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This ad is now appearing on ebay, and others in several colors
I cringe because, although they are not using the name brand “Camac” it is still the same image of the very same Camac harps- it is the same angle and size and camac in every detail- with COLOR CORRECTION now. They’ve varied the colors on the same image. The point of origin is the same state in Pakistan.
If they built a decent copy and took their own pictures and put up more specifics- they might fill a market niche at a lower price. I doubt that this ad represents such a product it seems to depict. At one point -, my vendor had raised his Scamac harp up to full Camac Bardic 27 retail over $1500, but has since lowered it down to $950 – still more than I paid him and the very same harp- color and all- is in an ad on ebay for $370 delivered- and not worth that because of defects.
In short my critique of the harp that disappeared when I tried to correct typos, the harp they sent- different across the neck in width and angle. The main problem with the design- aside from the rotted materials used in shoddy construction- is that the sides of the sound box are twice as wide as Camac appears- the wood is a full 1/2″ or more in thickness which ads a lot of weight and cuts volume and resonance. A lighter harp would be less shipping cost and better sounding, yet they don’t seem to get the acoustical concepts here.
Certainly not any moral ones.
My Stoney End is in cherry- it’s got a warm sound and very lightweight- the perfect lap harp- but I have nothing to compare it to
http://www.harp-levers.com/images/levers.png
These are images that originate with Camac I believe. Their levers appear to make use of a cam instead of a pin of any size. Dare I say the cam lever is somehow tied into the name Camac itself?
No my “Scamac” has common pins to press against the strings. They are different from most Roosbeck types of levers I’ve seen, and from the levers on my Mikel harps.
Tomorrow I will be seeing what measures I can take personally, and I will probably alert Camac of France once more. Any thought of trying to turn this into any better harp on my own are obliterated by the hopeless condition, horrible construction and damage.
Incidentally, the harp weighs roughly 14.5 lbs otherwise, sans extended legs- so that’s the only aspect even close. The strings are all loose and un-tuned and I have no intention or desire to tension them, for fear of collapsing the nailed pillar with the hairline crack, even though the gauges remind me of Angel hair pasta! I chuckle and weep at the same time! Ha.
Sorry the pictures are all a little more orange than they ae in reality- artificial light I didn’t compensate for- but I think you’ll agree- they are DISASTER!
One of two levers that don’t open up correctly
Bridge pins that aren’t aligned at the end-
The bottom red C string appears slightly thinner gauge than those above it- like it was broken and then incorrectly replacedfinally, show in entirety next to my modified Mikel Celtic- a heavy but much better harp I’ve tweaked much better sound from with some mods- less than half the cost of this scam and a much better harp from the get -go
I’ve always heard that Camac levers are supposed to be good- does anyone know if these levers even appear similar? I”ve searchd images on the internet and things are obviously labeled incorrectly or haphazardly by the posters until I still can’t be sure what a Camac lever is without anything to compare it to- their own ads are lacking here I think.
Shoddy gluing and finish at sound box bottom and top- notice the top is nothing at all like camac design
Back of soundboard PEELING in large strip- BEFORE ASSEMBLY
several other spotty peelings next to interior side further up.
Pillar Crack extends around two plane surfaces,
feet crack- very poor unsanded surfaces as well
absolutey ROTTED base of sound box interior- they couldn’t afford another piece of wood? Fuels paranoid feelings of sheer bad intent on the part of the builder
Notice the NAILS driven through the pillar into virtually NOTHING as a base of support at the main critical joint of the harpTo be fair Biagio- this advice here is a little bit de post facto. If it’s an ongoing thing otherwise, let me just say I do come here and read posts and post myself, but it’s a slow moving forum and I am not glued to it and have no sense of longstanding advice from it. In my own mind my greatest mistake was assuming that eCrater was like ebay somehow- which has buyer protection I’ve had to use for things that didn’t show up or showed up damaged or were misrepresented- but never of this magnitude. It was a after I’d placed the order that I read eCraters disclaimer- and I would not have ordered the harp if I’d read that.
I’m also wowed that they have the same Camac ad copy VERBATIM, the same pictures and specs and color schemes- THAT is not just calling a harp a “Camac” harp and presenting another. It’s sheer conniving I didn’t expect at the rather high price I paid that’s since been raised to full Camac retail prices. This place has NERVE to say the least!
anyway- IT’S WORSE than a major horrible Scam- because the harp itself is damaged and shoddy- not even a normal paki harp I’ve had and enjoyed- My Mikel Celtics or a ROOSEBECK blow this away in terms of quality control even for what it is and presented in the ebay ad for the same harp- which I wouldn’t consider that unreasonable at $370 delivered. But I’m out twice that for now and anyone else is out FOUR TIMES that if they pay the Camac price it’s still advertised as.
Here’s my Little Scamac_
hairline carcks in pillar
rotted material used for the base
NAILS driven in at pillar base and sticking into sound box interior
cracked non-camac feet- I’d simply remove otherwise
and on and on…I’ll post this while I load photos – I think I need to resize- stay tuned
The horses are in, and the harp is FAKE- in fact it is the SAME harp on ebay in the link above- It is not even close to appearing genuine- it is NOT the hap pictured- not even a reasonable copy- just similar.
There are no wound strings – it lacks four levers on the high end-an annoying trend in Pakistan harps. I searched Camac Bardic images on the web and videos , but never found one image of the back of the harp- so I can’t tell how close that may be- it scarcely matters now. It is lighter in weight than my Mikel 27 harp, but scant consideration right now.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do or what I can do- at this point- but as I said in the first post “Caveat Emptor”. I wish Camac had answered my early query, but in answer to the out source question- the answer is “no” I guess-
they are not involved- although someone is advertising using their name their ad copy and specs, their pictures even- and colors- a sad testimonial against Paki builders I’m afraid, and all questions to that are answered by the point of origin of the shipment Whatever the merits of any harp or harps may be, this is just a SCAM.
the color is Horrible and not the pretty cherry color shown by Camac or seen in videos of Camac Bardics on youtube.
The vendor may or may not be in the UK- how can one tell?- but lied to me about shipment dates and times- probably until they built and painted a harp to resemble the ad at least in any way.
The packing was very professional for what it’s worth, and it came in a nice canvas gig bag I wouldn’t really need, but going by the ebay ad of the exact same harp I’ve paid several hundred more for that same harp, and now the scam price is almost FOUR times the e-bay price.
Unscrupulous, and as “security minded” as the corporate scene has become worldwide , you’d think this could be shut down after several months at least that I’ve seen the site up. But maybe when it comes to taking money, its alla little united against the consumer I think- get the cash and babble things about spurring labor-
and I stand behind the consumer reporting comments I made earlier. THIS post IS that now. Someone can learn by my mistake, many people may not even realize they have been scammed by this. Unfortunately I do.
“Money Money Money, the Great Frankenstein Monster”
Someone said I’ve bad mouthed businesses- that I haven’t really done- I’ve only really only commented negatively negatively about someone’s broken English in e-mail texts from the vendor- almost theatrically mid-east in nature- but I did not mention- with NO SPELLING errors otherwise. (He’s NOT dealing with my Harp Form text window!)
Anyway, this is all getting a little too millennial COrporate sadistic internet babbled where THE CORPORATION is always the victim, and we who were born to be slaves of money and the better potato/e spellers among us are ALWAYS such dolts and to blame for our every misery, Toujour!
A land where my computer malfunctions because of my own lack of competence- although it worked much better ten years ago- have I only grown senile?
No- my computer malfunctions because some Rogue in some garage somewhere has it in for me, my kind and my views, NOT because some corporate group has built that in to the system not that their monopoly has closed all local retail (except for approved sadists) and now they can’t take back- or “leverage” may be more accurate- the free exchange of ideas and the free market delivery monster I’m sure it’s all turned into?
Have I mentioned that this all could have been born of the CORORATE STRUCTURE itself? That at this very moment BLAIRS WITH TRAIN HORN very loudly in a most Tough Trouphy kind of Way- as it does needlessly most nights, Flounder. I might have suggested something like that, so maybe that’s construed as “bad mouthing” although its as much a comment on EVERY Company as much as on Camac who may or may not be dealing with – officially at least, because no one would ever make their own bootleg product in ay way, or perhaps- and mind you I only say “perhaps” which denotes only possibility, could also somehow be testing the waters of such- dare I say it?- Out Sourced production, but not yet ready to place their tag officially on such a product ?
If that were the case we could all be stirring the waters of corporate decision right now!- so perhaps we should take a vote? Should lesser players be allowed lesser harps at any lesser price or shall the Charmin Choir rule the toothless roost again? What does Protocol Harem think?
never mind guess I already know- It is largely a woman’s instrument, but lord knows the stage manager doesn’t think me one! (He’s lost)
no harp yet, though it was promised by the end of this day (now)- the last I heard it’s in Artlanta, Ashley, where I didn’t quite get to in my 21 year old Aspire (plus 42mpg though) when the Hurricane before the one that leveled Puerto Rico (They should MOVE!) prompted an impromptu trip when it RIPPED up Memorial Park here in Jacksonville.
I’ll let you know.
That might be my own report at this point. I also wonder- if it is a misrepresentation, how it appears so easily and prominently on Google Search.
It was eCraters disclaimer of its own vendors that first sent up alarm bells. I thought it was similar to ebay, but it is much less buyer protected. The harp was listed as “cosmetics” on my paypal statement although there were no cosmetics listed even at their site for sale.
Hello-
well I am sorry this has gotten this heated. Until delivery- if there is one- despite having tracking from a major carrier- I simply don’t know.
I don’t know what could ever stop anyone from buying and reselling someone else’s harps, but there probably wouldn’t be any real profit- so maybe this is all still a scam- a very large and long standing one.
There are supposedly 9 “Camac Bardic 27” harps still available in the color I ordered- there were 10 and 10 still listed as available in all the other colors- as if they haven’t sold a one, and I first looked at this maybe 6 or 7 weeks ago now when hurricanes kept heading this way and tore up the town a bit.
Whatever happens- I will report back here, and may get back in touch with Camac if something is amiss. I’d imagine they’d have concern over someone replicating their sales copy, word for word using their pictures and specifications, word for word. It must be illegal internationally- it is in the U.S. I’m certain from the little bit of Communications Law I studied in Journalism School.
Until now, it’s wait and see and hope I haven’t jinxed myself further. It ain’t easy being me out here.
