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That is so good to know, Karen. Maybe your daughter can pick out her very own favorite Dusty after she advances with the pedal harp and really knows what she wants in a harp. Many professional pedal harpists besides myself own a Dusty FH36 as their lever harp of choice! You might enjoy looking at Dusty’s testamonial page and reading some of the reviews–I am on there several times, with a photo of my sweet wife and me playing my “Cherie” at a Christmas concert. I have another Christmas concert coming up shortly, ha, ha! My, how time passes when you are having fun!
Best wishes and holiday cheers,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Hi, Karen,
Thanks for your kind reply. Your answers to our questions clarified much. This is so exciting for your daughter! We hope that you all can see/hear/try out a lot of different pedal harps so that your daughter can fall in love with one special harp. We all have different tastes, which explains why there are so many different harps and harp makers.
My lever harp, a cherry Dusty Strings FH36S, is totally different from my pedal harp, since I prefer it that way. If both harps played and sounded alike, there would be only one harp, ha, ha! This lever harp has slightly lower string tension than my pedal harp and a brighter tone. I have often described this beautiful tone as comparable to biting into a chocolate-covered cherry, my favorite candy. Also, this harp goes out on gigs more because of its portability.
The amazing tone of my Atlantide is more like a delicious smooth creamy white chocolate, without that “burst of cherry” bright tone of the Dusty, although I can produce a bright tone on the Atlantide when needed. The 22″ wide large extended soundboard makes this harp very full and resonant with almost effortless playing, and it usually needs no amplification in concerts I play.
We hope you get to go to the L&H factory in Chicago soon. That would seem to be the ideal place to pick out a new harp, and a tour of the factory would be very informative and enjoyable!
Best wishes in this adventure!
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Dear Karen,
Do not feel bad about asking these harp questions–we all have been there before. I will try to help out with some thoughts I have about what you said above.
First, your child evidently is studying the harp with a good teacher. What is the teacher’s opinion about a possible pedal harp? Since you have only mentioned Lyon & Healy, would that be your only brand option?
I have owned some L&H 85’s and played many other 85’s, plus all the different models made by L&H. They vary greatly in tone, volume, size and feel. For example, how tall is your child? The 85 E/Concertino may fit your child’s size better than the full concert grand would. The E and the CG both have extended soundboards, but the CG is larger all around. I love the somewhat fuller tone of the CG, with its longer strings and increased size and resonance, but have always found it heavy and tall to play, since I am only 5′ 6″. My current pedal harp is a Camac Atlantide Prestige, which has a lower shoulder end and a perfect balance which makes it very light on my shoulder, also. The Camac concert grands are the only brand of concert grands that feel really comfortable to me at this age (66 with arthritis). If I play a L&H, I prefer a semi-grand for this reason.
In the case of L&H harps I have owned, they seemed to come into their “mature” tone in their second year. My Atlantide was perfect from the beginning!
It is wonderful that your child’s grandparents are going in with you to buy this pedal harp. We wish you all the best, and if you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to ask. We will try to answer them.
Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Wow, Carl, that is BEAUTIFUL! I am so glad that you have persevered. I would most probably have given up after just trying to do a simple first page, ha, ha!
In response to what Saul mentioned above about hand “copying,” I was schooled very well in that technique while in college doing my BM and MM degrees, but I hated to do it so much that I just about never write down any music now. That is why my few harp “arrangements” are limited to the very simple ones for harp hobbyists. Others have the “gift” of loving to write down beautiful arrangements and compositions, but I do not. I love performing my own versions of many pieces, but I loathe trying to write them down. To each his own…..
Very good wishes, everyone! Happy Holidays!
BalfourSo glad to hear that the funeral went well for you! Now the question is “what to do about the holiday season?” This on-again, off-again thing with the pandemic is driving us musicians crazy!
Best to all of you,
BalfourHi, Harper 10,
So glad to see this post. It is wonderful to be so excited over a new harp purchase! My wife and I are so glad that your adventure worked out so well. You were very wise to do a lot of research before taking this big step, and we would have done the same.
It is very good to replace one string at a time; this makes for less change of tension on the harp. You will have the freedom to string it all in gut, to the top, or have the 1st octave or two in nylon. Bow Brand bass wires are probably what the harp was intended to have, but there are other choices there, as well. It is so exciting!
You can look forward to many hours of happy playing on this “new” beauty. I always name my harps, “Cherie” is my Dusty lever harp and “Angelica” is my Camac pedal harp, so let us know if you name yours!
Best to you all,
BalfourCharles, you covered so many things that I know but could not think of to post here–bravo!
I am very fortunate that my sweet wife is usually with me during these playing events. She is great helping me move and load/unload the harp, during set-up and tuning of the harp once we reach our destination, checking with the person(s) in charge, and keeping them from interupting my playing once I have started the pre-service music. It would take me twice as long by myself!
Happy Harping!
BalfourCongratulations, Harper 10, on your pedal harp purchase! It is so good to know what Tom Bell could do with your harp if you ever decide to go in that direction.
Best wishes,
Balfour and Carol LynnVery well-put Sylvia. The only thing I will add is to try to provide music for the event that you are comfortable playing, because so many folks like to make requests for pieces/songs you may not know. Like Sylvia, I perform from memory so that music on a stand is not a troublesome issue at a sometimes “busy” event, so I must have the music prepared in advance.
Hope this helps.
Harp Hugs and my best wishes,
BalfourWhat a beautiful harp! Tom Bell is wonderful–he is my harp tech of choice. Thanks for posting this.
Have a great Harp day,
BalfourGlad to hear that, Sylvia. We are not totally retired yet, either–we call it semi-semi retired, ha, ha!
If it will be any help here, I will say that I have played several Rees harps at a harp conference a few years ago. I found them to be very good overall, nice tone and feel and beautifully decorated, which the buyer can customize. The family of Rees’s at the conference were very nice folks, personable and helpful. I even tried a nice double-strung, for harpists who like those. I agree with everything Andelin said above. Good luck in this quest!
Harp Hugs,
BalfourHello Harper 10,
Thanks for your kind words. The harp sounds like a good deal, from your description. I have played many L&H harps over the years but have never played a #15. Some of the older #85 harps with straight (not extended) soundboards must be very similar to the #15, and I have had great pleasure playing those.
I agree about the 46 strings. All you will lack will be the Low C, which I dearly love on my concert grand, but a neat trick to know is that you can tune the Low D down to a Low C any time you need it. Of course, you have to decide between C and D; you can only have one or the other, ha, ha! It is like tuning in the Key of C on the lever harp and using A# for B flat–you give up the A natural!
Good luck with getting the harp!
Best wishes,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)
