Salvi Hermes

[sally morris]

Does anyone have an opinion about the sound of these “classic” style lever harps? Salvi Hermes and Ana and the (now out of manufacture) McFall, Lyon & Healy Prelude, Camac Mademoiselle, Pratt Princessa or Empress? I have played professionally on my lovely little L&H Folk Harp for about 15 years and love the sound (it is very old, so has a “mature” sound by now). I am interested in a larger-size harp but not interested in a pedal harp right now. Anyone have any thoughts on these? I have also seen Webster harps online but never “in person” – I’ve heard great things about them and they are just beautiful to look at. I especially find the “Mme Cadillac” and the one with the gold-leaf vine beautiful. I don’t know if they are still being made now.

[Charles]

Generally the larger the lever harp is the more it’s tone will resemble a small pedal harp and the string tension will be pretty much the same as a pedal harp. Obviously tone will vary from maker to maker and model to model.

[sally morris]

Thank you for the overview. I do like the similar tension to the pedal harp (one reason I enjoy the Folk Harp). I am looking for a more “classic” style of lever harp. I’m basically familiar with the Prelude, the McFall and the Ana, but not with the others. It is difficult to gauge the sounds from samples on my laptop, so any opinions and/or information about these kinds of harps would be welcome!

[Gregg Bailey]

Hi, Sally,

As far as pedal-tension lever harps, I have a L&H Prelude 40, Salvi Gaia 38, Dusty Boulevard 34, and preowned L&H Troubadour V. The Gaia and Boulevard are especially lightweight for pedal-tension harps. I actually find the tone of the Boulevard to be prettier than the Gaia, as the Gaia’s sound is much drier, and the Gaia’s bass wires are a little twangy, probably because they’re too short for what they’re trying to do. I wish I could compare it to a L&H Ogden. My Prelude is very nice, though I miss having levers on the bottom A and B. I will say, I don’t like the sound of the Camac Madamoiselle (in videos) as much as the Prelude because the wires go three notes higher before changing over to gut, so those upper bass notes sound more brassy. The Boulevard is similar in that regard, though I can forgive the higher wires on it because the overall sound is so pretty and it’s so lightweight and can even be played standing with a drop-down leg.

I’ve been trying to get John Pratt to make me one of his little Sprite harps for more than a year, but he’s had serious health problems that he has somewhat recovered from. It has been very difficult to try to get anywhere with him on ordering a Sprite harp, for some reason, especially getting him to price the gold-plating that I would want on the levers and pins. I have heard, however, that his large harps like the Empress are really spectacular! I think he’s still in business, but his website went defunct and he has yet to reboot it.

Anyway, I hope this helps!

-Gregg

• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Gregg Bailey.

[Gregg Bailey]

I should add that the bass wires on the Camac Madamoiselle, Korrigan, and Dusty Boulevard are all folk-tension wires, whereas the bass wires on the Prelude, Troubadour, Ogden, Gaia, and Ana in pedal stringing are all proper pedal wires.

-Gregg

[sally morris]

Presumably, then, the older Folk Harp of Lyon & Healy which was replaced by the Ogden, would probably have had pedal quality bass wires too. Would you include the Hermes with the former category or the latter? I am used to the Folk Harp tension and gauge, have always strung it with pedal harp strings, as per specs, but mainly I am looking for a larger size to add (not replace) to my harps. The reason is because many venues and occasions seem to call for a larger harp. With 40 strings, the range is there, and it is a nice looking harp as well. I am wondering if it would be quite different to play, and how the sound would be in larger venues. I still love to play the Folk Harp, but it is best suited to smaller rooms or specialized events such as the Celtic festivals, etc. I would think of using a different one for something like a formal occasion, say, a wedding. I had been thinking of a Prelude or Ana or even a Salvi McFall, but perhaps the Hermes would also work for me and be slightly easier to handle.

I am somewhat surprised that the Mademoiselle has folk style bass wires because in samples I have heard online it seems more robust than that. Thanks for the information!

[sally morris]

I have thought the Boulevard was very attractive in ads but have not had the opportunity to hear it. Your information and insights are invaluable – thanks!

[balfour-knight]

Sally, I wish I could help you, but I have never had the pleasure of playing a Hermes. I can speak for the Ana being a very nice lever harp that looks and sounds very much like a pedal harp. I believe the Ana also has full levers on all strings, unlike the L&H Prelude. Can you actually try out these models someplace? That way, you would know for certain what you would be getting.

Thanks, Gregg, for your excellent post.

Happy Holidays everyone!
Balfour

[sally morris]

Yes, I think there is no substitute for trying them out in person! Thanks! That said, if anyone out there has experience with this harp I’d love to hear.

Sally

[Gregg Bailey]

Hi, Sally (and Balfour),

If you visit harp.com and select the “Harp Strings” tab, you can scroll down and see exactly what the stringing choices are for each L&H and Salvi model. The Ana has two stringing choices: folk-gauge (“lever”) gut in the middle with folk-gauge bass wires, or pedal-gauge gut in the middle with pedal wires. The Hermes has three choices: the same two stringing choices for the Ana, as well as (folk-gauge) biocarbon in the mid and top. I actually wasn’t previously aware of the pedal stringing option for the Hermes; that’s very interesting! I see on salviharps.com that the Hermes weighs just a little less than the Ana and would be less expensive, being in the “student” category. I should also point out that when a folk-guage (“lever”) stringing is chosen for the Ana or Hermes, the bass wires go up one note higher (to 5A) before switching to non-wires, which means the 5A wire emerges out of a “dot” in the soundboard instead of an eyelet just like the rest of the bass wires.

Also, be aware that the Ana is available with either the pewter-colored levers and pins (less expensive) or as the Ana Deluxe with the gold-plated levers and pins (more expensive). I personally prefer the gold-plating. In fact, I even custom-ordered my Gaia with the gold-plated mechanics. You can see both the Ana and Ana Deluxe on salviharps.com .

The stringing of the L&H “Folk” harp is rather curious, as the bass wires were apparently folk gauge except for the bottom two which were concert pedal gauge!

As for levers, the Ana doesn’t have levers on the top D or E, just like the Prelude, but the Prelude also doesn’t have them on the bottom B or A. The Camac Madamoiselle 40, on the other hand, does have levers on every single string top-to-bottom, I believe.

I just looked up the current prices of the Hermes and Ana, and everything has gone WAY up since I last looked a couple of years ago!!! The Hermes is now $5,350, the Ana (basic) is $6,700, and the Ana Deluxe (gold-plated levers and pins) is $7,300. Wow!!! I think the Ana’s have gone up around $1,000 just in the last couple of years!!

I really like my Prelude 40 (now $5,950) as a large, elegant-looking pedal-style lever harp (no choice on lever plating, unfortunately), but I’ve also been quite curious about the Ana Deluxe in pedal stringing. However, I’ve wondered how I could be sure that they really strung it in pedal stringing if I were to ever get one since there’s a stringing choice (and since the folk-gauge stringing is the default), whereas the Prelude is ONLY available in pedal stringing. The main way to tell on the Ana, I suppose, would be to see whether the 5A is a wire or gut, as it’s wire in folk stringing but gut in pedal stringing.

I hope I haven’t thoroughly confused you now with all this info, Sally!

-Gregg

[Gregg Bailey]

Also, Harpwinkel De Singende Snaar on YouTube has video clips of the Ana (folk “lever” gauge), Hermes (folk “lever” gauge), and Prelude 40 (automatically pedal gauge) being demonstrated; just Google those or type into YouTube. Unfortunately, I’ve never come across any videos of the Ana or Hermes definitively in pedal stringing being demonstrated since the pedal stringing on those models is more of a special order.

Let me know if you can’t find those videos, and I can attempt to post the links here.

-Gregg

[Gregg Bailey]

I should also mention that the Salvi levers are a little noisier when raising them than the L&H levers are as far as making a “clack” sound when they reach the end of their travel.

-Gregg

[sally morris]

Good to know! I don’t remember that problem on the McFall, but have never tried the Ana or Hermes. My old Folk Harp has very old levers but they make no noise. My harp is about 40 years old, so I can’t really relate it to anything I could get now! My serial number is GS1.
Sally M.

[sally morris]

I’ll look them up. Thanks!

[balfour-knight]

Wow, Sally, a 40 year old harp! It will indeed be different when you get a new one. I looked at photos of the Hermes online, and it looks like a nice harp. It has that beautiful, graceful shape of a small pedal harp which I like. My pedal harp is a Camac Atlantide Prestige, which they advertise as “understated elegance,” ha, ha! When I was growing up, I always wanted a gold harp, like the L&H 23, but right now I would not trade my gorgeous harp for any gold harp! For one thing, we live in a very simple little house, and a gold harp would be totally “out-of-place.”

Gregg, thanks for all of that detailed information. I always love to see your posts here.

Have a great day everyone!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

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