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Thanks for your very helpful response Charles! I appreciate your suggestion to test on scrap wood and knowing the cost to have a professional take over if I get stuck. I’ve done wood carving and wood refinishing, and replaced a lever, but never had to drill and place all of the levers.
I’ll be removing the strings and existing levers to refinish the harp anyways, so either way it’s going to be a project.
Do you know if it’s common for the nickel-plated Salvi levers to snap? Or is it likely just because this harp was abused and then neglected?
It’s cheaper to just replace the broken and bent ones, but if they’re known for snapping, might be worth it to just replace them all while I have the harp taken apart.
Evolene, thanks for resending the link. It definitely is a pretty/cute decoration – the sound isn’t appealing to me, so glad you found that! You’re right about the poor buying lower quality items that need a lot of tinkering and additions to make palatable, which is expensive in the long run.
Wil-Weten, thank you for the advice on the Ravenna to take out. If I had my own place, I would grab a floor harp without hesitation. The Ravenna seems to be well liked and I’ve played on it before.
Thanks everyone!
Evolene,
Thanks for looking up the harp – for some reason I can’t see the link/video you found, perhaps because of my device (tablet). You’re right, it would be a cute (but expensive) decoration!
Although the look of the pedal harp is definitely beautiful, I want to be able to play classical music-eventually I would like to transcribe orchestral music to the harp. Some of my favorite more popular artists are Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, and J.S. Bach. As a child, I drove my guitar teacher nuts because he asked me to bring in the music I wanted to play, and I was bringing in my favorite symphonies and asking him to teach me to listen and then translate/play them…I want to do that with the harp.
I’ve read that these three harps (Salvi Ana, L&H Prelude, and Camac Mademoiselle) are similar in string tension/spacing to a pedal harp and are good for those who want to eventually play on the pedal harp, that is one of the biggest reasons I’m looking at those three. They’re several thousand dollars cheaper than any of the used pedal harps I have seen, and I do see a used Salvi Ana in the listings here for ~4500.
I was renting a Ravenna 34, but had to return it due to a move. I will look into harp rent-to-own possibilities in my area, I’m in Orange County right now, and it seems that everything is in LA and my car is compact, so will need someone else’s car.
You make a great point about getting something cheap and then never using it! I wouldn’t want to do the same thing after spending what could be a downpayment or rental money.
Thank you for the Dusty Strings article! It does make me feel more like getting or renting the Salvi Ana or Prelude.
Is it really that much better to get a harp similar to a pedal harp to practice on as a beginner, or is using a celtic harp ok? I have seen some for sale on ebay that are small and under 1000K, the Mikel brand new or other brands used. I know I would be taking a chance there though.
Hi David!
Thank you so much for the input, I didn’t even think to look at the lever situation. Knowing that the teaching materials require a larger range is also very helpful!
I will keep an eye on the secondary market.
How did you know that the harp you purchased was ok? I can see obvious cracking in the neck, but I’m not knowledgeable enough to play and know if it is damaged or not a good quality. Should I find a harp teacher first (I moved since I last took harp lessons a year ago), even without a harp, and have them look at it with me?
Congratulations on finding a good deal on your harp and thanks again for the advice!
