VAVRA harps – reviews?

[shelby-m]

Hi everyone,

I currently have two harps already (DS Ravenna 34 and Salvi Daphne). I’ve always liked the idea of a small lap harp for traveling or playing in the park. There’s a thousand posts asking about what’s a good lap harp already. My question is specifically about the Vavra brand Celtic Cherry 22 string harp made by luthier Chuck Vavra in southern USA.

I recently saw someone mention this harp in a facebook group and they really seem to enjoy it, and the price tag is $440 USD which is appealing to me as this would be my third harp.

However, I can find almost nothing about this harp (one review, only a couple sound samples). The maker is too far away for me to visit before making a purchase. I was hoping to hear other people’s experiences with this luthier’s work and/or the Celtic Honey 22 in particular.

I like the sound samples I have heard, and I think that with F, C, and B levers this little harp could be perfect for the Scottish/Irish music I really enjoy playing for a low price that I can justify to my husband. 🙂

Thanks in advance!

[Biagio]

I’m not familiar with this maker but a perusal of the website leads me to think that he knows what he is doing. Here’s the thing: there are a number of small shops making good harps that are not on the radar like the larger shops’ harps are so in absence of reviews look at the construction and warranty.

In general a small 3 to 3.5 octave harp is not difficult to make and with a Finnish laminate sound board they are also quite inexpensive in terms of materials and labor; the greatest cost to the maker are the levers. For instance, I made a 22 double strung in cherry with Truitt levers on Cs and Fs which cost me about $300 – sold it for $700. Half of the materials cost was the Truitts.

So I guess I’ve not directly answered your question but if the warranty is acceptable this might be worth getting.

[Author]

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