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Kreig, I loved those comments you just made! I’ve never thought of playing the harp quite like that before, but they’re so true. Very insightful of you.
Stan, you flashed me back to my childhood when you talked about playing the Hammond organ in bars and restaurants. I studied organ for several years as a child (I’m 58 now so you know my time frame). Do you remember the beautiful organist in the movies named Ethel Smith? And how about the mysterious Korla Pandit? Just did a google search and found them both. No organ for me anymore, but I do love the harp so much. Thanks for the walk down memory lane!
That made me smile, “dainty French technique” and Salzedo players needing a harp they can rip into-but you better duck.
Hmmm…I’ve never thought of tipping the regulator either, On the other hand, one lesson I learned while working as a harpist in one of the big Las Vegas casinos is-EVERYBODY appreciates a tip. Maybe I could hand the regulator a twenty and say “Go buy yourself an Irish Coffee on me and thanks for the great service.”
Cassandra, where are you located? The Cithara Nova (built by John Westling of Sandpiper Harps) is mainly a West Coast thing, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area. I live here in Washington DC, and ny Nova is one of the few on the East Coast. If you’re nearby you’re welcome to try mine.
It’s a remarkable and unusual harp with a huge sound due it’s innovative engineering. Fluorocarbon strings all the way to the bottom, and the bottom ten strings are kind of free-floating, since they attach under the base of the harp, and not under the soundboard like other harps.
Used ones are rare, but the best thing is to e-mail Cheryl Ann Fulton in the Bay Area and ask her. She’s the harpist who helped John design the harp, and many of her students play it. He supposedly retired from building last year, but rumor has it that he’s started again-despite what it says on his website.
Atlanta Harp Center is carrying a new model of harp that is very close. It’s called the Neoclassic and it’s built by Robert Cunningham. You can see it on the AHC website.
For me, it’s like your wardrobe of clothes. You don’t have one outfit that suits all occasions, do you? Same with harps, if you can swing it financially. We’re lucky in the harp world to have so many options-acoustic, electric, big, small, wire, fluorocarbon strings, cross-strung and more. This is why I have several different harps-well, at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it for hubby purposes. If you could only have one harp you might not want a carbon fiber one, but it has its place for its many unique features.
The carbon fiber harps sound pretty good, altho they can tip over kind of easily. I’d be a little worried about an even taller pedal harp in a wind. Dave Woodworth sunk a LOT of money into the R&D on this project tho, and I think we should all thank him for pushing the envelope in the harp world. It seems to me the lever harp world is so much more innovative than the pedal harp world…
Hey, Jerusha. All is well-new Thor Swan coming next week, koa with inlay. Harp heaven!! How is your Swan developing?
You could also google the Maryland harpist Sharon Knowles-her group is called Fynesound-she owns a Cafferky and could probably help you.
Kristy, that is so great! Merry Christmas to you and keep us posted on how you get on with your new harp…
What a totally fascinating thread! I read the whole thing from the first post (from several years ago) on down, just to find out the last posting was some stupid spam ad. Wonderful info in the rest of it,tho.
Bernhard, thank you for that great explanation of the different types of fluorocarbon strings. Larry Fisher did a conversion chart of fluoro strings to nylon, for people who break a fluoro string and only have nylons for replacement. I think it’s on his website.
Kristy, Sharon Thormahlen told me earlier in the week you were coming by the shop today to look at harps. I’m just curious-did you like the Ceili Mor or the Ceili? Did you play my koa Swan (with the yellow rose inlay on the pillar) that’s there for some tweaking?
That’s a really interesting comment, Saul. I wonder if there’s a difference between the pedal harp fluoro and the lever harp stuff, other than the gauge, of course. I have found that the Savarez fluoro can fray up at the point where they go thru the tuning pin, but unless the fray extends below the tuning pin there should be no problem. So you would sand them? Wouldn’t that affect the gauge?
I believe the R-Harp Merlins use a different type of fluoro than the Savarez. They looked almost translucent and felt a bit more slick than the Savarez. Not sure of their name tho…
About the different Loveland levers-traditionally Dusty Strings had the monopoly on the long-handled black ones (Ray the owner of Dusty was a really good friend of Robert Bunker, the maker of the Lovelands). The long-handled gold ones were the same size as the black ones, and I think they are a bit easier to get a hold of than the short-handled ones. That said, I don’t think you will find the short handled ones difficult to flip. You get used really quickly to whatever your harp has. You can find pix of the different kinds, but it might be hard to find a pic of them side by side. Lovelands have been around a long time now, and many builders do them very well, especially Dusty.
