Which lever harp to buy

[Amalia Chrysanthakopoulou]

Hello there!
So I’ve been learning to play the lever harp for the past year and I eventually decided to buy one!

My lessons are on a music school that owns a L&H Troubadour VI so I would like to buy a harp with similar tension and spacing, even though I like Celtic songs mostly. However, I don’t like the “brighter” tone of low string tension harps and I believe their buzzing would drive me crazy!

So I’m looking at harps available in Europe, (so no Dusty Strings cause they are really expensive due to taxes). For example Camac and L&H with at least 34 strings. I don’t like the sound of Salvi harps.
I haven’t played in any other harp than the Troubadour that I mentioned earlier and we don’t have any musical instrument shop selling harps here in Greece in order to play in any of the models I’m looking at.

So my first question is, are Camac harps of great quality? Would you recommend those? Korrigan and Classic Isolde seem to have a nice sound! Are their levels easy to use while playing? Are there any known issues in general?

Also, how different is Ogden than Troubadour VI? It seems to me that only 2 strings is not an actual reason for Troubadour to cost 1000€ more than Ogden!

I would love to be able to listen to those 4 harps that I have mentioned side by side in order to compare the sound but unfortunately I cannot do that.

I would like to buy a good quality harp and not sell it in order to buy another one in the future!

Thank you!

[Gregg Bailey]

Hi, Amalia,

I have a large lever harp collection, including a pre-owned L&H Troubadour V, a new L&H Prelude 40, a new L&H Drake, and a new Salvi Gaia. I highly recommend the Prelude, especially if you like the look of that model being patterned after pedal harps, and if you would appreciate having even more strings, particularly in the bass, as it goes down to “A” instead of stopping at “C”. Many people (including me) find this to be very useful. Having the extra-high notes in the top end can be fun, too!

Since my Troubadour is a V, most of its strings are nylon with only 5 gut strings, and I haven’t tried a VI. I will say, my Troub V actually has a bigger sound than my Prelude; I’m not sure if this is due mostly to the Troub being an older harp or because the soundbox of the Troub is larger (wider) than that of the Prelude. (I’m not sure why the model with more strings has a narrower soundbox, as it seems like the larger harp should have the bigger soundbox.) The Prelude is also actually a little shorter than the Troub, which is also counter-intuitive!

Is there any reason you couldn’t get a Troubadour VI?

I haven’t tried an Ogden, but it’s not simply a matter of having two less strings in the top; it’s a much smaller harp, so the sound will be much smaller than the Troub.

One thing I should mention is that L&H has never designed a transport cover for the Troub. I’m not sure why they think that the dust cover is enough protection for transporting it, considering that the Ogden has an actual carrying case and the Prelude has both a dust cover AND a transport cover. The Drake also has both a dust cover and a carrying case.

If you would appreciate having a smaller, lighter, more transportable harp, you would probably like the Ogden; just expect a smaller sound.

I haven’t tried Camac lever harps, but I do have a couple of harps with Camac levers (a Dusty Ravenna 34 and a Rees Aberdeen Meadows), and I agree with many other lever harp players who say that Camac levers are the best!

I hope this helps!

-Gregg

[Gregg Bailey]

I just thought of a couple more things to mention. There are two Camac lever harp models which feature pedal tension strings: The Korrigan and the Madamoiselle. However, I should point out that both of those models have bass wires which are lighter tension than the bass wires of L&H lever harps, and those two Camac models also take the bass wires 3 notes higher than the L&H harps before switching over to the gut strings, so you would have to get used to those differences.

-Gregg

[catherine-rogers]

Just wanted to say that the Lyon & Healy Transport Cover for their Prelude will fit a Troubadour, but it seems they no longer sell those parts separately, only as a 3-piece set, so I don’t think the column and base covers would necessarily work on a Troubadour.

[Amalia Chrysanthakopoulou]

Thank you for your answers!

Actually I don’t really like the design of the Prelude. I’m more into the classic lever harp design. Prelude also costs even more than the Troubadour which for me is the max amount of money I can spend (5k).

I don’t really care how big the harp will be because I don’t plan on moving the harp.

The reason I was considering Odgen was that it costed less than the Troubadour and I couldn’t see why. I prefer a bigger sound so it seems Troubadour is a better match comparing to Ogden!

[Gregg Bailey]

I think if you really like the Troubadour VI you’ve been learning on, I would seriously consider that model! After all, L&H advertises that model as being the “best-selling lever harp in the world”! I wonder how true that actually is. I can imagine that it was probably true decades ago before there were so many lever harp makers, but I wonder if it’s still actually true.

The Troub VI has a full 5 octaves, which is a very nice range for a harp. If it’s going to be your only harp, at least for awhile, you might eventually find that you would miss those top two strings if you were to get an Ogden instead. Then again, you would possibly not miss those strings. I’ve been curious about the sound difference between those two models.

-Gregg

[Amalia Chrysanthakopoulou]

I am also curious about their sound difference. I can only imagine, based on what we said about their size.

Thanks a lot!

[Gregg Bailey]

There are two videos by Harpwinkel de Singende Snaar in the Netherlands demonstrating those two L&H models nearly 4 years ago. The harpist is the same, and the videos were posted on the same day, though she’s wearing different clothes between the two videos, so they probably weren’t recorded on the same day. Surprisingly, I hear more warmth and fundamental in the Ogden, but the Troubadour sounds somehow grander but brighter.? I wonder if the microphone setup was the same between the two videos. I tried sending this with the links, but it didn’t seem to go through, so HC probably doesn’t allow that. Just look up “Harpwinkel” with “Troubadour” and “Ogden” on Youtube.

-Gregg

[Gregg Bailey]

Catherine, thanks for the suggestion to use part of the Prelude transport cover for my Troubadour. I don’t yet have the transport cover set for my Prelude, but I would like to purchase that eventually, so it’s good to know that I could probably use the main part to transport the Troubadour. I still can’t believe that they don’t offer a way to protect the base of the Troub in transport!!

I did a search function just now on harp (dot) com on “Prelude transport cover,” and I see that they DO still, in fact, sell the three parts separately as well as the set.

-Gregg

[Kristen Jepperson]

I’m not sure if this is where I want to be. I have Mildred Dilling model harp that I’ve been thinking of selling, but I can’t find anything comparable to help me in how to price it.. I’m not trying for free advertising here, just trying to find info. Thanks, Kristen

• This reply was modified 1 month ago by Kristen Jepperson.

[Gregg Bailey]

Hi, Kristen,

Ooh–is it the type of harp that’s like a hybrid lever-pedal harp in which it only has 7 levers but each one moves mechanisms for ALL the strings of that note letter like the pedals do of a pedal harp?

-Gregg

[Kristen Jepperson]

It is!!

[balfour-knight]

Good posts here, everyone! It has been a few years since I had an opportunity to play a Troubadour VI and an Ogden side-by-side at the Atlanta Harp Center. If I had been in the market to buy one of those, I would have chosen the Troubadour. It had a bigger, richer sound, and seemed to be professional, compared to the student-model Ogden. Like Gregg said, the 36 strings gave the Troub a nice range, and it had the 3rd, 4th, and 5th octaves strung in pedal gut, very nice!

Although I own one of the very best Camac concert-grand pedal harps, I have never found a Camac lever harp that I wanted to buy. (Mine is a Dusty Strings FH36S in cherry, with Camac levers!) I can, however, vouch for the high quality of Camac harps in general. If you get a chance to try out some Camac lever harps, you might find one to your liking. How about a harp camp or conference?

Happy Harping, my friends!
Balfour

[Amalia Chrysanthakopoulou]

Gregg, thank you for researching that.
I also tried the videos and my post never showed up so I repost it.

I have watched the videos and it also seems to me that Ogden has a fuller and warmer sound compared to Troubadour that doesn’t make a lot of sense based on the harp size and what Balfour says. I’m confused!

[balfour-knight]

Amalia, those recordings were most likely made at different times, under different circumstances. I assure you that the Troubadour in person has a much larger, fuller sound than the smaller Ogden. According to Gregg, the Troub also sounds larger and fuller than his Prelude!

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