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Biagio, many thanks for the clear explanations about adding levers later.
I have no information about the Delacour levers, I’m afraid. I just saw them on an FH36 and liked the look of them.
The FH34 is smaller than the FH36 and you’d be missing only the top two strings compared to the FH36. You can get a cart thingy to pull the harp while walking. I think the Dusty case also has straps that would allow you to carry the harp as a backpack. I have an FH34 in bubinga, which is by far the heaviest version, and I can carry it some distance – I wouldn’t want to take it on public transport, but it would be doable.
I really wanted Delacour levers for my FH34, but Dusty would no longer install them. So I went with Camacs and they work fine.
Re the number of levers, I am firmly in the fully levered from the beginning camp. Simply because I would find not having all levers extremely limiting when playing, even as a beginner, plus it’d be a hassle to get them installed afterwards. (The additional cost in time and money would have been far greater than could be offset by delaying part of the overall cost.)
Also, if you get the additional holes drilled and levers added a year or two later, won’t they always behave ever so slightly differently, because they will have been added to a harp that will have been aging for a while? Won’t it affect the harp overall? (I have no idea!)
I would suggest looking into the Feldenkrais method: it is great for dealing with “inexplicable” effects of injuries, just like you describe. Because they are not inexplicable, it is just that we are not usually able to see the connection. This method guides you to explore how you organise yourself, through gentle movements, and the effects I’ve seen can be astonishing.
It has helped me with a shoulder injury and I got rid of back pain thanks to it. And the awareness of oneself it brings is, well, astonishing. I’ll stop now before I get into a long catalogue of possible benefits! But yeah, personally I’d always try Feldenkrais before anything invasive.
Carl, that sounds great. I wish I had access to a pedal harp, but I don’t, so I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that you get to publishing the piece(s) for lever harp! 🙂
In my experience people are so entranced by the sound of a harp that it doesn’t really matter what you play!
Also, I don’t think most people would “expect” anything, they are just curious what you’re going to play.
I remember having a problem trying to find something suitable. You might want to have a look at piano arrangements, they are often playable on the harp and there is a lot more choice.
Could you rent either of them?
I wonder if the 7 hour drive (ouch!) might be worth it – if you don’t try the harps out, will you always wonder whether you should have gone for the one you didn’t buy?
You say you saw pictures of the Egan – are you sure that the recordings you’ve heard are of the same model? It would be disappointing to buy the harp and then discover it sounds completely different.
Or here is an idea: why not phone the shop shop that has the Egan and ask them to play the actual harp they’d be selling you for you to listen to over the phone? Not ideal but better than nothing.
Ha, when I used to do archery the draw weight of my bow was 40 lbs – compare that with the 800 lbs the harp has to take! 🙂
Thanks for all the information. The harp holds its tuning very well. I play most days and I can get away with tuning every other day or so. I’ll listen carefully to the sound of the nylon strings next time I get to play.
Very strange – I can see my previous post (just above this one) when I am logged in but not when I’m not logged in. Odd.
Thank you all very much for your replies. The harp is nylon-strung except for the bass wires, has Camac levers and is 1.5 years old.
harpist123, I’ve been thinking about the sound of the harp and it’s possible that a bit of the complexity of sound has been lost. On the other hand the sound of the harp has developed, in a good way, as it has aged (I know this is rather vague, but I’m not able to describe it in any detail, it just sounds… different to me). What makes any comparisons difficult is that I only started to learn to play 2.5 years ago, so the sound I am able to get out of a harp has changed a lot over time.
charles-nix, I completely agree re the expense being worth it. Interesting that you say to change the wires every year – that’s what surprised me when I changed those two strings, I’d assumed that a 1.5 year old string was still new enough. Clearly not! 🙂
Biagio, you say that it depends on age, is it that a newish harp will change more than an old one, or the other way round? Some of the semitones were never that precise to begin with, but it’s got worse lately. Is there any way to tell that the nylon has stretched too much?
I’m now thinking of replacing the rest of the wires for now, as a quick fix.
I’d like to learn how to adjust the levers at some point, but at the moment there are so many things I have to learn (change of careers, anyone? five exams down, eight to go, ugh) that having someone fix my harp so that I can just play is actually a great treat.
