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I am sorry to hear, David. Were I in your shoes, I think your idea of selling it to a woodworker as-is with a link to this thread so that they know in advance which problems they would have to tackle, would be my personal choice. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about the harp developing new problems later on. As to getting a relatively cheap, but rather sturdy and always easy to later sell on harp, I would choose a Dusty Ravenna, which is great for the price. You may find them easily second hand.
I would prefer buy them from a reputable harp shop that has serviced it before reselling it. I bought two of my harps second hand in such a shop and I even got a whole year of guarantee by the shop on these harps. And if I didn’t like the second harp enough, I could return it witin the first three months and buy another of their second hand harps with at least the same price no money lost. I don’t know if other reputable harp shops have more or less the same great extra’s. Yes, buying from a private seller would have been signifantly cheaper, but then I had run all kinds of risk I didn’t want to run.
I hope you will find an adequate solution soon.
I am so sorry for you, David.
I read that you bought this harp May last year at the used market for a very reasonable price : https://harpcolumn.com/forums/topic/anyone-seen-heard-a-mikel-38-yet/page/2/#post-220908
Was it a price too good to be true?Did you buy it second hand from a reputable harp shop? In that case, I would certainly call the shop and explain the situation. They may be willing to offer you a fair solution. If you bought it directly from a private person, they may be less inclined to be forthcoming. Nonetheless, it may be worth trying.
Though Blevins is now in other hands, the previous owner of Blevins, Dwight and Cindy Blevins may still be willing to help out, as it says on the Blevins site:
“Dwight and Cindy Blevins continue to be involved in the business to ensure a seamless transition. We are honored to carry on the great legacy of building Blevins harps with the same beauty, quality and superior sound.
We are available to answer any questions you may have and are ready to help you to choose the perfect harp. Call us at (970) 261-2458 or email anytime at blevinsharps@gmail.com.
Dale, Laurie and Jamin Wright” at: https://www.blevinsharps.com/ ”Vol 2 contains lots of exercises and tunes. Several of the tunes are disguised exercises.
Vol. 3 contains a lot of information on playing with chords and learning to make one’s own arrangements or ‘spice up’ the arrangement of someone else.Frankly, at this moment of your harping voyage, I would use the exercises you already got in Woods’ Teach Yourself to Play the Folk Harp, like:
page 39: exercises 6A-6C
page 45: exercise 7
page 49: exercise 8
page 53-54: exercises 9A-9C
page 58: exercises 10A-10D
page 61-62: exercises 11A-11C
page 64L exercises 11D-11E
These exercises of Sylvia Woods are all really valuable exercises to start your harping sessions.
When these exercises don’t offer you any challenge any more, I would start with Deborah Friou’s Harp Exercises For Agility And Speed. That book will serve you a lifetime. The Kondonassis book is nice too, but I much prefer Friou.
I also got Maria Grossi’s Metodo per Arpa, but it gives hardly any explanations and I think you may not really profit from it without the instructions from a teacher.Hi Stardust, as you have a significant experience with Woods’ book, I think you could skip vol. 1 of Playing the Harp Beautifully and start right away in vol.2. Many basic elements of playing the harp are explained in Vol. 2 with enlighening photos. And there are lots of exercises. Just work through vol. 2 and after that consider to buy one of the other books mentioned above.
I’ve got a L&H Prelude (lever harp) and the decoration is under the finish, so, yes, I think it would simply be costly to have the decoration removed and the soundboard refinished and I am not sure the result would be esthetically pleasing.
You may contact L&H though and ask if they are willing to make you a pedal harp without the usual decorations.
Hi Stardust, I’ve got Sylvia Woods’ book too, but as I think that the learning curve of that book is very steep, I think you may like to switch to Play the Harp Beautifully by Pamela Bruner. You will probably benefit from starting in vol. II. This book (and Vol. III, but especially vol. II) helped me tremendously.
Bruner has a more gradual approach than Woods and she explains more aspects of playing the harp..I’m not sure I understand what you mean with ‘chords higher than the melody’.
If you just mean chord names written above the melody, they are not meant to be played above the melody.
Or did you mean several notes to be played at a time with your right hand with the melody note on top?
Please, share a tiny fragment of an example (in order not to violate copyright).
I’ve got a Camac Excalibur. It has a string tension somewhere between that of a celtic and a pedal harp. I love it for its balanced sound and great projection. It’s a real joy to play.
Yes, the Camac Isolde Celtic has a lower, that is to say ‘celtic’ tension.
In my opinion, the price difference is definately worth it.
Hi David, I think Mr. Rees just meant to say Camac levers can’t be fitted on Reed double harps.
One can order Stoney End double harps with (optional) Camac levers. See: http://www.stoneyend.com/specialty-harps.php
So, I guess the only way of finding out whether Camac levers would be possible on a Dusty double harp is to contact Mr. Mooers of Dusty Strings.
Hi Evolene, I am not a harpmaker, but placing new Camac levers on a harp built by a German harpbuilder costs about 15.00 euro per lever (including the lever itself).
Your harp would need 2x 26 levers, so that’s quite an amount of money and this is only the levers and the mounting of the new levers. Not the filling in of the holes of the wood where the old levers had been. And, beware, the price is meant for harps built by that particular harp maker (so he already knows exacty where to place the levers).
Something to think of: Camac levers in the States are way more pricier than here in Europe. This has probably to do with importing costs etc.
Frankly, if I would want different levers on a harp, I would first inquire after the price of putting levers on a non-levered harp built by another harp builder and order a non-levered double harp at Dusty and have it levered by a reputable harp builder.
An alternative would be to ask a European harp builder to build you a new double. Unfortunately, I don’t know one that builds doubles. I know that Andre Schubert of the Klangwerkstatt once, after a lot of begging from the owner of a 6×6 chromatic harp, was willing to change that harp into a double. At first he was not enthousiastic to do so, because the forces working on a 6×6 are different from a double harp.
If I was to order a double harp, I would ask the young German harp builder Pepe Weissgerber at: http://www.weissgerber-harfen.de/ to build one for me. No idea, though, whether he would be willing to build doubles.
And last but not least, Ray Mooers of Dusty Harps just might be willing to build you a double with Camac levers. Yes, he doesn’t offer them standard, but you might be lucky if you just asked him.
Nowadays, you may like to buy her decals through the site of Sylvia Woods at https://www.harpconnection.com/store/index.php?cat=20&scat=20&pg=2.
Hi lemonyellow, what about a little double strung harp? Lots of possibilities and it needs very little place.
Think e.g. of a 2×22 string Stoney End double. As you prefer a bit stronger string tension, you may prefer the Brittany or its one note lower tuned ‘sister’ Brea to the Eve which has a bit less string tension.Here: https://youtu.be/PGLa5EFwmcs you find some information on the Brea and you may like to have a look here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLIXm6e0ojIIpPZkTyJo8gw at this collection of clips on the possibilities of the 2×22 string double harps
Please, let us stay in the same thread you started recently with exactly the same message. Here: https://harpcolumn.com/forums/topic/musicality-improvisation-tips/ you find it.
My (flute) teacher once advised me to sing or hum the melody in order to develop a better feeling for a piece of music. For me, this proved to be great advice. It also works, more or less, for the harp.
You may like to ask advice at the French harp forum at:
http://forum-hapistique.forumactif.com/
