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Hi, Sylvia,
I remember your L&H 15 being a good harp. Sorry to hear that you have stopped doing weddings, but I’m sure retirement is grand, as it is for us. We still enjoy reading your wedding stories!
I just saw an ad posted here on HC for a L&H 15, natural finish, for $9000. in the NYC Metro area–contact David. It looks very nice and cared-for in the photos. Is this one you would be interested in, Harper 10?
You all have a great day!
BalfourHi Harper 10,
I would be very careful about a L&H of that age. Has it had service over these many years? Is the neck still straight? Has the soundboard pulled up? Does the pedal mechanism have any rattles, hesitations, etc.? It probably has a straight soundboard, and you would get a much better full, round tone from an extended soundboard. If possible, I would get a harp tech to examine it before I purchased it, to check for all these things and any additional structural issues.
Good luck!
Best wishes,
BalfourThanks for that post, Biagio. If I had not found my FH36S “Cherie” and needed the money from the trade-in, I would still have my Ravenna! Even as a professional player, I always felt that Ravenna could handle anything I could do. The tension and tone are really good on that harp, like the other Dustys, and the nice stand could have different length legs to place the harp at the best height for the harpist. There is even the adjustable “stand” built in to that harp, even though it does not feel as secure as when it is on the four-legged stand.
Speaking about the “high cost” of harps, I found throughout my musical career that friends and family wanted to help out with the expense of my musical instruments. This allowed me to “start small” and work my way up to the professional harps and other instruments, including a fine grand piano and nine-rank tracker pipe organ I designed and built myself. I agree completely, Biagio, that I do not know a professional musician who attained and kept the same instrument all through their musical journey. Change and growth, if it is good, is always welcome, as we all know.
This is a fun thread running here, my friends!
Happy Harping,
BalfourHi Biagio! I thought you would let Andelin know about Laurie–thanks so much, my friend!
Best wishes,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Hi, Andelin,
You may want to contact Carolyn Deal, southeasternharps.com in Asheville, NC. This website has a lot of information about double harps and music for them. E-mail her at smilingharp@gmail.com for more detailed information on music she sells for double-strung harp. This is her specialty!
Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
BalfourHi, Biagio and JSMoir,
Good response, Biagio, my friend! I will just add that a tall person can play even a small harp if the height of seat and harp are correct. For example, most lap harps can be equipped with “knee bars” to rest on the harpist’s knees at the correct height for comfortable playing. Small lever harps which sit on the floor can be raised with legs or stands, also.
In my case, I am just 5′ 6″ so my Dusty FH36S is the ideal height for me when I sit on an 18″ high stool. On the other hand, my Camac Atlantide Prestige concert grand pedal harp requires me to sit higher, about 20″ to be comfortable. Camac pedal harps have a lower shoulder end (playing end) than most other pedal harps, which allows a lower, more comfortable, seated height. In order to play a L&H 23, for example, I have sat on an adjustable bench set at about 22″, which adds stress to the lower back, legs and feet having to work the pedals! My favorite L&H’s are the semigrands for this reason.
So, being tall seems an advantage in the case of large concert grand pedal harps, and also the largest lever harps. Frank Voltz played a gorgeous Steen lever harp which had a tall shoulder end at one of his concerts I attended, and he also played a Camac Big Blue, which is the same harp electrified as the Atlantide Prestige.
I hope this helps, JSMoir. All this being said, an adjustable bench is a plus, and most harps can be enjoyed at the correct playing height for them and the harpist. Happy Harping!
Cheers,
BalfourHi again, Harper 10!
Congratulations on your marriage, especially during this challenging year of the pandemic. Is your spouse a musician? My wife of 44 years is a vocalist, and I often accompany her on harp, piano or organ. We have been professional musicians all these years and even before we got married, ha, ha!
I wanted to say Thormahlens are great harps. I especially like their Swan model in its many different woods. Once Dave went over to Camac levers, his harps are especially fine for professional playing.
In your search for a pedal harp, please keep Camac in mind along with L&H and Salvi. If you are mechanically minded, you can regulate a Camac yourself. There was a separate thread running here about Camac/L&H maintenance that you may have read. You can hear in the posted videos the amazing sound of Philippa’s Atlantide Prestige in her solo recordings and with an orchestra, the Gliere Harp Concerto. She is a wonderful young harpist in Australia.
The Camac Clio 44-string is a fine harp, especially in the extended soundboard model, as is the Athena, which seems to have been replaced by the new Egerie, worth checking out. The Atlantide is my favorite, of course, and I have played many of their top-of-the-line other models. If you are able to go to the Virginia or Atlanta harp centers, they regularly have great harps of all brands to check out. (They had a few new Athenas featured recently at a very good price!)
Thanks for all your kind words. We wish you all the best in this quest!
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)
I agree with Gretchen, very good observations and commentary on buying a harp, Harper 10. I just realized that you are the same as Harperkat and I enjoyed re-reading about your search for a lever harp. What kind are you currently playing? I ended up with just one, my Dusty FH36S in cherry, and one concert grand pedal harp, my Camac Atlantide Prestige in maple. These two are my ultimate harps, and are here to stay, but it took years with much patience and research, along with fate, to finally arrive at “perfection,” ha, ha!
Best of luck finding the harp/harps of your dreams!
BalfourThanks for keeping us up to date, Harper 10. We have confidence that you will soon find the perfect harp. It just takes a little time to sort it all out.
Sylvia, that was a good point that we overlooked about storing the crate and needing help loading/unloading it. When we did it, our friends and neighbors were very helpful. By the way, how is your wedding business going in all this pandemic? You can send me a private e-mail if you like.
Have a great day, harp friends!
BalfourDear Gretchen,
In a perfect world, you would be able to rent a van large enough to transport a harp in a trunk or crate, but as we all know too well, this is not a perfect world. We have read many times on these forums how someone wants to rent a vehicle large enough to even haul a concert harp in its transport cover, and no such vehicle is available at the rental agency. So, using a rental truck, and tying the crated harp down well to the many bars and hooks that are available inside the truck, so that it cannot slide or bounce around (as I stated already above) is a perfectly safe option.
Rental trucks these days are very comfortable to drive and ride in, with automatic transmissions with cruise control, good shock absorbers, air conditioning, available music-listening devices, etc. My wife and I had a grand time driving that Penske that we rented.
I just wanted to share some ideas with Harper 10 to give further options, in case a van rental proves difficult or impossible.
Very best wishes,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Hello, Harper 10,
Have you considered renting a truck such as a Penske or U-haul? I once had to take a crated concert harp to an airport three hours away so I rented a small Penske truck which worked beautifully. The harp had to lay on its side in the well-padded crate. Just like Gretchen said, make sure it doesn’t lay on its discs. Inside the rental truck, there were plenty of places to tie and secure the crate so it did not move.
This way, you could keep the wooden trunk in case you ever needed it, like selling and shipping the harp to someone else.
Wishing you all the best,
BalfourGlad to hear about the legs on your harp, Janna. I agree with Gretchen, the video seems to be your best option now. I’m sure you and your lovely teacher can figure this out. We are always glad to offer our help here on the HC forums. We would love to know how this all turns out.
Harp Hugs,
BalfourHi Sharon,
That was so lovely of you to respond above. I hope we can all get back to normal as soon as possible. These are trying times for harpists and everyone.
Wishing you our best,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Hi, Janna,
I couldn’t help noticing that in this thread, no one has addressed your sitting height in relation to the height of your harp. Is your Salvi Juno on a “stand” or up on legs? Small harps can be raised up to the comfortable level of a larger harp this way. I had a friend who owned a Camac Hermine some years ago, which was very low without a stand. I used a very low seat, but the fatigue while playing was intense! I finally raised the harp about 4 inches on a stand, used a normal height chair, and what a difference–I could play for hours! (My friend could, too.)
Just wondering about this–maybe it could help.
All the best wishes,
BalfourThanks, Philippa, for attaching the link to the beautiful Casavant organ! I love their organs, especially the fine one at Appalachian State University where I did my Master’s Degree in music way back in the 1990’s. It was so good to see the stop list and photos of this large tracker organ, and I am so glad you have heard it played many times.
Having studied piano, harp and organ very extensively all these years, I know what you mean about trying to keep up with more than one instrument. I sort of concentrated on one at a time, but kept up with the others throughout the whole process, somehow, ha, ha! Maybe you will have the time and inclination someday to add organ, even just enough to gain some understanding of playing it and a good exposure to it.
Thanks again for sharing your videos with all of us.
Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)
