Two harp rental options for a beginner… What should I choose?

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

I want to start learning to play a lever folk harp, and after a lot of research and listening to clips online, I’m most interested in a Thormahlen Serenade. But I have limited local availability to harp rentals. My two options are:

–Rent an L&H Troubadour harp for $120 for 3 months (from here locally).

or

–Rent a Merlin R-Harp for $480 for 6 months (from a city 3 hours away).

(or I realize a third option is to rent a harp from somewhere online like Harp Connection, but by the time I pay the rental fee and shipping two ways, it would be just as expensive, and I don’t want to have to worry about shipping. Plus they don’t rent Thormahlens.)

The most affordable rental choice is obviously the Troubadour, but I’m hesitant to have my first learning experiences on the harp be on a concert-strung, concert-tension harp because I’m ultimately interested in purchasing a nylon string folk harp with less tension.

So my question is… if I rent the Troubadour, would it not give me a realistic idea of what it would be like to play on a nylon-string, looser-tension harp? I know the spacing of the strings is different too. I’m hesitant to start learning on a harp that is so different from what I want to most likely buy. But really how different would it be?

Would it be worth all the extra money to rent the Merlin instead, to be able to learn from the beginning on the type of harp I’m interested in? I’ve read about folk harpists getting sore fingers transitioning to concert tension, and with having no harp experience yet, I don’t want to have such sore fingers trying to learn the harp on a Troubadour.

I can’t decide what to do because the rental price of the Troubadour is so tempting. I’d like to rent first just to make sure that I really do want to make the larger investment to purchase, but spending $480 to rent first seems so pricey. Does anyone have any advice? I have the chance to see and hear a Thormahlen in person tomorrow, so if I really end up liking it, I’m beginning to feel tempted just to purchase the Thormahlen Serenade from the get go. But that’s a big investment without having rented first. Anyone have any advice or insights?

[Gretchen Cover]

You need to start somewhere. Go with the troubadour rental. When you get more experienced you can make a better informed decision on your next move. This is something akin to deciding what car you want to own before you’ve learned to drive.

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Thanks for your reply, Gretchen. Great analogy. So you don’t think that learning to play on a concert-strung Troubadour would be more challenging? Or that then transitioning to a looser-strung folk harp would be difficult after getting used to the Troubadour? I have only read about their differences, so it’s hard for me to know really how different the two types of harps are and how that would affect my learning. I really appreciate your advice! It would definitely be cheaper and easier to rent the Troubadour!

[kathy-chanik]

Yes you can learn on a Troub, but the string tension is so heavy on those. Unless you want to move to pedal harp someday you’ll like the Merlin much better. Altho $480 rent for 6 months on the Merlin seems a bit pricey. Merlin’s are nice, altho I like the middle and bottom ranges better than the top range. The Thormahlen Serenades are lovely. The only rentals of those tho are probably going to be thru private people, because he’s a small builder who doesn’t supply the harp stores anymore. Let us know how you like the Thormahlen tomorrow. Another possible option for you-the Thormahlen Ceili is delightful. And I think you would like the Dusty Strings 34 or 36S also.

[Donna O]

Jodi, Go for the Troubadour. Transitioning from that to a folk harp is not difficult at all. I go back and forth between my two harps without any difficulty and I started on my Prelude 1st. The Troubadour is a great harp to begin on.
DonnaO

[Gretchen Cover]

Jodi,

You are a beginner and won’t notice the difference right away. It’s more important right now for you to learn how to play – the notes, hand position, using levers etc. I would concentrate on basics for a few months. Hopefully, over the rental period, you will have an opportunity to try other harps and explore other resources. As I said, you need to start somewhere. I played a Lyon-Healy Troubador and didn’t have trouble with tension. If you start to overthink this IMHO, you will never start to play.

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

These are all very helpful comments. Thank you for sharing! Sounds like there’s no reason to pass up the much more reasonable rental price of the Troubadour.

[brook-boddie]

Jodi, I have a Troubadour as well as a Serenade. Going back and forth between them is no problem at all in terms of tension. To me, a greater concern would be getting a harp with standard string spacing. If I remember correctly, the spacing on the Merlin harps is narrow. If you learn on this harp and then later go to a different folk harp (or a Troubadour or pedal harp), you may have some difficulty. I may be wrong on this since I have not played a Merlin in a long time, but it is something to consider.

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Thanks, Brooke. How does the string spacing on the Troubadour compare to the Serenade? Are they about the same?

[Tacye]

What does your teacher say? If she or he has strong opinion go with that. If not I would support what Donna and Gretchen say – hire something , probably the Troubadour if there isn’t a waiting list, so you can start learning while you think long term. Probably the Merlin would sound louder and brighter when you play, but all the basics will transfer just fine. I would expect it to only take you a couple of days, if that, to adapt to lighter string nylon and slightly different spacing after some months on the higher tension gut.

[jennifer-buehler]

Brooke, What is your opinion on the taller leg option with the Serenade? Jodi got to come try mine out today 🙂 I have an older Serenade with the flat feet. Jodi is fairly tall but I’m thinking the newer foot design would give an inch or two taller height anyway.

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Ditto to Jennifer’s question. 🙂 I’m 5’8″ and thought Jennifer’s flat-footed Serenade seemed at a reasonable height for me, but I really have no idea how to determine proper height.

And again, thank you, thank you, Jennifer, for letting me come meet you today and get a feel for your harp!! You are so kind! And I really appreciate everyone else’s helpful advice too as I get started! I just left a message for the harpist here to let her know I do want to rent her Troubadour!

[Anonymous]

I had assumed the rental price for the Merlin was rent-to-own, since 6 months at $480 a month is almost the price of a brand-new Merlin (which is a fabulous harp).

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Just to clarify, the Merlin rental isn’t $480 per month. It would cost me a total of $480 for a 6 month rental. It costs $60 a month for a minimum 6 month rental ($360), but it would also cost about $120 in gas to travel to pick it up and later return it since the renter isn’t local, so I added that into the total rental cost for me which would end up being $480 to rent the Merlin.

Similarly, the Troubadour rents here locally for $40 a month with just a 3 month minimum rental commitment, totaling only $120 for the rental.

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