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Thanks again Gretchen! At the moment I don’t want to have a full blow restoration on the Wurlitzer. It has a distinct, dark kind of sound that I really like but all things considered I would like to keep it as a specialty recording instrument. With all the gold and everything, even with a structural kind of durability, there still is a sort of delicate quality to it.
To Saul: I think I am really interested in the pickup systems where each string has its own pickup. This system is more similar to an electric guitar. The pickups you install afterwards are called transducers: the work by picking up the vibrations of the soundboard, and while they can produce a nice tone, I don’t think they produce sounds that are as malleable by pedals and EFX systems… I think by nature they are also more prone to feeding back.
To Balfour: thank you for the offer. I live in the northeast of the US.
To Gretchen: I will look into the American harp society. thank you for the tip! Also, I have been in contact with Lyon and Healy; for my music, I believe that having and electroacoustic harp makes a lot of sense since I already have guitar FX pedals and in general the flexibility would come in handy. I have used transducer type pickups on my pianos and never been too happy so the single string pickup idea is really appealing to me. I have actually been “refurbishing” an old Wurlitzer and it is currently playable (I have light gauge pedal gut strings and there is very little if any pulling of the soundboard for those worried), but I am still eliminating buzzing discs and sticking pedals. Even when fixed, I will want a more modern instrument as I would worry about dragging a 100 year old harp anywhere. …. ummm back to my original point though, L+H has two style 3000s and a salvi rainbow in stock which seem to fit my rather narrow demands so I hope to visit within the month. Locally, I can only find a camac big blue without the extended soundboard, which for me, is a non-starter.
To Gretchen Cover: I am learning the harp. I am currently playing a lever harp but, being so used to chromatic instruments, I find the lever system prohibitive and not conducive to music I have already written much less future music. So I am looking into the pedal harp. For myself, I find no advantage in smaller harps as I am six feet tall and without any physical impairment, so the concert grand size is the most logical choice for me.
To Balfour: I am happy to know these details about Camac! Having said this, your statement about the atlantide vs the Athena is what makes things difficult for me. The local camac dealer only has the Athenas in stock and so in order to play an atlantide I would have to travel a long distance to another dealer who might not have much to play or just shotgun order a harp without playing it. That is why I would be interested to know what is done differently when an atlantide is built vs an Athena, etc. Also, would you happen to know if the Big Blue is based on the Atlantide, the Athena, or something else? … it looks like an atlantide to me.
Thank you all for the discussion! I will need more time to read over all this information, but a quick example of a question I had come up in Balfour’s post about “student” models:
L&H, Salvi, and Camac all have “student models” that are 47 string concert grands with extended soundboards. I have heard that the Chicago line has a different soundbox construction… perhaps that truly separates it from “professional models, but I have trouble distinguishing a Daphne EX from an aurora. I actually heard that the Salvi rainbow was based off the Daphne from a sales rep but the details were scarce and the Rainbow is quite a bit more expensive and I would think considered a professional instrument. And what would make the Athena EX a student model as well? I can’t find this explained clearly anywhere.
thank you both for the replies. I look forward to playing some different harps for this perspective, but as I am somewhat of a researcher by nature I like to read up on things before hand. I have emailed some manufacturers… one told me to email a dealer… lol! I just wish this kind of information was made plain and available. I think to some types of customers it would be very appreciated to know what sonic goals are set forth for particular models and what designs were implemented to achieve said goals.
