[casunrise]

Tara, it sounds like the levers themselves might be an issue. My grandson and I recently restored an old harp (see attached pictures) and when looking for levers for it, we found that many — including Lovelands — have issues such as string abrasion (which adds unwanted sound and also wears down the string each time the lever is moved). Others, including Camac and Salvi, wouldn’t even talk to me since my harp wasn’t made by them. We learned that all levers will cause some noise when they touch the string, but the sound can be greatly reduced by minimizing the required motion. The lever design that ultimately worked the best was made by a Pakistani company called Mikel. Pakistani harps have picked up a bad reputation over the years, but lately it seems that Mikel has taken huge steps to improve and become a major player, especially with their levers. They are certainly among the least expensive on the market right now ($5 each across six different sizes), and when we put them on our harp they appeared to be great quality, with no abrasion and pretty minimal movement. There is just a faint sound when the lever engages, but it’s hardly noticeable and certainly won’t be a major issue in a performance.

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