[Marco Hilgeman]

Hi Duckspeaks,

Here’s yet another male harpist who welcomes you to the forum! We’re definitely not alone here though, but it’s always good to increase our numbers…not that it’s a competition anyway 🙂

I’m one male harpist who didn’t cut his nails by the way (on the right hand that is), for the specific style I play requires nails (it’s the Vollenweider style).

Interesting to read that you play by ear as I do that as well…I do write my own music but I don’t write nor read scores.

Lots of useful info here indeed – you’ve already been reading a lot apparently this past year – and it’s good that you finally became an active member. Enjoy HC forums!

[Marco Hilgeman]

Hi Katie,

From reading your post, I sense a slight contradiction in your demands: you’re looking for volume AND portability. Now assuming you want sérious volume, since you write that with caps, that usually doesn’t mix with portability. I play a Camac electro-acoustic harp so that’s quite a full range harp when it comes to bass levels, but any electrically amplified harp needs decent bass amplification if you ask me, otherwise why bother amplifying it anyway…which means serious volume usually requires a relatively bigger amp.

So my advice would be to look at a bass amp; these amps are capable of covering the full range of the harp frequencies. You would say they emphasize on bass frequencies, but they’re very well capable of covering the whole range.
I recently bought a serious 4 x 10″ Markbass speaker plus Markbass amp; this is set with quite a lot of power! I guess that might be a little too much for you, but Markbass also offers some smaller combos which are relatively light weight (that’s in fact one of their selling points) but have good sound quality and are affordable. You can check them out at http://www.markbass.it > You can also just google markbass and find some result for local instrument stores that sell them.

Maybe you end up choosing something else in the end, but from my 30 years of experience being a musician and amplifying harp for quite some years now, my ears can tell that bass amps definitely reproduce the harp sound quite well.

Best of luck in making your choice Katie!

[Marco Hilgeman]

I know exactly what you mean Victoria, it’s the same here…
And most of the time there’s no evident reason for a good or bad day, for me there isn’t anyway. On a bad day, I try to continue where I went wrong and pick it up from there and if it really doesn’t work at all, I just quit the piece and try something else that I know I can play well enough to give me a good feeling about my practice for that day.

Additionally: what also works for me is to play a piece for other people, for instance a relative or friend who is around, just one or two persons will do, and experience how you play in front of this small audience…are you comfortable and at ease, just like you can be on a good day of practice? This also helps me to see if I made progress over a period of time when I do this every once in a while; ideally, playing for others ought to feel just as comfortable as playing just by yourself, so this way I can tell if that is the case and see (hear) if I’ve improved.

Best of luck Victoria!

[Marco Hilgeman]

Hi Kentishlass,

I’ve installed a Dusty Strings pickup for celtic harps in my Silver Spear harp which sounds really good…it was installed later, some months after I’d bought the harp, by a harp tech who does some repair and installment jobs for the shop where I bought the harp. The pickup consists of a soundboard length rod which is clamped to the inside the harp, at the corner of the soundboard and the body. The rod has 4 dime-size pickup pads across the rod, from low to high, and they are attached to the inside of the soundboard. The 4 pickup pads all go to one output and you have to drill a hole in the harp to attach the jack output for the output cable which goes to your amp. The manual says installation can be done by yourself, but since I’m not a very handy person when it comes to this, I had it done by the harp tech.

The sound is a good reproduction of the natural harp sound and it’s way better than just putting a mic in front of your harp…no feedback problems (unless you crank the volume up very high while positioning the harp close to the amp but that’s just asking for it 🙂 So you just have to avoid that).

Check the link for some more info:

http://manufacturing.dustystrings.com/harps/accessories/amplification/dusty-harp-pickup/

Nowadays I mostly play on my electro acoustic Camac pedal harp and this is really a higher level when it comes to playing amplified…of course we’re talking about a different pickup system and budget here. But the DS pickup is still a good solution for celtic harps.

Anyway, best of luck in making a choice Kentishlass!

[Marco Hilgeman]

Hi Emma, that’s bad news about your wrist! Hope it’ll get better asap. I can imagine you could use a damper right now…

Whenever there’s more news on developing the damping system, I’ll start a thread to inform you all.

@Balfour, thanks for checking out Vollenweider and my windseeds stuff as well; now you can hear who inspired me to play the style I do 🙂

[Marco Hilgeman]

Hi Balfour, yeah those thoughts crossed my mind while creating my post, but I wondered if harpists consider damping to be a part of their playing technique which they ‘cherish’ or if they would like the possibilty of dealing with it in a different way, by means of a damping system. This would mean not having to worry about hands/fingers being on strings to mute their sound and instead, they could already be placed on other strings for instance.

To illustrate the interest in a damping system: the very talented and renowned Dutch harpist Remy van Kesteren once said in an interview that he thinks it’s about time harp builders invent a damping system that would work for the entire harp (and not only for the bass strings which already exists)…so there are definitely harpists who would really be pleased if such a system would be developed (like myself, and maybe not coincidentally I’m Dutch as well). That’s why we’re thinking about ways to get this damping system into production.

Then again, I can imagine that damping could be that much interlocked in a person’s playing that it would be hard to take that element out of his/her playing technique by means of a damping system; then it won’t be an advantage of course. But I think it could work well for several more staccato playing styles, like the one I play.

Oh and by the way, the system we’re thinking about is not exactly my idea: all the credits for this system go to Andreas Vollenweider, who is the pioneer/inventor of this damping system. Furthermore, it’s not operated by a lever or pedal but by knee, which gives the player more freedom as there is no hand or foot needed to operate it.

Interesting topic anyway…would like to read some more opinions here 😉

[Marco Hilgeman]

Hi Emma, I’m familiar with the damping system on the Horngacher harps (those harps are quite pricy though) but I wonder if they’re able to fit this system across the whole harp…would be nice if they could.

But what we are thinking of developing is a mountable damping system which you can attach to any brand of harp…we’re still thinking about a way to do it without having to screw it onto the harp and drilling holes (obviously that’s what no harpist would want).

Yeah and it’s great to see the diversity of the harp world nowadays…just like Vollenweider, I’m experimenting with the (electro-acoustic) harp sound by adding (guitar) effects to it, such as chorus and a very short delay which makes it a rather different sound that the classical harp, but still it’s recognizable as a harp.

It’s fun to innovate and that’s why we’re so much into this damping system, as it can make the harp sound more percussive and staccato. Perhaps this is not directly suitable for classical music, but maybe in some ways it can be an addition; no more muting ‘issues’ and such…

[Marco Hilgeman]

Hi all,

In relation to this subject there’s something I’m curious about, not about how one would name it though…but it’s obvious that damping the strings is an important thing to all harpists. And especially for the style I play, which is the Andreas Vollenweider style on electro-acoustic harp. This means a melody line on the right hand (with nails) which often includes staccato chord patterns, and the left hand (without nails) plays a bass pattern in bass guitar style (together with a drummer and percussionist, my harp forms the rhythm section of the band which is accompanied by some other instruments as well). This staccato chord patterns and bass lines obviously require a lot of damping, which is possible to do by hand as I do right up to this date, but a damping system could make it much easier and it definitely cleans up the sound.

Now for the damping system: I include a picture of the great Vollenweider where you can check out the damping system he developed himself: it’s a felt strip over the entire length of the sound board. Vollenweider operates the mechanism with his left knee; you can see his knee close to a black box and if he pushes that box towards the strings, all the strings are dampened. From what I understood, the system’s also divided into two sections, which is not very clear on this pic, but the bass section has a separate damping mechanism; I’m not sure how he operates that section to be honest. Here the pic:

Last year I was also approached via internet by Frank, a Norwegian harpist who had built his own electric harp and also developed a similar damping system for it, which he operates by his knee as well. I’ve heard his system and it works really well. He had also contacted Camac harps in France to see if they were interested in developing such a system, but he didn’t get an enthusiastic response right away.
Frank and I are definitely convinced of the use of this damping system so we would like to get this system into production, making it available for all harpists.

So my question is: could a damping system like this make its way into the harp world and would it be of any use for contemporary harpists playing various genres? I would really like to know what you guys at the forums think, as your opinions are always very valuable.

Best of luck,
Marco

EDIT: don’t know what went wrong, but obviously the pic was not included here, alas; well if you google Vollenweider, you’ll get some pics where you can check out the damping system…

[Marco Hilgeman]

Very good additional info here about height and harp sizes.

@Emma: you wrote: “On the regulation front, Camacs are designed to be regulated by the owner”

I think that’s not entirely true. There are things you can adjust yourself, but The Camac website specifically states that you can do this “between professional regulations…” It’s a fact that every Camac pedal harp comes with a complete tool kit (including a pedal rod tuner) which enables you to do quite a few adjustments yourself, but still you have to be a handy person to know how to adjust things properly.

Here’s what’s on their website regarding regulation:

http://camac-harps.com/en/service-eng/regulation-info-eng

When I check out my Camac pedal harp manual, the info on pedal cable adjustment and overall regulation is only a few lines of text, illustrated with some not too clear pics, to be honest. So when you haven’t done any of those adjusments before, I would not recommend doing it yourself…

[Marco Hilgeman]

That’s true Gretchen, a harp tech knows what’s best for the harp and will have to check the interval of regulating the harp in accordance with the average amount of playing time of the harpist. Indeed a harp is an expensive instrument, so we need the best maintenance for our harps…when budget is available of course. But then again, one would actually have to take these maintenance costs into consideration as being a part of an investment to keep the harp in perfect condition.

Oh and Lovekin, I hope this regulation talk is not too much off-topic for ya…just take it as useful info on the side 🙂

[Marco Hilgeman]

I second the advice of Sid and Gretchen to start with the best harp that your budget allows you to buy.

But Gretchen, to have the harp regulated annualy…do you think that’s necessary in this case, for a person who’s about to start playing the harp? OK, a first regulation a year after the purchase makes sense of course and is usually free of charge as part of the warranty service. But then after that, an annual regulation would make sense when someone’s playing very often, but if someone’s just started to play and doesn’t play as often as a professional or experienced student, don’t you think a regulation every 2 years might be sufficient as well?

[Marco Hilgeman]

Hi Mia,

If the costs of Concedo strings are a problem, you could consider Silkgut strings (they’re made by Aquila but also distributed by Bow Brand)…I use them on my Camac since a few months instead of the factory gut. The colour is like milky white, not that bright white as Concedo but they definitely have a better contrast to the F’s and C’s compared to gut. Do notice that Silkgut is a synthetic string, where Concedo is gut…but when you check out the specs of the Concedo, they mention ‘a white polyurethane coating’ which means a synthetic layer covering the gut string, so I wonder if there’s a big difference in sound. I can’t compare them, alas, but I think the Silkgut sound great! More sparkle than regular gut IMO. And they are cheaper than Concedo. I don’t exactly know price differences for the US, you would have to check that out.

The thing Emma mentions about regulation is definitely something to bear in mind…my harp was definitely in need for a regulation after the string change.

Hope you’ll find a solution…best of luck!

[Marco Hilgeman]

Definitely interesting Saul…I think I’ll give that a try, just to hear how it will affect the harp sound and how my ears will take it. But the amount of stretching you mention from the 3d octave up, does that apply to every string of that octave, or only to the C’s you mention? And the 4th and 5th octave, are they not involved in the stretching?

[Marco Hilgeman]

Washing your hands before you play is always a good way to prevent wire bass strings from tarnishing Jodi. Anyway, do you play a lot? Because you mention your harp is 4 months old and when this happens after only 4 months, that’s quite fast IMO. It also depends if you sweat a lot while you play. If you do, that’s where Allison’s tip on post-play string cleaning comes in handy.

[Marco Hilgeman]

Hi David,

…”Strings that were optimal for the Camac” …. well that depends on what style you play.

I recently restrung the 5th to 2nd octave of my Camac Mini Blue pedal harp, because I play with nails on the right hand and the factory strung gut strings already started to fray after 4 months… so I’ve put silkgut on it now and it sounds MUCH better IMO. I play electro-acoustic and so I focus on the electric sound, but it is also a noticable difference acoustically…more volume that is, plus more ‘sparkle’ and clarity.

Still it’s a matter of taste anyway. One thing I can tell you is that the silkgut strings are not available at Camac…you’d have to contact Bow Brand who distributes them, or Aquila strings in Italy who is the manufacturer.

But I’ve found my favorite type of strings in silkgut, that’s one thing for sure.

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