[drkatt]

Wow, so many replies! Thanks to everyone for the advice. It sounds like maybe the maintenance issues of gut strings aren’t as bad as I was initially fearing. Since I am just a hobbyist, my main concern is that I will be able to use my limited time actually playing the harp and not just fiddling with the strings.

I do suspect it’s the sound of gut strings that I am liking so much about the Boulevard, because I also like the sounds of other harps with gut strings, but for now I have a limited budget of up to 3k so I am mostly looking at harps within that range. I might consider the L&H Ogden if I can find one locally where I’m moving so I wouldn’t have to pay extra for shipping. I have also wondered also about getting a Ravenna with lever gut strings. I haven’t found that many sound clips of the latter though; just one youtube clip with a person playing a smaller gut-strung Ravenna, although it sounded nice enough. I hope I will be able to try several and compare but there is only one large music store in the area I’m moving to that stocks more than one make of harp, so I want to have multiple options in mind before going there. They do appear to have Dusty Strings though, so optimally I can compare at least the Ravenna and Boulevard. In any case, this advice gives me a good start. Thanks so much. 🙂

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