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Hi again, Chris,
There is perhaps an easier way to tie the Salvi/Lyon & Healy string knots. It is illustrated on the Thormahlen Harps website. Unfortunately I cannot find instructions on L&H’s site just now. Anyway, you first tie a simple knot around the string anchor, then make a half-hitch around the anchor and string on the side where the short end of the string is, thereby locking that end in so it will not pull out. The illustrations are much better than my verbal description, and you can practice with a piece of string or yarn around a pencil before you try it on a harp string and anchor. My wife says it is just like casting on stitches for knitting.
When a larger gut or nylon string breaks, you will still need to tie the “harper’s knot” which I believe is what you and Charles referred to as the “bunny ears” knot. The wire strings have this already taken care of, as you probably know. When I replace a harp string on any harp, I try to make the new knot exactly like the one that broke and all the others, if they have been done at the factory or harp shop correctly. You would not believe some of the bad knots I have seen that some folks carelessly do!
Hope this helps.
Have a great day,
BalfourWonderful, Kay, that you played your new harp with the praise band! All these posts are great, and good to hear you play again, Emma! So glad your hand and wrist are better! Have you folks checked out Addi and Jacq? They were GREAT at the Camac Festival in Washington, D.C.
Have a good day,
BalfourThanks, Jerusha! I will add that Angi Bemiss is the “queen” of keeping it simple and beautiful, and her entire collection of arrangements can be found at Simply the Harp in Atlanta, GA, as you well know. I am so glad that everything does not have to be “busy and difficult.” Happy Easter to you all!
Harp Hugs,
BalfourHL, I may have seemed a bit impatient and opinionated there, but I realize that part of what you are dealing with is the price of the harps. I looked up the Chicago Concertino and the CG and found that the CG is $1000. more expensive than the Concertino, definitely worth noting on maybe a limited budget. If it were me, I would test-drive (or test-play!) both models to find out the one that spoke to me and choose that harp. Also, try out the 85 and maybe the L&H 30 or 100, both of which are very nice harps.
Hope this helps!
Best wishes in making your decision,
BalfourChris, the Camac knot works best on the little wooden dowels that they provide with their harps, with their larger string holes to receive the knots. I once tried that knot on my Dusty Strings FH36S and it was not satisfactory with the nylon string anchor. Dusty does not provide as large of holes as Camac does underneath the soundboard so that the knot can recess into the hole. See the instructions on Dusty’s site and do the knots that way, in my opinion. I assume Salvi soundboard string holes are like Lyon & Healy, and not as large as Camac to receive the Camac knot. If I am wrong, a harp tech will set us straight, I am sure!
Best wishes for success,
BalfourEmma, I saw your post on this thread and also another of your posts about a cover for a Venus harp. I checked on the Virginia Harp Center’s website, and the Camac three-piece cover for a concert grand costs $750, whereas, the Lyon & Healy set costs $795. I guess this differs for you folks in the UK. You made a good point about the different neck shapes between Camac and the other brands of harps, so I would also recommend trying the cover on the actual harp before buying it. It is hard to believe that Venus does not regularly supply transport covers for all of their pedal harps! I would not even think about moving any harp without a good transport cover on it. Brook, good to hear from you, as always!
Harp Hugs,
BalfourThis is just MY opinion, but I have never been thrilled with the Chicago line of pedal harps. I thought the 85 series was much superior!
Another item to think about–when someone asks you to play a “freebie” which has very little interest or meaning to you, ask them to “sponsor” you, since it is so important to them!
You all have a great day!
BalfourGood luck on getting a reply from Four Seasons Covers! I contacted them about a year ago about a cover for an antique harp and have never heard back from them!
The Lyon & Healy and Salvi covers are all excellent, but several of my friends prefer the Camac covers. Have you checked them out yet?
Best wishes,
BalfourI agree, I am in shock! Carrol was a great influence in my life, too, and I can not believe this news. Thanks so much for letting us know, Jerusha.
All the best,
BalfourI have enjoyed catching up with this thread today! Good comments from all of you, my friends, and I want to add that “no harp is forever,” David. Most of us have owned several, if not MANY, harps in our “harping careers.” So, renting one at first sounds like a wonderful idea to me, also. Our tastes and needs change with time, so something temporary may be the best way to go.
Harp hugs and best wishes,
BalfourDavid, I have enjoyed reading this thread with all the good responses! I am a professional pedal and lever harpist who enjoyed owning a Ravenna 34 for a number of years. I could not part with this special little harp until I found the most gorgeous Dusty FH36S in cherry–most of our readers remember my story, I am sure! I do love the 36 strings over the 34–I regularly use the high B and C, especially for the ending notes of glissandos. In fact, when I needed the High C on my former Ravenna, I would play a harmonic on the C below, the highest C on a 34 string harp, to give the effect of the High C to end on. (Not after a glissando, of course, but usually the ending note of an arpeggio.) For someone used to the large range of a pedal harp, any lever harp is a compromise, but you get used to the boundaries of your instrument.
A friend of mine has a small piano with only 61 keys, when there are regularly 88. I almost cannot play this piano–I run off of the ends very quickly! It is quite an adjustment, more so than playing a small harp, for me, at least. If I am just reading printed music which does not have a large range, it does not bother me as much as when I sit down to play by ear. I want a large, open highway in front of me, ha, ha! I require the 88 keys!
Well, good luck in finding your ideal harp. It is wonderful that you live close enough to the VA harp center to try their harps.
Cheers to you all, and Biagio DOES know what he is talking about, ha, ha!
BalfourThanks for posting the new video of Davy! Wow, what a difference in his technique after he made up his own mind to “do it the correct way!”
Gretchen, I enjoyed the finger techniques video, too. I did not know that there are so many ways to work your fingers, ha, ha! Thanks for posting it, too.Harp hugs and cheers to you all,
BalfourThis is great news about Davy! I hoped that he would realize for himself what he needed to do technique-wise, especially closing his fingers into his palms and getting the sense of pulling the strings toward his chest and body, not plucking them outward with his wrist motion, which is counter-productive to producing a good harp sound. Now it seems he is on the right track–bravo!
Best regards,
Balfour
