The Ultimate and Definitive Lever Heirarchy

[mae-mcallister]

Ok, so harp makers love to say that preference for lever types (Camac, Truitt, Loveland, Delacour, Pilgrim, Performance, Salvi, Teifi…) are completely subjective, but the more I read, the more I suspect that there is definitely a hierarchy of sorts.
For example, most people who have a Dusty Strings with the Loveland levers express a wish to have Camac levers, which everyone raves about. And clearly people do have their own opinions and there are lots of people who are happy (or even maybe prefer?) Loveland levers but in a general, sweeping average kind of way, people tend to agree that Camac > Loveland.

In searching for my ultimate harp, I have come across lots of kinds of levers but to know how good a lever set is, you really need to own one or play the harp for a few months. The only levers I have ever rented/owned are the Pilgrim plastic upside-downey ones and I really like them. I have never had any problems with them, but I don’t have anything to compare them to in quite the same depth. Are they generally considered better or worse than Camacs? What about the other lever types? At the top of my harp wish-list is the Salvi Livia which has Performance levers, but in scouring this forum it has been hinted that they are not universally loved and have many problems (is this true? Any Livia owners out there who can confirm?). I didn’t like the look of the Loveland levers at all (but have I judged wrong?), the Camac seemed ok and those Teifi ones were awesome. But as I stressed, I have had very little experience! Luckily, there’s a forum full of lovely people who have lots…

So I thought it would be good to have a thread that would basically compile the pros and cons of all lever types, with any horror stories/warnings about less desirable ones and recommendations for good ones. Many new harps come with options -which one do you chose? As well as being super-helpful for me, I’m sure that it will be super-helpful for any other budding harpists out there…

[Just to clarify, I think a good lever set…
– preserves string life
– doesn’t change the tone much when enabled
– doesn’t need regulating loads
-doesn’t come loose a lot
– are easy to engage/disengage
– are easy to see
-feel free to add…]

Thanks so much in advance!

[Angela Biggs]

I have Truitts, and I love them.

-They don’t shorten string life.
-The tone of the strings stays true when the lever is engaged.
-(Camacs are better for easy regulation. Truitt regulation is pretty middle-of-the-road.)
-They don’t come loose, um, ever? I’ve never had that problem.
-You don’t have to throw them all the way up in order to get an accurate pitch, which is helpful for fast lever changes.
-I have colored heads on my Cs and Fs, so they are easy to see.

Also:
-They look gorgeous on the harp.
-They don’t tarnish because they’re gold-plated. I have one or two that are barely starting to show the base metal underneath, but I can only see it when I’m sitting at the harp; at some point in the next few years I may try to get those handles re-plated.
-The action of the throw is smooth and easy. They feel good to use.
-EDIT: I forgot to mention that I can engage more than one lever at a time with these, which is good for fast lever changes.

[randal]

I like Truitts too

[Tacye]

I don’t think I have as strong opintions about levers as many players – most of the offerings now on the market do the job. Though some are better in one situation than others.

It is perhaps worthwhile thinking of which levers I don’t like – my experiences with Robinsons have not been good, I find them fussy in alignment, hard to adjust and degrade the tone. Similarly, hooks are too flexible and degrade the tone on all but the very lightly strung harps.

I am rather fond of Pilgrim’s plastic levers as budget levers – at maybe 1/4 the price of many other options they do the job in a straightforward manner. Speaking as another physicist, have you seen Peter Brough’s levers? Both elegant and functional, though the strings do need to be set near to the neck.

Biagio has a nice list with pictures:
http://dorveille.com/harps/materiality/sharping-levers/

[Marco Hilgeman]

Hi Mae,

I have Camacs on my Silver Spear harp and I’m really satisfied.

-They preserve string life; I have this harp for about four years now and I only broke two strings just after I bought it…this was probably caused by a climate change from the shop to my home and had nothing to do with the levers I guess.
-They don’t change the tone much; perhaps only a little when you have all levers up (E tuning), then the tone seems to have just a little less sustain, but that’s also because of how the body of my harp responds to that tuning I think.
-I only had it regulated once after two years and it’s still accurate now. I can’t really tell what’s average when it comes to regulating, but it’s not that the levers need very frequent regulation so I’m satisfied.
-They don’t come loose…as Angela questioned, would they ever come loose when mounted properly? My Camacs don’t and I never heard of anyone having problems here.
-They are really easy to engage/disengage..even more than one at a time is no problem…very smooth action. This also makes them suited for blues note bends (watch Deborah Hanson-Conant doing that on her DHC light, she uses the same Camac levers).

>maybe the only minute downside is that the coloured levers are only marked with a coloured plastic band, the lever itself is chrome just like all the others..it would have been nice if they were painted entirely blue or red.

That’s it… I hope this is valuable info for you Mae!

[Allison Stevick]

I agree with Angela–Truitts are lovely!
I have only had experience with Truitts and Lovelands, though. The Lovelands, while satisfactory for the lap harp I borrowed, and on which they are installed, tended to deaden the tone a little when engaged. It wasn’t really a big deal if it was just one or two levers up (G or D), but became pretty noticeable with any more than that.

[Donna O]

Mae, I have Performance Levers on my L&H Prelude. Generally, they are excellent levers but they do have a few issues. They do tend to wear the strings a bit more than some of the other levers but if they are regulated properly this is not a big issue. When I first got my harp I had more string breakage but once the harp settled in it was no longer an issue. They do not loosen up and they preserve the tone and resonance of the strings when engaged. ( I tune in E flat). They are very easy to engage. They do need to be regulated occasionally. I just had my harp done for the first time in 5 1/2 years. I think the trade off in terms of the sound of my harp are well worth the few issues these levers have.
Donna

[Jerusha Amado]

My experience has been with Camac, Loveland and Performance levers. Of these three, my first choice is Camac. They are very smooth to operate, do not distort string tone, and are not too difficult to regulate. They are reasonably easy to see, but like Marco, I would prefer that the levers that indicate C’s and F’s have their colors more prominently displayed. They are, however, pricier than other brands and add a little more weight to a harp, so that might be an issue for those who want a lightweight instrument. The Lovelands are my second choice. They are inexpensive and easy to regulate, and the long-handled ones are relatively easy to see. They also don’t add a lot of weight to a harp. The cons are that they distort the tone of strings slightly when engaged and the manufacturer doesn’t use much color to differentiate between C’s and F’s . (I bought the color rings that Sylvia Woods sells to compensate for this issue.) And finally the Performance levers are my least favorite. They are smooth to engage and easy to see, but they wear the strings much more than the other two brands, and they are a pain to regulate, even for professional regulators. I no longer own a harp with these levers, thankfully.

[cecilia-jocose]

Sort of a tangential question from a beginner here….

If levers are installed on your harp, and you are not thrilled with them, is it possible for a professional installer to remove them, and replace them with a different brand?

[Tacye]

It is possible to change levers but some exchanges work better than others. Sometimes the old screw holes will not be covered by the new levers and some harps don’t have room for all varieties of levers.

[cecilia-jocose]

Thank you, Tacye!

[Sherj DeSantis]

I prefer the Truitt’s, but haven’t tried some of the others. I have had the L&H on a Prelude, and they moved very smoothly and sounded great, but in general, I haven’t seen them on most lever harp makers outside of L&H. I have 2 with Lovelands and they work fine and give me no issue. I like the sound and operation of the Camacs, but I have two friends who have had Camacs broken off, generally more than one broken at a time, so I stick to Truitts as a first choice. Maybe the Camac levers require more delicate transportation(?) but neither of my girlfriends is careless with their instrument. I would like to try the Delacours and the Teifi’s. I was in a workshop with Maeve Gilchrist once several years ago, and she showed her technique of flipping levers quickly, but several of us after the workshop agreed the technique worked best on the Camacs, especially if flipping 2 at the same time…..I would love to know about the Teifi’s and Delacours if anyone out there has tried them. Tacye, haven’t you used the Teifi’s? Thanks! Sherj

[Tacye]

I have played Teifis, but never owned a harp with them. Very good levers (very similar to Delacours, which I believe are no longer available). They can be adjusted in all sorts of ways, move easily and have a good tone and come with large coloured handles. Similar idea to Camacs, but I think even more adjustable.

Other less common good levers I have met are Mark Norris’s and Frank Sievert’s.

[jessica-wolff]

Anything, ANYTHING, is better than the levers I have. (Troubadour with original levers, dating from the 1970s.)

That said, from harps I’ve tried out, I don’t like the Lovelands as well as the Truitts.

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