Tips for purchasing an antique harp?

[Ariana D]

Hello everyone,

I’m a very novice harp player looking to purchase my first pedal harp. I have found one in my neighborhood from the mid 19th century for a very reasonable price (J & J Erat is the maker). I have not visited it yet, but I could use some advice regarding what to watch for.

I have already discerned that I must beware of cracks to the soundboard and some other obvious structural issues, but are there other things that I should beware of? Would it be difficult to play modern music on a 19th century harp, for example?

Thank you!!!

[kay-lister]

I would contact Carl Swanson or Howard Bryan and get their opinions.

[sherry-lenox]

If you’re a very novice player take an experienced harpist or your teacher with you. I bought my Wurlitzer from Howard Bryan, who told me all kinds of interesting things about it, and when my teacher played it for the first time she told me several more interesting things.

Harps are quite unlike many other instruments in that they can sound pretty good and be a mess.

ALSO they are so darned pretty to look at that they can sway you too far away from reality.

[barbara-brundage]

If you are buying this harp because you think you are getting a deal, please think again. Antique harps will almost always require a lot of expensive restoration (as in thousands of dollars). It’s not going to be just an inexpensive way to get a working pedal harp, as too many people seem to think, and restoring harps is a highly specialized business. I’ve seen way too many people over the years who bought an old dead harp at what they thought was a “very reasonable price”, paid a couple more to some guitar/piano repairman who hadn’t a clue, and wound up with nothing after spending a LOT of money, all told.

If you want it because you want it as an antique, that’s one thing, or because you want an instrument to restore for period performance, but as a general rule you can get into a student-grade used modern harp for less total outlay, especially in this economy. (And for a lot less time. The people who do this kind of work are mostly booked up far in advance, and the work itself takes time, too.)

If this is an informed desire for a historical instrument, then get someone who knows to look it over, but otherwise if you just want a harp to play, I really wouldn’t, unless money is no object.

[Tacye]

What country are you in?

[barbara-brundage]

Yes, that’s a good point, Tacye. For a number of reasons you’re more likely to find a playable old harp in the UK than in the US.

[rod-wagoner]

It would be worth the $$ to have a harp tecnician go over it.

[Ariana D]

Thanks, Tracye. I’m actually in the US, on the west coast (San Francisco to be exact). I sense that the US (and the west coast in particular) probably has less functioning antique harps than the UK.

[Dwyn .]

The best advice I can offer is to be very, very clear on what you’re expecting from the harp, both in terms of playability and in terms of how much money you’re willing to put in restoration.

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