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I’ve played different instruments too till I discovered harp, but playing Carolan on the Harp is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Wire too, just what he would’ve played it on!
hi Mia, do her dusty strings and triplets have loveland levers? I have a hard time seeing those too. Dusty Strings will put Camac’s on with the extra charge, and to me they are as visible as the performance levers but they are smoother to operate, break less strings and prettier too. They are slightly smaller than the performance levers, maybe your teacher has a harp with camac’s that you can try? The Dustry strings FH26 is the only lap harp I know of that you can get with gut strings in the US, although it doesn’t have the round back you are used to. Maybe try a rental on a Salvi Juno? The synthetic gut might work just fine for you. Otherwise you are looking at Nylon strings for other lap harps that I’m aware of. I think you need to decide what’s more important to you, the round back or the gut strings. If you decide your OK with Nylon you will have more choices, Triplett Christina or Shanti, Camac Bardic, Lewis Creek Nightengale, Timothy Nimh to name a few..
also are you aware that they sell colored rings and stickers for the levers to help them stand out more and make them more visible?you like the performance levers Mia? I’m much fonder of camacs.. anyway the Salvi Juno is small round back with performance levers. It doesn’t have gut strings but Salvi calls them ‘silk gut’ they are some sort of synthetic.
The used inisfree you mentioned looks like a nice harp. Virginia Harp Center has been honest about the condition of harps on consignment with me. I like the looks of that harp, I think they described it as a ‘rustic little fellow’ it is a little larger or a typical lap harp of this range, but that may or may not matter you, it’s portable enough to not have to heave it into the car. Timothy harps have a higher string tension than typical for nylon for better dimensional range. I prefer a lower string tension. Bardic is also in your price range and sounds beautiful to me., Cristina has a pretty, delicate sound. I’ve often thought I’d like a Nightengale, they sound so soothing.
I think wire strings are great for a lap harp since wire doesn’t require the size that other types of strings need. The range would be adequate for most wire music repetiore. Dave Kortier makes some historical replica’s and has student models that are less expensive ( I think in your pricerange) because they are not as close to the historical replica’s. The historical ones are quite beautiful. I can’t think of the name of the historical wire harp maker that Anne Heymann recommends, they are not as fancy but they are very simple, beautiful, natural. Sometimes people get a couple gold strings, wonder what that sounds like? But I don’t want to bother to grow the nails and learn how to play a completely new technique.. I’ll just stick to nylon and savarez
I have some info on the Dusty FH26 Mia, they are in Seattle, WA.
A walnut FH26 weighs 13 lbs. You can order one with gut strings for strings 5-20, 1-4 Nylon 21-16 wire/composite with an extra cost for the option, $170, or if your harp has nylon, you can get a conversion kit that would also involve switching out a couple of the loveland levers. Lovelands aren’t pretty, but they work and if you don’t do a lot of lever flipping it’s just a matter of cosmetics. There is an option to get camac levers but that will cost you extra too, another $265. They don’t do decals but they have abalone inlay such as knot of eternity and Trefoil, as well as options for Koa soundboard veneer and trim and birdseye maple soundboard veneer. The options can run from 170 – 475 additional. The harps have a solid wood body which means the walnut sound of the wood will have a unique timber. I can imagine it’s easy to get caught up in all the options if you want a custom harp, but I have an FH36S with nylon strings and none of the extras, has the plastic lovelands too, and it was worth the extra cost to get a harp with their fine workmanship and highly resonant sound. The harp is rather on the larger side for a ‘lap’ harp, it needs to be played propped on a stool or with the legs, the case and the harp with the leg extension make it not the most convenient harp to take with you.
The Bardic 26 is about the same size height and same range, but it has a round back and is smaller and lighter woods. It has nylon strings, the lower are carbon fiber. I used to be a die hard gut string fan but I find I like the nylon and savarez better now. The case this harp comes with is much more convenient to bring with you. As far as options, I don’t like the look of the painted ones as much as the ones in Natural. I think I would ask Virginia Harp center to order one in Natural from Camac. Other than that there are no decals, options for veneers or gut strings.. but it is a very sweet sounding harp, it has the camac brightness which people seem to either love or hate. I’ve heard some videao clips, I’ll try to attach one later.
I spent 6 months on Carolan’s Concerto arr by Dominig Bouchaud, to get it memorized, play fluidly to tempo. Well worth it, hope never to loose it from under my fingers. I worked on other pieces as well during that time. I needed to put everything else aside for 1 week and work on just that tune to get it memorized, it would have taken me less time but I like working on different pieces at the same time.
Angela, I have Frank Voltz’s silent night sheet. I started to learn it for Christmas this year and before too long realized I would need to put some serious time aside for it. Thanks for reminding me of it, maybe by this Christmas if I start working on it now : ) Too many pieces on my list to learn..
I hope for a Triplett harp too someday, not sure if I want a Celtic IIS or Catalina Delux. I like the light sound they have an have been leaning more and more towards the low tension strings. I’d love to get one with Marquetry or abalone inlay along the soundboard (or both! lol)… someday.. The melusine is another dreamy low tensioned harp.. that crisp bright sound, would love to play traditional on either of those harps.. the Janet is also a very sweet, balanced low tensioned nylon strung harp, nice and small and portable too.. and I love Habison’s arrangements hmmmm I feel a wave of harplust coming on..
A Fischer Errienne is on my wish list as well as a Webster Rhionna.. that five right there, and I could list more.. but seriously I think 2-3 harps max, otherwise they take up too much room, money, time to tune.. 3 sounds like an ideal number..
Hi Rosey, I still think it would be a blast to have a room full of different harps! I agree that the shape of the back and reach to bass are two of the most important factors in how much you have to adjust to a different harp. It’s like driving in a big pick up truck vs a little VW Beetle.
Briggsie, I interrupted a question for you from Jennifer on the lap harp thread, so I don’t think you saw it.. here is her question ‘Did you have to custom order your knee bones or where did you get them from? Part of the reason, I have a Le Stik for my Brittany is that there isn’t much room either side of the sound hole. I didn’t think a regular knee bones would fit.’ I’m not sure if she will look to this thread for an answer or the other one..
that would not have been a good day to take my harp for a ride in the back seat. I was lucky I was just shook up, no one got seriously hurt other than my car, it was a little BMW and was happy not to have to make payments on it anymore. There was enough left over for me to buy my Avalon, a roomier car (and safer in my eyes too) with a big back seat for harps : )
thank you Tony I really appreciate your thoughts and so much information.
I do touch my wrist on the soundboard, it’s a bad habit I should break, but your mention of how some people feel like something is missing, not having the harp body there, would probably not feel comfortable for me.. Would be a lot of fun to try one someday, on my list for Somerset..
thank you Tony and Maya for your ideas. Are they always played with harnesses standing up or with a metal stand? Does it still feel like a harp or do they feel substantially different when you play them? I’ve seen videos of the DHC Lite when it looked like they were playing the guitar.
thank you Tony and Maya for sharing the info. Are they always played with harnesses standing up or with a metal stand? Does it still feel like a harp or do they feel substantially different when you play them? I’ve seen videos of the DHC Lite when it looked like they were playing the guitar.
