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I have no experience with pedal harps internationally but with larger lever harps (38 strings) yes. I had a temporary posting in the US for 5 years and missed my Harp so tried to bring my Korrigan from France to US. I looked into flight cases and the excess baggage cost on the airlines and all in all the costs were to high, almost half the cost of a new Harp.. So as Catherine suggested I rented a harp another Camac in the US and actually ended up buying it (rent to buy). I then needed to take it back to France at the end of my assignment. Luckily the removal company had some experience with musical instruments and built a small temporary packing structure around the harp, and with plenty of bubble wrap and some silica gel I trusted them. As it was with my other belongings fortunately my company paid and everything was insured. The harp arrived safely without a scratch and after tuning up was playable that evening.
Some suggestions, air transport is very expensive and has handling risk at airports, normal shipping is cheaper but e shipping company should have some experience with larger musical instruments. Local rental Would be my preference, especially if you intend to take the Harp in both directions. If youre set on taking your own harp, one suggestion is to contact importers like Virginia harp centre, who are bringing EU harps into the US, they have experience and can advise on what’s needed, they may also have remaining packing materials they are willing to sell.Hello Nancy and Taras
Yes Nancy I bought the Yamaha THR5A, but tried a few of the portable amps under 200 euros. The two which stood out were the Yamaha and the Roland mobile cube, the others seemed very cheaply made.
To my taste the Yamaha had the best reproduction of the sound of my harp, the Roland was louder, but it didn’t give me the same impression as the Yamaha, the harp I am using is 30 string nylon and the nylon emulation on the Yamaha amp pretty much just amplifies the normal sound. For me, in this mode, the harp sounds the same just louder. My wife, who isn’t a musician also preferred the Yamaha. In the group I play with the mandolin player uses the Roland Mobile cube and it works very with his mandolin.
I also bought rechargeable aa batteries and a cheap charger from Amazon, it allows me to just take it out of my bag and plug it to the instrument, without having to find a mains plug. It works off the mains also, but when I am with others I just want to play music, not fiddle around connecting things. we have enough to do tuning our instrument we don’t need other distractions☹️Taras you mentioned the mikel levers, I haven’t used the new metal ones but have used the previous levers which I think are the same geometry but with a plastic handle, these were as you say 5 usd each and work very well indeed. They aren’t the same as Camac where generally the pins move sidewayss onto the string, the mikel lever pins arc onto the string. The one point to bear in mind is the delivery and customs cost from Pakistan offsets the cheaper levers. This is one of the reasons I have switched to using Camac levers on my last harp. I live in France so Camac are quite reasonable for me, as well as being excellant levers they are very tactile.
Hello Nancy
The adhesive seems to work well, it’s very sticky. Its only been on for a few weeks, so I can’t say how temperature, humidity and time affect it. There’s plenty spare tape provided so if they do need to be restuck there’s enough to do it again. It took me only a few seconds to stick them to the back of the soundboard.
The reason I drilled the harp was to place the jack connector. The internal jack connector is mounted flush into the back of the harp so you need to drill a hole and push the connector through it.
The external jack connector is easier to mount as it just clips to the side of the sound holes in the back, but I wanted a more permanent look, so chose the internal connector. I have a bit of a personal phobia about wires not being hidden and connectors which seem to be added afterwards.
That being said, I am thinking about adding the same pick ups to my Camac Korrigan, this time with the external jack connector I don’t want to drill the Camac, also you can move the pick ups from one harp to another easier with the external, so I can also move these pick ups to my pedal harp if I want to.
Just to be very clear, I only drilled and reinforced the back of the harp soundbox, for the internal jack connector, NOT the soundboard.
Hope this helps
TalfrynHello all,
I started using Mikel levers from Pakistan a few years back, actually they work really well, not like the reputation some others manufacturers from Pakistan have. The ones I used were not expensive but the delivery cost to Europe negates any savings.
I now use Camac they are the Rolls Royce for me, not only do they function correctly, they are really tactile, I often say if you spend 150 hours building an instrument at home you deserve the best levers.
I tried to order some teifi levers some months back but they needed all their stock for their own production, so fitted Camac instead.
As for the Delacour levers, I came across the following website where there are composite versions of Delacour levers, they also seem to be a reasonable cost, at least here in France. I haven’t tried them or even seen them. I am considering ordering some on an upcoming project.http://www.sakemcompositelevers.com/
If anyone has used them it would be good to have some feedback.
TalfrynHello evolene, it’s a bit expensive, but good value, as I can use the amplifier with other instruments. I think the pick ups were a good price especially as I ordered custom cable lengths $110. The. shipping and us customs fees 60 usd. But then I had the pick ups stopped by the Douane,customs in France, who charged 50 euros for the pleasure. So the main profit here was made by the US and French governments. Normally if you order overseas from France and the total cost is less than 140 euros then the douanier don’t stop the package, this time it was slightly over the limit hence the customs cost…
The amplifier cost just under 200 euros in Cultura, I think you are in France so you may know them as a hobby supermarket. I could find it cheaper online, but the shop let me experiment with several different amplifiers, in fact it turned into a bit of a performance for their customers. The ability to try before you buy is a very good reason in my mind to not buy online. If the shops allow it they deserve a bit extra..
i haven’t explored all the possibilities with the amp yet, but it has several microphone emulations together with compression, chorus, delay, reverb, I haven’t found any loop function yet, but you can plug it into the laptop which gives a lot more options, which I haven’t explored yet. The main thing for me is that it runs off mains or batteries and is small enough to take to the practices and beat those cornemuses and vielle à roue :), which is why I am pleasantly surprised I didn’t expect it to enhance the different sound possibilities with the harp which it has done…Hello, just an update, I have installed the microphones and tested a couple of mobile amplifiers and I am really pleased. The pick ups from K and K were super simple to install, I used the internal jack and drilled the harp back for this, I glued a plywood disk to reinforce the jack hole on the inside and the internal cables actually run without touching any internals. I ordered custom cable lengths from k+k 29 inch and 12 inch so I have placed the pick ups at 1/3 and 2/3 rds along the string run on the back of the soundboard.
I have tried Roland and Yamaha mobile amplifiers and was so impressed by the Yamaha thr5a especially the nylon microphone setting that I purchased one, it’s almost like having a new harp, playing around with the settings I can make the sound both big and rich, turning the small harp into something which sounds much bigger. I don’t need any preamp it works just fine plugging straight in.
So I am still experimenting but it has been a good addition to this harp..Thanks for all the feedback here, it convinces me that the piezo picks are the right way to go, in this instance. It’s good to know others are using this pick up and amplifier. I will now get hold of a set and it seems from the comments here and some other advice I have had that I should give it a go without a preamp and add a small inline preamp depending on the result. I am waiting for a reply from k&k at the moment as the standard cables seem a little short and I have made an enquiry for some custom longer leads. I will keep you posted once I have put some on the harp.
Thanks againHello Stardust
It’s trial and error for me when I set the tuning pin, it depends on the threaded bridge pin you have. The harp I fixed was one I built a few years back for my son who works on boats so it’s strong and waterproof but that a story in itself… I used Mikel Celtic threaded pins, the thread is fine but not sure they are microfine like other threaded pins, they work extremely well and are a good price which is why I use them. When I set the string I look by eye and wind the tuning pin until the string hole is just on the neck side of the bridge pin groove, I then thread the string into the tuning pin hole and pull tight. Then winding the tuning pin up I try to end up with 3 turns of the sting around the pin. The windings should wind up so the string moves closer to the neck to end up with the angle Biagio explains. The small string angle towards the harp actually give a small force which pushes the bridge pin towards the neck, which is good to stop them coming loose.
This is just how I do it, and it depends on the type of threaded tuning pin and the string diameter, which is why I say it’s trial and error, if it doesn’t work first time you can always try again.Hello Stardust as Hearpe suggests this isn’t difficult. One advantage of threaded pins is you have the ability to reset the offset between the string hole and the neck. If you follow what Hearpe explains you should get it right.
I have just had to repair a 29 string harp which was dropped down a stairs, I needed to repair the neck to base joint, so I actually released all of the strings, I left them still in the soundboard taped out of the way, dismantled and repaired the neck. I then reassembled the harp and reattached the strings. When I brought them up to tuning the harp played well when tuned first time.
A few things to look out for, nylon strings stretch quite a bit especially new ones, so if you have nylons on the harp you will probably find they stick through the tuning pin more than when you removed them, it is unlikely when you reset the pin that you get the same number of windings afterwards. My advice would be not to trim them immediately because if you’re not happy with where they end up, you can just unwind them and start over again. If you trim them and your not happy with the final position then you may not have enough string to start again. When I did the repair I gave the harp a haircut a few days later when I was happy all was correct.
One other thing, you may know this already, the thin nylon strings can have a tendency to slip out of pin whilst tuning, some people will slip the free string end around up coming string as it winds around the pin to stop this happening, there are various ways to do this, I picked my method up from a Camac video on YouTube.Hello Stefanie
I built a Belle harp from a kit a couple of years ago and I use it a lot. It is loud and easy to play, the string tension is ok, a little low but not too low, it’s a very playable harp, I made a few upgrades changing the strings to same gauges from Markwood and added Camac levers.
I have other harps which I play and have built several over the years, the Belle harp is not as rich as my Camacs but it is much louder and it’s very light for its size, very easy just to pick up throw into the car without putting into covers and struggling up and down stairs. For me it’s the harp of choice if I am playing with others at Celtic sessions or folk dances because of this.
I built this harp as a bit of amusement not expecting to play it seriously, actually I play it about 50 per cent the time I spend playing, it’s improved my technique also, as I learn a new piece on the Belle and then move to the Camacs when the muscle memory is working.
The only minor draw back I have experienced is the string spacing at the bass end it could benefit from another mm, I have big fingers and I need to be careful to place them on the low f and g to avoid buzzing, this isn’t a problem with the other harps which have enough clearance. This is probably down to my lazy technique anyway 🙂
In short it’s light, resonant, loud and very forgiving to play.Talfryn
Hello Barbara
For making harps I purchase my levers directly from Camac. For sharping levers you will find their contact info on the following link.I am in France so it’s easy to phone them and discuss but you can send them an email as they are an international organisation..
Hello Oxalis,
Like wil-weten I have Camac harps (3 of them over the years) and I am absolutely happy with them, I live in France so it’s the obvious choice, their technical support is outstanding. I also have played various teifi harps and they are also excellant. A few years back they lost touch with a rental Harp here in France and they asked me to help them recover it, a Teifi Eos. It took a bit of finding and I kept it for some months before sending it back to Wales with my son who was at University in Aberystwyth. For me this was the best lever Harp I have ever played and it’s a dream of mine to eventually own one. I have also visited their workshops several times and tried their other models. So don’t be too worried, they are fine instruments.
But this is a large investment for anyone, and you should try and find a way to play before buying, don’t worry about being a beginner just play what you can and see if the instrument is good for you. You mention that youre in the U.K. why not contact them for a dealer or go and visit them and see the workshop as well.
Good luck
TalfrynHello Marianne, your photos didn’t get posted. Please be careful, most problems can be rectified, but repairs can be costly depending on the problem, the general advice is that “if the price looks too good to be true it probably isn’t a good idea” but please try again to post again.
TalfrynHello Occalichika
This is certainly not the death of the harp, although it does need dealing with, it can be repaired. I would suggest you contact Tripplet directly for advice on repairing it and either get it repaired directly with them or another experienced harp maker.
It could be that the glue between the slats/planks which make up the sound board has separated or that the soundboard has split parallel to the wood grain. Either way it can be repaired by someone with experience.
The crack is running parallel to the main stresses in the sound board, which means it is unlikely to destroy itself, but the crack will grow along its length, so it needs to be repaired.
To give you some idea of how a solid soundboard is made Sligo harps have an excellant description http://www.sligoharps.com/5book.pdf. I have used this for personal harp projects myself.
Good luck, but don’t loose hope because it can be fixed…Talfryn
