did not mean to call Erie owners kids or small people.

[amy-walts]

Wow, you’re treading on a slippery slope there, Mr. Doe… all 47 strings are required for it to be a real harp in your eyes? Well then, that disqualifies a great many excellent instruments by a great many excellent makers.

And, for the record, harps with less than 47 are not always starter harps. As a professional– not a beginner, not someone buying a toy or an ornament, not a child or a tiny short person, either, for that matter– I play a 36 string just as often as my concert grand.

I think you’re digging yourself in deeper with every word you write.

[john Doe]

Maby I am digging my self deeper,

[amy-walts]

Backpedal, backpedal, backpedal.

Given your original comments on the subject, you imply that harps fall into two categories, “real harps” of 47 strings or “toys”, with nothing in between. You told someone that their smaller harp was a toy, and now you’re trying very hard to regain your credibility by giving the old “what I meant was…”. It’s not working. And you probably made a harp owner feel bad about their instrument for no reason, which is really shameful.

Different harps are for different purposes. I’ve seen some shabby harps, like those mid-eastern ones. Those are very definitely toys. I wouldn’t lump the Salvi Eire in with those.

To make a risque but apt observation, “It’s not the *size*, it’s what you *do* with it, darling”. You’d think a MAN of all people would be familiar with that concept.

I’d watch my words carefully in future if I were you to avoid getting yourself into a similar trap. The backpedaling didn’t kid anyone and didn’t save you on this one, I’m afraid.

[amy-walts]

Boy, you’ve got me really fired up about this one. Let me tell you why I’m so irritated.

When you tell someone an instrument is a “toy”, you imply that it is not good enough to even be called an instrument. You indicate that it has no value from a musician’s perspective.

If the Eire is not a concert grand in tone or repertoire, fair enough. It does not claim to be. The people buying it are not buying it expecting it to be. But that does not negate its value as an instrument, or its right to be called one. Calling it a toy is, frankly, an insult.

To someone unfamiliar with harps, to hear that the harp in front of them is a toy rather than a real instrument might erroneously indicate that it has no monetary, resale, or playing value. It implied that it is worthless and useful only– as toys by definition are– for children.

That is a very gross disservice and on principle I think you should be called on that.

[john Doe]

There is nothing that I said that I do believe.

It is way too hard to watch what you say because “you might hurt someone feeling”.

If you

[amy-walts]

When I read Spike’s original question for the board, and saw that this is the ONLY post he has ever made to this forum (a useful thing to do when dealing with new people on the board), I considered the possibility that he is not a harpist. He might have inherited the Eire, for example, and was looking for an educated opinion on what to do with it in terms of resale. Simple enough.

Your odd response to him was that it wasn’t a harp, it was a toy. Consider how that might have influenced what he did next. He wasn’t interested in comparing it to a concert grand, although that’s precisely what you turned it into. He wanted to know about the Eire and where he could resell it. Given your diatribe, he probably considered it worthless after you were done spouting off.

You are so NOT going to turn this into a “lever harp versus pedal harp” debate. It’s bad enough you gave Spike questionable advice.

So. When someone asks a question, answer it accurately and well and without personal bias.

[john Doe]

It is what it, nothing more nothing less,

[unknown-user]

I agree with Amy – the first poster was looking for honest advice and

[unknown-user]

Thank you all for your interesting input, it has been very helpful.
I have decided to list the instrument on e-bay this coming weekend.

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