Strings for classical music and fragile skin / hands?

[Lily-White]

Hi Wil-Weten,

Actually I really mean a harp painted white. BRIGHT WHITE! 😀

I know they used to make the Brilliant harpsicle in white, but not anymore. Not even if you pay them extra (I asked). They make the Grand harpsicle in white, but it’s not the right model for me.

Salvi is willing to make me a white harp for an extra cost (I asked them too). Camac as well (I have tortured everybody with my question 😀 ), but only when it comes to the professional models. Not the student ones (not even student pedal harps). Rusty doesn’t make any model white.

So it leaves me with a Salvi harp. Or a Camac non-student harp, of which the only possible model could be Excalibur, I think. But I think Excalibur could be a little “loud” in an apartment building, if I have understood correctly. The other option is to forget about the white colour, but I’m not there yet. And I doubt I never will…

I have now played my black rental Ravenna 34 and my skin can take it surprisingly well. I practice for one hour a day now, without any problems at all! And I LOVE playing it!!! I could just go on and on… So I might be able to handle heavier string tension than I originally thought. YAY! 🙂

– Lily

[balfour-knight]

Hi Lily,

Good to see your posts and Wil’s! I am so glad that you are now up to an hour per day of practice. I think the Excalibur could be played very lightly and softly in your apartment building. A harp is only as loud as YOU play it, ha, ha! Also, loud, strong playing is harder on your fingers and calluses. My Camac Atlantide is capable of powerful, intense volume, but on the other hand, she can purr softly like a kitten, and I know that the Excalibur is the same way. The Excalibur is not necessarily any louder than the Ravenna. Good luck on getting a white harp one of these days!

Harp Hugs,
Balfour and Carol Lynn

[Lily-White]

My dear Balfour,

I just love your posts! They always make me smile and feel good.

Your pedal harp can “purr softly like a kitten”? Awww…
I happen to ADORE cats! – and small kittens make my heart melt… <3

Interesting what you said about the Excalibur!

Thank you and Huge Harp Hugs to you and Carol Lynn!

– Lily

[balfour-knight]

Thanks, my dear Lily! Don’t forget about the Camac Clio semi-grand 44-string pedal harp. Many professional harpists and harp hobbyists could be happy for a lifetime with the Clio! I just looked on Camac’s website and they advertise that they can do specialty finishes on many of their models. I bet they could make you a beautiful white harp!

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

[Lily-White]

Hi Balfour,

I hope you didn’t bet on it yet?! 😉

You mentioned Clio once earlier and I immediately checked it out. It got my approval 😀 and I asked Camac. They would NOT make it in white for me, because it’s a student pedal harp, not a professional one. I have to admit I was a little disappointed… For me it would be a “Forever Harp”, so it would have to be white.

I’m just playing with the thought at this point, but the idea of having a pedal harp is very attractive to me. Just think about all the beautiful Puccini compositions I could play! I’m a huge fun of Giacomo Puccini! So I asked Salvi and they were immediately ready to make a white Daphne for me, which is a beautiful student pedal harp. And I BET Puccini would prefer an Italian harp… 😉

HHH 🙂

– Lily

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Lily-White.

[balfour-knight]

Hello dear Lily,

So sorry to hear that Camac told you that! I just looked at their Clio model on their website, and it specifically says “Speciality finishes to order.” (It should be spelled “specialty,” of course! French to English, ha, ha!) They are falsely advertising, in my opinion, if they indeed will not make you a custom finish. Maybe by the time you are seriously considering a pedal harp, they would make you one in white. It may have something to do with recovering after the pandemic.

However, the Salvi Daphnes are great harps, and I have enjoyed playing the petite 40 string model from time to time in my career. Many harpists use this small harp to gig with, and women in particular seem to love its smaller size and weight when transporting it to gigs. I also have played very nice larger models of the Daphne at the Atlanta Harp Center in Georgia, USA. I agree with you, Puccini would sound wonderful on one of these! They have a beautiful classic design which I think would look stunning in white!

Best of luck when the time comes!
More harp hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

[wil-weten]

Hi Lily, Balfour is quite right that the Camac Excalibur will still sing, when you play it rather softly in order to not disturb the neighbors in your apartment. But, I’m afraid, not all harps can be played softly enough for some neighbors and still sound good.
I’ve also got a L&H Prelude with its pedal gut tension strings, and to have it really sing, I need to pull the strings rather hard or it will sound rather dull. So, I guess it may depend on the build of the harp, whether you could play it softly and still enjoy its sound.

[balfour-knight]

Good post, Wil! Lily, you will know more about all of this as you learn to play your Ravenna. All harps are different, as you are finding out, ha, ha! By the way, I found a lovely photo of a white Daphne on Salvi’s website, under personalized finishes. Wow, what Salvi can do to make harps beautiful!

Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

[Lily-White]

Hi Balfour, you sensitive soul…

I can see that you really get me! Since a couple of weeks, I use exactly that picture of the white Daphne as background picture for my phone… It’s my dream harp! 😀

But as you said, for now my Ravenna34 is perfect for me! I love her sound, I have no problems with my skin, and I’m learning some really delicious things right now – pieces with glissandos, beautiful chords and all that “harpy” stuff <3

– Lily

[balfour-knight]

That is great news, Lily!

[Gregg Bailey]

Hi, Lily,

Did you ever get a white harp? I have some news you may find interesting. I just learned that Rees Harps is in the process of making a special Brilliant 34-string harp in pearl white finish (basically white but with an added iridescence that gives off some lavender-type hues when certain light hits it). I reminded them that you had inquired about a white Brilliant, and they tell me they can actually do that now, as well. So, if you’re still in the market for one, you could either get the one in white pearl finish that they are in the process of making, or you could order one in the standard white color, as well! It’s amazing how lightweight the Brilliant is for its size; every time I pick mine up, it’s still almost a surprise just how easy it is to lift! You would have to get used to tuning on the lever side of the neck, however. I also feel that mine has a sweet, lovely tone, though mine is made of walnut, whereas the painted ones are maple and may be a bit brighter in tone than mine is.

[Lily-White]

Hi Gregg,

Thank you for remembering me, I was so touched! <3

I’m still playing my rental Ravenna 34 in black, looking for the right harp to buy. How fun that the Brilliant 34 is available in white! 🙂 I would prefer the standard white colour.

This spring I had the opportunity to borrow a Dusty Strings FH-34S in walnut for a whole week. It has a BEAUTIFUL sound, very sophisticated, but a little bit dark for my taste. In a couple of weeks I will rent an FH-34S in cherry for one month, it’s supposed to be a little brighter. So we’ll see, I’m SO curious! I just LOVE the sparkling sound of the Dusty harps… If I like the one in cherry, I couldn’t order it in white though. They can make it in black for me, if I wish.

Very soon I will also have the opportunity to try the Camac Concert Mélusine. I’m not a huge fan of its design – many people love it! – I just like more straight lines. The point with the Mélusine is that I want to try a light strung harp, due to issues with my hands. Having tried that, I can decide what to buy. I’m looking for a forever harp… I could get the Mélusine in white, but looking at it and listening to it on the internet, I’m not sold…

I could also buy my Ravenna 34, it was brand new when I got it, and I do love it! I would get half of the rent I have paid off the price (it’s part of the rental program). The only problem I have with it is the upper treble, I can’t make it “sing”, and it’s quite heavy for my hands. I’m sure I’m the problem here, not the harp 😀

And now we can add a white Brilliant 34 to my list of options! The problem is that I don’t have the possibility to try one. That’s a big risk to take…

As you can see I’m almost as confused as I was when we talked before. Within a couple of months I will make a decision though, I’m ready to buy my own harp. It’s hard to let go of my dream of a white harp, but I will have to make some kind of compromise. The FH-34S in cherry is my favourite one when it comes to the sound on the internet. If it’s as beautiful when I try it live, it will be hard to resist. It’s also a tiny bit more gentle with the hands than the Ravenna 34(the upper treble). And with high legs, it’s as tall as my Ravenna. That’s important to me, as well. The Brilliant 34 seems to be tall, as well.

Then there’s the price. The price of the Brilliant is good. Including customs and taxes it’s more or less what I would pay for my rental Ravenna. The FH-34S is MUCH more expensive, and it would take almost up to a year to build it, so there’s a lot to consider.

Sorry, this is way too long, I always get carried away when I talk about harps… 😀

THANK YOU once more for letting me know about the Brilliant in white! – Now I’m really confused! 😀

– Lily

[Lily-White]

Hi again Gregg,

I can’t get that white Brilliant out of my mind… 😀

In your opinion, what is the difference between the Brilliant 34 and the Ravenna 34, when it comes to the sound and the touch?

Please know you’re not responsible for what I choose to buy, I am. Just your personal opinion.

I have nylon strings on my Ravenna and would buy the Brilliant in white. These two factors might make it difficult to answer (?)…

It could be quite cool to buy my rental Ravenna 34 in black (I really do love it!), AND buy the Brilliant 34 in white… Or would one harp, the Dusty FH-34S in cherry (possibly lacquered in black) be a better investment? I feel like a confused but happy kid in a candy store… 😀

– Lily

[Gregg Bailey]

Hi, Lily,

Sorry I’ve taken so long to respond. As to whether you should think about purchasing both the Ravenna 34 and the Brilliant or to instead get a Dusty FH, I’m not quite sure how to advise you. I haven’t tried a high-end Dusty FH in person, so I have no real frame of reference for how they compare to the Ravennas. If I had been able to try a Dusty FH or even Crescendo before purchasing my Ravenna 34, it’s possible I would’ve held out for a FH or a Crescendo, but I have no way to know. I also have no frame of reference for what a Ravenna is like with nylon strings in-person.

I can, however, compare my Ravenna 34 with folk gut strings to my Rees Brilliant 34 harp with its nylon strings. They’re so different from each other! The Brilliant is made of solid wood, whereas the Ravenna’s soundbox and soundboard are laminate wood. The Ravenna has a bigger sound, especially in the bass, which is to be expected since the Ravenna’s soundbox is bigger. The tone of the Brilliant is also a little mellower, though mine is made of walnut, so that may be playing a part in that. The string spacing is about the same, maybe just a tiny, tiny bit narrower in the Brilliant, but not really noticeable. The tension on the Brilliant’s strings is definitely less than on my Ravenna with its folk gut strings, but that may be at least partly due to folk gut being stiffer than nylon. The normally silver-colored bass wires of the Brilliant are much more prone to tarnishing, but I don’t know how much of the tarnish is due to the H2S in the air where I live (West Texas). The Ravenna has a choice of height depending on which legs you choose, or even the ability to play without legs at all, whereas the Brilliant’s height is fixed with no choice. The tuning pins on the Brilliant are zither pins and are tuned on the lever side of the neck and use a zither tuning key. One thing that is somewhat more of a pain on the Brilliant (and all models in the Harpsicle line) is that the way the strings are wound on the pins is different from any other sort of harp, and I find changing strings on the Harpsicles to be a little trickier as a result. The “proper” procedure is to thread two winds to the outside and then cross over and thread about two more winds on the neck side of the pin. One thing that is nice about the Brilliant is that it comes with a pickup installed for amplification ability, whereas, on the Ravenna, it either has to be added later or ordered when the harp is made. Of course, the biggest advantage of the Brilliant is its much lighter weight. The Ravenna has the option of folk gut vs nylon strings, while the Brilliant has no choice (nylon only). The string material changeover in the bass is different. On the Ravenna, of course, the bottom 8 strings are wires, but only the bottom 5 of the Brilliant are wires. The changeover from wound nylon to monofilmant also happens farther down on the Brilliant, as the wound nylons only go up to 5E. So, the Brilliant has 5 wires and 5 wound nylons, then the rest are monofilament from 4F up.

Here are the above points listed for each harp:

Brilliant:

-lighter weight
-can now be ordered in white again (ha!)
-has a built-in pickup
-string tension is possibly a little lighter, but I haven’t compared to a nylon-strung Ravenna
-made entirely of solid wood
-fewer strings are wire
-overall sound output is a little smaller, esp. in the bass
-mellower tone (thought haven’t tried a maple Brilliant, which a white one would be; tone would probably be a bit brighter than walnut)
-silver bass wires more prone to tarnish (D, E, and G), though I don’t know if that would be as much of a problem where you live
-no choice of height or of string type
-zither tuning pins tuned on lever side
-unusual string thread procedure on the tuning pins when replacing strings

Ravenna:

-bigger sound
-brighter tone (probably)
-bass wires not as prone to tarnishing
-choice of height and string type
-normal type of tuning pins tuned on the side opposite the levers
-usual procedure for changing strings as far as how the strings are to be wound on the pins
-bass wires go higher up before changing over to wound nylon
-soundbox and soundboard made of laminate wood rather than solid wood
-possibly a bit higher in string tension
-doesn’t come with a pickup by default, but can be added
-heavier than Brilliant
-can’t be ordered in white!

I’m not sure how much any of this information helps, but I thought I’d try my best to compare these. I’m sure a Dusty FH or Crescendo are much more refined than either of these models, even though I haven’t tried any.

Keep us posted on what you decide to do!

-Gregg

[Gregg Bailey]

I forgot to say, I’m surprised that the treble tension on the FH34 would be less than on the Ravenna; how interesting! If anything, I would almost expect it to be the other way around!

Have you tried any of the harps you mentioned–the Melusine or FH34S in cherry?

Are you using 8″ legs on your Ravenna? Mine just has the 5″ legs, though I’m considering ordering the 8″ ones. I would say that the shoulder part of my Brilliant is about the same height as my Ravenna on its 5″ legs.

I would think that an FH34 in black would usually be made of maple. Are you sure they offer black stain on cherry? It almost seems a shame to cover up gorgeous cherrywood with a black stain, but I can even think that about maple, as natural woods are just so pretty!

-Gregg

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