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Hi everyone!
I just wanted to post this and let you all know about my new 2nd-octave Nylgut strings from Aquila! I love them! They beautifully bridge the gap between the real gut strings in the 3rd octave and the nylon strings in the 1st and zero octaves. The color of the C and F strings is the same red and black you generally find in Premier gut strings. The “white” or “natural colored” strings are a “heavy whipping cream” color, very visible in poor light, much more visible than gut or nylon. They are easy to install, just like gut, they pull up to pitch very well, and they begin to hold their pitch after a day or two. I can play the harp for about an hour without having to retune now. Their tone is amazingly like Premier gut in the 2nd octave, their cost is far cheaper than gut, and they are supposed to be long-lived. Add to this, Aquila USA provides fast, reliable, customer-friendly service. I could not be more pleased!
Thanks again, Wil!
Harp Hugs,
BalfourSally, I wish I could help you, but I have never had the pleasure of playing a Hermes. I can speak for the Ana being a very nice lever harp that looks and sounds very much like a pedal harp. I believe the Ana also has full levers on all strings, unlike the L&H Prelude. Can you actually try out these models someplace? That way, you would know for certain what you would be getting.
Thanks, Gregg, for your excellent post.
Happy Holidays everyone!
BalfourHa, ha, Charles–most of us are in this “older harpist” club!
Most regular semi-grands made these days seem to have all 47 strings. The idea of a “complete range” has evidently caught on, like having 88 keys on a piano. The Salvi Daphne 47 semi-grand is a nice size for smaller harpists, myself included. My Camac Atlantide Prestige is only comfortable for me because Camac has purposely lowered the playing end (shoulder). Otherwise, I would need a semi-grand, and I have enjoyed owning and playing several over the years.
Hope all of you have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a joyful New Year!
Harp Hugs,
BalfourHello Wil–thanks for your post above. I had indeed heard of these nylgut strings back when they first came out, but it seemed that they had to be ordered from Italy. Rather than hassle with that, I just used gut and nylon which are readily available here in the USA. When I checked my stringing chart yesterday for my Camac Atlantide Prestige, nylgut is listed as an option! I am really looking forward to trying them on my harp, and will let you know how I like them. Thanks again!
Harp Hugs,
BalfourThanks, Wil, for your recommendation of Aquila Corde and their new nylgut strings. I found their USA distributor at AquilaUSA.com (www.aquilausa.com) and ordered some nylgut strings to replace my pedal gut second-octave strings on my Camac Atlantide Prestige pedal harp. Those particular gut strings just break too often for me, and nylon does not sound as warm as gut in that octave. Maybe nylgut is the perfect solution–we shall hope. I’ll let you know when I get the strings and have time to install them on the harp, after Christmas. I have been busy with concerts and programs, as usual! So good to see your post here. I hope it helps Kim, too.
Happy Holidays,
BalfourGrace, have you made a decision about the Daphne 47 semi-grand yet? A few years ago, I was delighted to play a really good one at the Atlanta Harp Center. Sometimes the slightly-closer string spacing is an advantage to the player, not a hindrance. It all depends on the body size, finger and arm size, etc. One spacing I never liked was L&H’s extra wide spacing in the bass of some of their largest harps. It was a far reach to the bottom C string on those harps!
Happy harp hunting,
BalfourWhen there is a problem like this, I have had great success just using a piano arrangement. There are many different levels of difficulty, so you can pick the one that is best for your harp-playing ability. Since I create most of my arrangements at the harp, a fake-book version is usually all I need. Once the tune is in my head, I never look at the music again, and continue to improvise and re-arrange it freely, even during my concerts. Freedom of expression, ha, ha! (I do play the classics by the actual notes of the composer, in concert from memory, unless I am presenting my version of a classic, of course!)
Happy Holidays,
BalfourI just searched on harp.com for concedo gut strings so I could post a reply on “Vision and Strings” here on these forums. Some of these strings are “out of stock” and I could indeed see what Bill was talking about, above! Maybe there is a shortage of Bow Brand gut strings in the USA. I just use Premier, which I like better anyway, but to my knowledge, they don’t make any white ones like concedo.
Harp Hugs and Happy Holidays,
BalfourKim, you do not say whether this is for a pedal harp or other. If it is for a pedal harp or pedal tension lever harp, have you thought about Bow Brand Concedo Gut? Go to harp.com and ask for Bow Brand Concedo white coated natural gut harp string with color-coded C’s and F’s. Available for pedal and pedal-tension lever harp in 00G – 5th octave A. I hope this helps!
Harp Hugs,
BalfourWilliam, I believe that the string spacing on Salvi semi-grands is indeed closer than on their own fullsize concert grands. The smaller frame has to accommodate 47 strings in less space so the strings are very slightly closer together.
William, the string spacing on a semi-grand can be a bit closer than on a full-size concert grand. You have to take a ruler and measure the distance between any two C’s, for example, and compare models to each other. Once, while a harp tech was regulating a pedal harp for me, I went around the Atlanta Harp Center trying out harps, and measuring their spacing. It varied more than one would think! There is NO SUCH THING as “standard” string spacing! Be sure to measure the distance of all the C’s from each other, and of course, you could do this on all the D’s as well, since semi-grands often omit the 7th octave C. My very favorite concert grand spacing is on my Camac Atlantide Prestige, which suits my hands and fingers perfectly. In my “old age” I try to not have to play any other pedal harp but this one, ha, ha! In my long career, I had to play many different ones, though.
Have a great day!
BalfourI received my copy of the new Tournier “Intermediate Pieces for Solo Harp Volume 1” as a birthday present from my sweet wife! These eight pieces, written by a very young Tournier, are just delightful. They make good sight-reading pieces, as the title “Dechiffrage” suggests, they have beautiful melodies which lend themselves to improvising, and sections can be repeated to make them longer. They sound incredibly beautiful on my French Camac Atlantide Prestige!
Carl Swanson has done his usual top-notch job of editing and making these pieces very enjoyable to play for the harpist. Pedal changes are plainly notated, with numerous pedal charts which help to “get your bearings” if you get a little lost in the playing, or change of key signatures.
Thank you, Carl, for preserving and making these little “gems” available to all of us. And, thank you, Jerusha, for posting this thread and letting us know about these!
Get your orders in, everyone, and start enjoying some newly-discovered treasures for our lovely instrument!
Best regards and harp hugs,
BalfourMy all-time lever harp of choice is my cherry Dusty FH36S! I found her in 2015, the most gorgeous lever harp I had ever experienced and played. After I got her, I sold all my other lever harps, as I would not have played them after finding my “Cherie.” Since then, she is still Number One!
It is very easy to go from Cherie to my pedal harp, a Camac Atlantide Prestige in maple, which, in my humble opinion, has no other equal among pedal harps, either! “Angelica” is the pedal harp I play at all my concerts, except when I use Cherie, and I can play no other harps that please me as much as these two “princesses” do!
Hope this helps. Harp hugs to all of you!
Balfour
