Salvi’s new concept soundboard

[Amy Wilson]

I was hoping to get feedback from people who have owned them for a number of years.

[Gretchen Cover]

Amy, to the best of my knowledge, the new soundboards are new enough that not many people have experience with them. I do know Alexandra has been to the Salvi factory in

[Jerusha Amado]

Gretchen,

Do you (or anyone else) know how long Salvi has been using the new concept sound board?

Jerusha

[Gretchen Cover]

Jerusha,

[niina]

Hi Gretchen

Regarding my previous comment about the Aurora. Salvi did make a few new ‘Prototype’ Aurora which apparently sounded wonderful (some say better than the Apollo). For some reason they seem to have abandoned this idea in favour of putting the Arianna soundboard onto the Diana, as they think the Diana needs a bit more oomph. Why they didn’t just improve both the Aurora AND the Diana, I don’t know. They said the new Aurora would have cost the same as now.

Niina

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I have mostly heard the Apollos. They definitely have a much bigger sound in the 3rd, 4th and 5th octaves. I have not heard one with nylon strings in the treble, but without them, the treble suffers in comparison with the mid-range and bass. Any harp I would buy new I would want to have made with a stirrup, a metal brace in the 7th octave on the center strip, which gives focus to those notes and projection to the 0 octave. My information is that the changes Salvi made were in accordance with Lyon & Healy design. They stopped using polyurethane finish, lightened the weight and planed the sounding board more. I believe they also widened the sounding board as Venus was, I think, the first to do. I do think that any new harp you order should have the glossy finish, as the extra polishing likely thins the finish so the sound is not inhibited, and the harp is formally presentable. With a matte finish, they look dusty. There is a problem on many harps now with the sound being inhibited, 5-10%, but enough to take the leading edge away that is so important. The “french polishing” is worth paying extra for. The question is, since they now use a water-based finish, will it have the same sound benefit?

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