[Sarah Brooks]

Jessica, Loreena has some beautiful music, so glad you sent me in her direction! I’ll probably stick to hiring a ‘folksier’ harp to start with and take it from there. Really glad I’ve found this forum because I’ve had some fab advice, so thanks again for sharing your thoughts and experiences.

[Sarah Brooks]

Thanks Rod, Patricia and Jennifer. I’ll certainly look into the starfish that you mentioned.

Rod, how would you say the troubadour compares with some of the other makes mentioned. I understand it’s very big size-wise, but what about sound etc.? Is it set up more as a lever harp that allows progression to pedal or does it work/sound just as good as a lever harp?

[Sarah Brooks]

Thanks Jessica and Jennifer. I’m going to try and go to the harp festival in Wales at the end of August and I’ll have a look at going to the Edinburgh festival too next year.

I’ll try to take a look at the pilgrims then and think about practicality of moving a harp as well as the sound. Who knows I might be won over by a smaller one!

[Sarah Brooks]

Thanks for the list Tacye, I’ve had a look at the UK based companies listed and I had most of them, but hadn’t seen the smaller harp makers. It’s a shame they are all
scattered at different ends of the country, but I suppose I can have a
few trips out during my rental period to check out those like Norris and
Starfish that don’t have readily available rentals.

Deb, thank you for the advice about the music, I’ll bear that in mind when I start trying them out.

I really appreciate the help everybody has given me so thanks again!

[Sarah Brooks]

Thanks again Tacye and Jessica.

Tacye, I did have pilgrim on my list originally but I prefer the look of the slightly larger harps that don’t really need legs. Perhaps I should still check them out to compare the sound, because ultimately that is more important to me.

Jessica, thanks for explaining fluorocarbon strings and tension. I’m pretty sure the Eos has concert tension and spacing, so that will be useful to compare with the lower tension models.

I have so much to think about and it’s so hard without having every make in the same room to compare! Thanks so much to everybody who has helped though.

[Sarah Brooks]

Jennifer thank you for your advice. My teacher mentioned Starfish, but because she said a starfish would be her next ‘dream’ purchase I thought they would be beyond my means. I will have a look at them though and see if they have something comparable price wise with the others on my list. Nobody has mentioned Mark Norris harps, so thanks for alerting me to those as well. I’ll also ask my teacher about the tension she uses. I suspect it’s pedal harp because she is a professional pedal harp player.

I did look at Pilgrims but I wasn’t too keen on the look of the legs to be honest and I wasn’t sure about having to put them on a stand or legs to add height to them. To begin with portability isn’t something I’m necessarily worried about, but I guess it would be useful to be able to move it easily if I needed to.

[Sarah Brooks]

Hi Tacye, thanks for this advice, especially about engaging the levers to hear the difference in sound. I will definitely do that.

L&H can be hired from Holywell music, but they are located in central London and I live in the north and can’t really get down there at the moment, which is a pain because I’d really like to look at a troubadour and be able to compare it with the others. I guess renting one to begin with will give me the opportunity to visit other showrooms during my rental period and compare other models with whatever I’ve rented before I commit to buying.

Are there any other makes available in the UK (not on my list) that I really should consider?

[Sarah Brooks]

Hi Jessica, thank you for this advice, which is very helpful. Could I ask a couple of questions? I’d like to know more about the flurocarbon strings. How do they compare with the gut and nylon? What sort of sound, for example, and style are they suited to? Also could you, or anybody else, please explain a little more about the different tensions. Does a light tension produce slacker strings? Is there a great difference in how they play?

[Sarah Brooks]

Thank you so much for your advice Sherry, especially about the levers and tension, which, as a novice, I hadn’t really paid much attention to.

I’ve just discovered a festival on in Wales at the end of August and although I wanted to get a harp before then I think I’ll wait and go to the festival, that way I can compare the camac, teifi and salvi harps together. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to see the Lyon and Healy or Triplett so if anybody could tell me how they might compare with the models I will see, or if anybody has some other advice to add to Sherry’s I’d be really grateful. Thanks

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