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Already many years ago, if my memory serves me correctly. A much better way would be to have a look at the bottom or at the inside of the harp as, often, the builder wrote a year of building into it.
This is an old Salvi lever harp. I guess the model is called Renaissance, but I’m not a hundred percent sure. I seem to remember it was built in the seventies of the last century. If you mail to Salvi, they will be able to tell you for sure how the model is called and in which year it was built (if you provide them with the number).
There are some single pedal harps like those of Riedel or Mürnseer or David. They may (or may not) be of interest to you. These are hand built harps built by European harp builders according to one’s wishes.
A Camac Korrigan with 38 strings weighs 15 kilo. A L&H Ogden with 34 strings weighs 12.7 kilo. Both harps are strung with pedal gut.
Frankly, in your shoes, I would have a look at a Dusty Ravenna 34, or perhaps a Dusty Ravenna 26 with as many levers as you can afford. Then you would be sure to have a really nice sounding and well-built harp for an interesting price that, for many years, would bring you joy. And besides, you could easily resell it for a good price.
Hi Lily, Balfour is quite right that the Camac Excalibur will still sing, when you play it rather softly in order to not disturb the neighbors in your apartment. But, I’m afraid, not all harps can be played softly enough for some neighbors and still sound good.
I’ve also got a L&H Prelude with its pedal gut tension strings, and to have it really sing, I need to pull the strings rather hard or it will sound rather dull. So, I guess it may depend on the build of the harp, whether you could play it softly and still enjoy its sound.Hi Lily, just to make sure I understand what you mean with a ‘white’ harp. I guess you mean a harp which natural woodcolor doesn’t have a colored finish. There may be a few harps, like the Brilliant harpsicle, which are painted white. I guess you meant natural woodcolor, because of the harp models of other builders you mentioned. Do I understand that correctly?
Hi @lily-white How does your rented Ravenna feel at your hands? Earlier you wrote that the Salvi Mia only felt a bit less uncomfortable than the pedal harp of your teacher, which makes me think that you really would like a low tension or lower intermediate tension lever harp (though, beware that the words low or intermediate tension are not standardized, so they are no more than some vague indication).
Now, yes, there’s a great shop in the Netherlands that sells all kinds of harps: it’s De Zingende Snaar in Rhenen. So, it’s not in Amsterdam!
De only shop in the Netherlands that sells Camac harps is in Rotterdam. It’s a so-called flagship shop. Flagship means in this case that the shop has at least one harp of each model in stock. I wonder though whether this would be the shop closest to Finland. Have a look at: https://www.camac-harps.com/en/ and chose ‘sales points’. I don’t know which of these countries/cities have a flagship shop though.
I’m not sure whether your thin and fragile skin is partly a question of not being used to playing harp strings. Playing makes the skin tougher (normally, in due time, you would develop some calluses. I wonder whether your teacher had some ideas about this.
As to Camac harps, I’ve got a 38 string Camac Excalibur. It’s strung with fluorocarbon string with a tension somewhere between pedal harp tension and folk harp tension. So, the tension lies somewhat between the Camac Isolde Classique and the Camac Isolde Celtique (and it looks very much like those two) For me this is great to play both classic and folk and popular pieces on. I love it very much. For an impression of the sound, you may like to have a look at Josh Layne’s videos of this harp. You say you are very tall, and I think you might prefer to put these harps on a small box.
Now, whether you like the sound of a medium tension lever strung harp for classical pieces is a personal taste. In case you choose a medium tension harp, you may prefer a 40 string harp. In at least some countries of Europe the Salvi Ana and the Salvi Hermes have celtic tension strings, but, because they are so large, still sound a bit more like a pedal strung harp. Their sound is quite different from a L&H Prelude, which is strung with pedal gut and which, in my opinion, sounds most like a pedal harp. But the Prelude plays very heavily. Even though the Camac Mademoiselle (40 strings) is also strung with pedal gut, it plays much lighter. This has probably to do with a quite different way of building harps.
For the time being: enjoy playing your rented Ravenna!
Hi Fiona, I mentioned Heather Downie’s site primarily because of her great Technique Bank. If you sign up for her (free) Christmas Collab project, (no need to send in a recording) you will get the month of January for free instead of for 25 British Pounds. From January on, she will be providing all kinds of arrangements, also classical, pop, movies etc. etc. I really like the thorough way in which she teaches technique.
Hi Fiona, I’d like to advise you to try Heather Downie’s How to Harp program. It will start next January and that first month will be free if you participate in her Christmas Collaboration (no need to actually send in a video). Early birds can get a monthly subscription at 25 British pounds per month. You can subscribe from 5th December onwards (and then get access in January).
I myself am a member of her current Harp Scotland Program (which from January goes on as How to harp) and I’m deeply impressed by her Technique Bank.
Congratulations, Fiona. I’m so glad for you that the return has been received in good condition. Now, I hope they are fast with returning your money to your banking account.
So nice to hear you have already bonded with your Ravenna.
If you’ve got questions about MuseScore, feel free to ask them. I’m a great fan of MuseScore myself.Hi Fiona, congratulations on your Ravenna. I’m sure you’ll enjoy many happy hours with her.
You may like to know that, if you wish, you could order the removable stand for the Ravenna later on. They are sold e.g. by the reputable harp shop De Zingende Snaar in the Netherlands, but I guess Morley Harps would be happy to sell you one set of legs too, or you could order them from Dusty Harps in the US (by the way, shipping costs VAT (both on the harp and the shipping costs…), custom fees and possibly some other import costs could make importing yourself rather pricey.
I think you may want to read this current thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/harp/comments/ydzh8s/was_this_refurbished_arrived_broken_with_a/ This harp has been sold by the same company as yours.
Something went wrong while I was writing the above post and I know from experience that editing will mean that the post gets deleted…
Anyway, I understand you hesitate about sending the Gear4 Music harp back, but I think your son would like you to have a real nice harp that would serve you many years to come and which keeps a decent value at the second hand market. I understand you like the sound of that harp now, but I’m pretty sure, that when you start developing a proper harp technique and play together with other harps, you will very much notice the difference in sound quality with other entry level harps, like those of Salvi or Dusty, and then, you’ve got a harp that is very difficult to resell.
