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Happy if anything was helpful! Here’s one suggestion from what I gather about your interests: Timothy Harps, either the Llyr or Storm King. Timothy, as you may know, is a professional harpist as well as outstanding maker – one of the very few who do both. As a small shop he is quite willing to do modifications or custom work also.
http://timothyharps.ca/?page_id=46
Best of fortune with your search!
BiagioRees makes excellent harps – I would call their tension “medium”, about 25 lbs. per string on average. I haven’t played the Aberdeen, but I have played two of their double strungs and they are gorgeous. Which brings up the question of technique….
If you want to commit to only one that’s understandable but of course limits your choices. Alternatively, have one style as your “foundation” and modify it for different styles. L&H, Salvi (recently), Pilgrim, Camac, Thormahlen, Dusty Strings, Cunningham…and others all make harps at “pedal tension” and “concert spacing” – both not very well defined terms. Some of them can be strung with gut, or nylon with somewhat lighter tension – and of course somewhat different style and tone.
I have two high tension lever harps (“high” defined as about 31 lbs, per string average), two wire strungs and at one time messed around with a very light South American: all very different styles and techniques, but I could play all with some changes. Eventually settled on one as the “main” instrument, but not to the exclusion of the others.
I’ve built what I want to try out, but even going that way gets pricey. So it might be less expensive to change one’s style a bit rather than the harp.
Rees makes a flat box, Cunningham’s are round back, Thormahlen’s are staved, Dusty’s Boulevard is a laminate sound board…these are all considerations purely aside from tension and whether you are “French or Salzedo”….
Biagio
That is kind of you to say, Balfour. But in truth an exaggeration – I have mostly made my own, consulted or done some custom harps. I’ve been lucky though – had the time and incentive to experiment, which most do not if they make instruments professionally. Some experiments work pretty well, others – well, it’s nice to have a cozy fire in winter.
Jerry and I had a nice conversation about sources for fluorocarbon strings, speaking of experimenters. Jerry is great about experimenting too! I’ve noticed however that most designers and harpists are pretty conservative, which makes a lot of sense considering the time and expense of even a small lever harp! Dusty I know makes several prototypes before anything makes it to full production.
I’m just thankful for the fun and happy to say goodbye to sawdust, abrasions, bleeding and all the rest of it:-)
Best to all,
Biagio
There will be some, I know, who will say that the harp us a very difficult instrument. I suppose this depends on one’s aspirations and expectations – certainly it is difficult if one aspires to perform on a pedal harp in an orchestra.
On the other hand, as if one simply wishes to enjoy making music for personal pleasure, I’ve found it to be the only instrument that sounds beautiful from the first note. It is after all the oldest known stringed instrument, far predating notation of any kind, so it is a foregone conclusion that it was played that way for eons.
As Hearpe says, there are many wonderful things on Youtube nor are all of them intimidating. Some wonderful people to watch, playing simple things beautifully: Marta Cook, Deborah Henson-Conant, Chris Caswell, Harper Tasche.
Harper in particular is just great – in addition to the cross strung he has been a moving force in getting small harps back into the mainstream. Check out “Just You”! It’s on Youtube but the address is too long to add here:-)
Biagio
Thank you Gretchen and Allison! Nope, this really IS the last, one really can have too much of a good thing. There’s even a restored Clark sitting around here that never gets played:( FYI the wood is sapele; Dusty Strings has an excess wood sale every month and I just could not resist!
Allison, how’s your own wire, are you still loving it?
Best to all,
BiagioVery true Wil. I was referring to relatively recent harps (I did say “well made and not abused”). Sometimes you get lucky – someone convinces themselves that they just have to have a particular harp, buy it and find that’s NOT what they wanted, so they let it go at a big discount. Good example – early on I bought an FH26, really disliked it (different story) and sold it for much less than it was worth – had I only known:-)
Always try before you buy – I learned the hard way.
Biagio
Not sure if I qualify as a boy – hit 65 last month ha ha. Regarding the nails – I sometimes play the wire strung with pads and sometimes the nylon with fingernails depending on the effect and tone I want. The “trick” is in how you file (not cut) your nails.
Biagio
I’ve already explained why even a small harp will cost about $500-$600 US in materials alone – if it is well made (and depending on the location). From what I can tell just from the website those Mikel harps seem to be OK, and the price is probably a market entry one. This remains to be seen until more have made their way into players’ hands.
I’ve sometimes wondered why people think that used harps should cost a lot less than new ones, as though a harp is something like an automobile. The fact is that if a harp has been well made and not abused it will actually be a better instrument after several years than when it was first made.
Biagio
I too insist on transporting the instrument and if it is out of town I also charge for gas, ferry, tolls, etc. For a two day rental I’d ask $45. This the same as what I charge of my lever harps. If the gig were for a month and it were a pedal harp I would probably charge about the same which comes out to about what Gretchen suggests.
Biagio
One good inexpensive harp to consider would be the Music Maker Smartwood. Tension is pretty light but some like it for their students and it can be strung with better strings if you wish.
Nope, no one wanted to take over the Sweetharp, what with the problems in CNC sourcing and the ill will that the backlog generated. Several of us tried to find a buyer for the business – no takers. In his last few months Chris asked me to move to Berkley and work with him instead of retiring to Puget Sound. Loved the guy but no regrets – among other things I hate the East Bay:-)
Best to all,
Biagio
Technique will go a long way toward determining what one likes or dislikes in a given model. In a recent post one very experienced person remarked that he hates fluorocarbon strings and sustained some injury from playing them. I don’t of course know the particular case. But I will take a wild guess: since FC strings are more elastic than gut that could indeed occur if played with the same strength – even though they might be at higher static tension as gut. Try before you buy!
Salvi just introduced the Gaia which sounds pretty exciting – take a look:-)
http://salviharpsinc.com/HarpGaiaSalvi.htm
Best wishes in your search!
Biagio
Hearpe, please don’t misunderstand me, it’s great that you are exploring harp design in some depth! If more people did (including some professionals I know) they would be happier. One well known player that I know has been performing for over thirty years and she says that only in the last two has she gotten exactly shat she wants!
Larger makers with a consistent model line (e.g. Dusty Strings, Triplett, Rees) save some costs because they have set up jigs and fixtures and get discounts from suppliers. On the other hand, they also have administrative overhead:-) As a generality, though, the profit margin is quite slim even for them too: about 10% of their total expense. Rees for example does not advertise and makes their own levers, DS makes their own strings.
The “problem” many of us have with those Pakistani harps is that the quality control is very inconsistent. Mikel has their own factory which is a big plus – others are simply marketers, the components are farmed out to many small individuals. They are aware of the reputation and are beginning to exert some control – sometimes you get a pretty good one, sometimes not.
It’s revealing I think to build your own harp from a kit – Stoney End for example or Music Makers. That is where you will get the best “deal” on a good instrument that will last more than a few years. Even more revealing to study a high quality harp being made from start to finish. Rick Kemper did the folk harp world a big service by showing exactly how he makes his line – click on the link “Building the Folk Harp”:
The closest I know to that “good inexpensive US made harp” was the Sweetharp by Chris Caswell. Chris was a brilliant musician, his harps are so coveted that you never see them for sale, and he was a beloved teacher as well. The Sweetharp concept was brilliant: laser cut from high quality ply so it could be just snapped together. Therein lay the problem: precision laser cutting machines are extremely expensive and he had innumerable issues wish his sources. Orders were backlogged; Chris died tragically of colon cancer with his reputation in shreds. He could have been a physicist instead of a musician.
Ray Mooers of Dusty Strings was training to be a dentist when he fell under the harp spell; Dave Thormahlen was a doctoral geology student; William Rees a violinist; Rick Kemper is a recently retired industrial engineer. I was a highly paid corporate consultant. There are many such stories.
No, we are not in it for the money.
Rant over:-)
BiagioHearpe, they may be just fine, I’ll be interested to find out. Regarding “less expensive harps” – I think that in general you pay for what you get most of the time. I also think that many folk harpers do not understand what they cost, no offense. For comparison purposes: I just finished a 3 octave wire strung, not a big deal. Here’s the run down: wood $250, hardware $60, strings $45, misc. $50 – so about $400 for raw materials. How about my time at a reasonable $40 per hour? Design – 5 days, construction 10 days total 15 days or $600 – total cost to me $1,000. I haven’t even mentioned blades or levers; figure $15 a pop; and I’ve ignored depreciation.
Good thing I made it for myself, right? Point being that harp makers are not in it for the money:-)
Blessings all,
BiagioYears ago I made a swiveling music table that clamps to the harp column. It iss essentially the swivel (brass) components from one of those old fashioned barber mirrors. The problem with that sort is that if it is on it’s own stand, the leverage is too great unless the stand base is very heavy. But the principle is sound clamped to the column.
Biagio
