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A lap harp is good for everyone! Love my Stoney End Eve 22. (My avatar picture)
Although I play my larger 34 more, it is nice to grab a smaller one and fidget with watching TV or in the Comfy Chair.The COMFY CHAIR!?
Hadn’t thought about it- Have three harps right now – one for sale-
My big Mikel Celtic 34? How about “Dove”? It’s from my movie script.
http://thehearpe.tripod.com/index.html
My Stoney End Eve 22?
“Captain Rawlings” It’s from “How the West was Won”
The Dusty 34 harps has one more wound string up to 22 A. That string on the Mikel Celtic is monofilament, and it doesn’t sound bad. With the luck I’m having nylon wound, I may not worry over that. But they also have more steel wound- the whole bottom octave including two C’s. So there are two more than My Mikel. I may get those soon and keep the other nylon wound fatter strings as backup.
People like Camac but I can’t tell you anything never tried one. I’d love to hear the examples you speak of if you could post the links. It might generate more response.
The strings appear to be of lesser quality- this latest one seemed to unravel near the top and then more as I was removing it. The last one broke near the top, but seemed to be away from contact with the lever. Some of them and/were visually “wavy” and /or feel not terribly straight or exact running my thumb and forefinger up the length of them.
A couple of years back I bought an Oscar Schmidt 3/4 sized classical guitar and a couple of the wound of the strings were the same way. Of course it was much cheaper to replace those.The problem strings on the Mikel Celtic seem to be the nylon wound nylon core strings. There are still four others which haven’t been replaced.
Mikel Celtic just gave me the name of string sellers here I the states when I first queried them- just as well because I’d rather have better nylon wound strings than these. With the gauges and overall height of the harp it seemed to pretty well match the Dusty Ravenna 34. When I ordered the first one, only the length was much in doubt, but it arrived quickly fit perfectly.
Wil-weten wrote
“A broken string is a normal phenomenon”Geez- I’m wondering just how normal.
Had another one go- a nylon wound E right next to the other replacement- so that’s two in 3 months-
I’m wondering about the quality of the original strings- some of the wound strings did/do appear wavy if they sound fine otherwise.
Also wondering how common it is to have thicker nylon wound nylon strings farther up than thinner steel wound towards the base? It struck me strange from the first there were thicker strings above the steel wound basses, and those nylon wound strings are the ones failing at the top.
After the last one- I had planned a strategy of building up replacements, because several bought from Dusty Strings saves quite a bit on shipping from the $11 these strings are costing me one at a time- but with Christmas and car repairs I put that off.
I think the Dusty Strings very likely higher in quality, so that might be a consideration in comparing a Mikel Celtic to a Ravenna 34. But it’s still a lot of cost difference, though I also believe the Mikel Celtics have generally risen on ebay as I expected they would. The newer models also appear to have a wooden inlay across the top rail- I have no idea if they have changed the strings any, but not having the greatest of luck here- very happy still otherwise, and making some progress I think.
Gotta go- Downtown Abbey Season 6 is coming on.
The only thing about the harp you pictured Katia is that there are no sharpening levers- so you’re stuck playing in C unless you retune the strings with the wrench every time- and that can wear the pegs out.
I’m just getting ready to list a virtually new Roosebeck Heather 29 harp with a birch soundboard and 24 levers- I bought before I found a larger harp- I could sell that for $400 shipped in the original container if you’re interested. They are $100 or more new on Amazon and ebay and this one is two months old and played very little- not a scratch, if you’re interested.
My gut feeling- no pun intended- from my limited harp experience, but my longer classical nylon string guitar experiences-
is that the condition you describe IS probably more likely to be string related. Nylon strings will take on a length over time and go through the same thing as when they are new in terms of stretch-but generally not quite to the same degree.
Not actually seeing the harp, I couldn’t say for certain- but try to do the best visual evaluation you can- there may be some acceptable natural bow under tension, but this shouldn’t grow that appreciably tuning it up slightly.
Also pay close attention to how much resistance seems to be on the pegs= if they feel extra loose tuning it- by comparison with the others- it may have some problems related to worn peg holes
If it’s worth it, you probably want to go with some new strings as soon as you can- maybe even beef up the gauge a little bit if they are very thin.
No I ordered a replacememt string from Dusty Strings because I COULDN’T get a replacement from Pakistan and Mikel Celtic. They only forwarded me some web sites here in America and those were vague.
Would’ve taken forever anyway, an I had the one from Dusty Strings within the week. The Strings seemed to match on position and specs, only the length was in any doubt, and the string fit perfectly.
Fortunately, only one has broken so far, and it was the thin winding portion of a heavy nylon wound string- the #26 “D” I think it was.There is some variance in the bass strings otherwise, between my harp and a Ravenna 34, and eventually I may gradually convert to the Ravenna standards, with both a couple more nylon wound nylon and steel wound strings, I’ll be studying the recordings on youtube and comparing them with the sound of my own Celtic.
I love this instrument !
Harp is still behind classical guitar and piano and violin in terms of time I can give it, but how very pleasing to sit down and plunk upon, and I look forward to progressing in form and skill
Here’s a short video- just to demonstrate the harp- NOT my playing or annoying heavy breathing!
Anyway despite having a string break spontaneously and a week down to get a replacement from Dusty Strings-customer service from Pakistan is sadly lacking so I might recommend a purchase on ebay if available and then backed up by their buyer protection, like how I got mine- and almost a month delivery- I’m very happy with it and not financing something even more expensive, cause I really don’t have the means. A good harp for the price and I’ve been getting an education on harp strings which seems to be the greatest difference between many similar harps- the better ones are a little beefier on the bass, but just getting a feel for the sounds and have the option of getting more wound strings later. This has more wound strings than the Roosebeck Mehgan 36 and even less expensive and a better design overall I think.
Lightweight is good- does anyone have some video link of this harp?
And does anyone have any links to some video comparing gut to nylon?- I’m no where near any harp outlets that I could personally peruse such comparisons.
Got flooded out of Bloomington IN area awhile back or I could see the harps at Vanderbilt.
My new Mikel Celtic 34 broke a string last week, so I’ve been researching replacements a bit- and finally got one from Dusty Strings- the same number and note as a Ravenna 34, and it fit perfectly-
Other than that, the Dustys appear to have slightly beefier(one or two more nylon wound and one or two more steel wound strings on the bass end), so I may want to replace some strings there eventually.
By contrast the Roosebeck Meghan 36 has many less wound strings on the bass, so I’m not unhappy with the setup on the Celtic 34, especially considering it was less than half the cost of a Ravenna 34, and a whole nylon replacement set would put it up to about half.
Totally unfamiliar with gut though. Expensive, no? Are they worth it?
And would one typically replace only part or all of them?
I’m becoming a big fan of arpeggios and scales- My piano playing is improving greatly since I got a couple of basic books with some simple exercises- I’m widening my experience up and down the keyboard, and I’m finding the very same exercises work well on harp. They especially have shown me how different the harp sounds in other keys- simply played on a piano but set up with the levers on my harp. Repetition of the exercises seems to give one a feel for which notes go with which, and how to get to them more quickly as you move up and down the harp scale. Highly recommend.
