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Tell us in which country you live and we may be able to help you to some ideas to find the best harp for your money. It would also help to know an indication of your budget for a harp.
Edit: in the second link I provided it says e.g.: “There are also folk harps being built in Taiwan, Republic of China (not the People’s Republic) by a company called Tenon Industrial Co who have three models of Artone harps (from 36 to 40 strings). “
They are built in Taiwan. See: https://tenon.en.taiwantrade.com/product/harps-288423.html
And: http://harp.wikia.com/wiki/Chinese_Harps
Personally, I would go for a Dusty Ravenna as one of the most budget friendly quality harps. Dusty Ravenna’s are rather sturdy and have a nice sound. They also are very popular. You may easily find them second hand.
This topic is more than four years old and do I hope the original poster is still reading this forum.
As I may be going to buy a L&H-harp myself, I very much would like to know how lam-wk’s problem was solved by Lyon & Healy.
There’s a small black rubber ring between the metal parts of the lever. Could it be that the ring has become damaged? I guess Camac will send you some new rubber rings if you tell them your problem.
Congratulations, Sarva. The Camac Bardic 27 is a great choice!
As you can’t see the links, look at my last message above. These are the two links which I will now show without them being clickable.
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/virtualharpcircle/info
https://www.abrsm.org/forum/index.php?showforum=35.Perhaps you can’t see the links because you use a browser which blocks java script. Or maybe you look at this side from your i-pad? Anyway, you may like to try and look at this forum with another browser and/or from another laptop or smartphone.
Edit: now I see that even when I don’t use the codes to make the links clickable, the software still makes them clickable….
Hi Balfour, regarding the ‘notifications’, several weeks ago I discovered that some mails from Harpcolumn found their way to my google-spambox. Whitelisting their mail address solved that problem for me.
Are there any staff members actually reading this forum?
Anyway, after one new post of mine dissappeared, I think perhaps members of this forum get logged out without notice. I could write a post and publish it, but perhaps it only looked that way, because I didn’t get a notice I should log in first.
Hi Sarva, you may like to become a member of the free and well-moderated mailing yahoo-group Virtual Harpcircle. You can find it at: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/virtualharpcircle/info
Yahoo groups sometimes suffer technical glitches, but most of the time, they work fine.Another possibility would be to join the free and well-moderated public webforum Viva Harp at: https://www.abrsm.org/forum/index.php?showforum=35.
It has been rather quiet out there, but this might change if this annoying problem of evaporating posts doesn’t get sorted out.And again a post of mine dissappeared! It contained a reaction to Sarva’s last posting…
Did it make it to your mail? Or did it dissappear completely?Thanks, Evolène.
I just created a thread at: https://harpcolumn.com/forums/topic/thoughtful-posts-get-deleted-again-and-again/ in the hope that this annoying problem will soon get solved.This annoying evaporating of thoughtful posts made by active members of this community needs to be brought to the attention of the staff of harpcolumn.com. They really have to do something about the algorithm causing this unwanted behavior.
I found a subforum: https://harpcolumn.com/forums/forum/website-issues-and-feature-requests/ but can’t find where I can start a thread. It looks like I can only reply to threads started by others.
I wrote a post several hours ago, but is has dissappeared. I do hope it still reached Biago and Sarva by mail. This automatic ‘spam removal’ still doesn’t work properly. It looks like that when several posts are posted within a certain time, some of these posts will be removed as possible spam…
Hi Sarva, the good news is that you are not restricted to European choices, though the bad news is that harps from the US will cost you a lot more than when you lived in the US.
As to harpsicles: there are several places where you could buy harpsicles in Europe, but frankly, here in Europe other harps would give you a lot more bang for your buck. And besides, the harpsicle strings are rather floppy.
As to a European budget harp, I already mentioned the German harp teacher and harp builder Manfred Gosewinkel at: http://gosewinkel-harfenbau.npage.de/ You could have a 33 string harp with two full octaves below middle C for 650 euros. These are no nonsense harps with a relatively low string tension. According to several German harp players, these are fine harps if you don’t mind them not being lacquered and that you see glue traces etc. There are no levers on them, but simple hooks for the chromatic notes. The builder says this is what enables him to sell them so cheap. If you don’t like the harp, you could send it back. No idea about shipping costs, though. You could inquire.
Instead of a 33 string Gosewinkel harp, you could choose for a real travel harp with a whole octave below middle C for just 380 euros or a harp going as low as 1.5 octave below middle C for 480 euro. Yes, these are very nice prices. Yet, you probably would like the sound of the largest harp best.
Personally, I would rent a 34 string Camac harp and buy it when I’d had saved enough money. As it is the time of summer holidays, you may be lucky that you could choose from several second hand harps in the Camac shop.
And yes, the Camac bardic is sturdily built and has a surprising big sound for its dimensions.
It’s great you will be going to a Camac shop! You will hear how different one model sounds from another and how the kind of strings used and light or string tension make a lot of difference in the way a harp sounds. Have fun!
As to the Latin American teacher: everything depends on the technique she learnt herself. Latin American harps have a very low string tension and quite a different sound from celtic and other lever harps. Playing very low tension harps requires using a bit of different technique than harps with a bit higher string tension. Of course, you could ask what kind of harps she owns and/or what harp education she got.
Hi Biagio, I forgot to tell, where I live, Dusty harps can only be bought fully levered. I think this is the case both in the UK, Netherlands, Germany and France. No idea about Spain.
This may be the best of two worlds: https://es.camac-harps.com/es/alquileres/
You could rent a 34-string harp and buy it when you’ve saved enough money and know whether you really like the harp. I used google translate to understand Spanish and I think it says that when you buy the harp you rented, a significant part of the paid rent for the last six months are deducted from the price of the harp.
As you like celtic music, you may choose for the Camac Hermine. This harp has a relatively light tension. But perhaps your taste for sound and/or your taste for music is broader and you may like to choose another harp.Unfortunately, I don’t see the Camac Isolde Celtic as one of the harps you may rent first, as I think you really want to try out the Camac Isolde Celtic for its great sound. And of course, there’s the Camac Excalibur, with its tension between celtic and classic, but that’s a professional lever harp (I play on a Camac Excalibur and I really love it, but this may become your second harp, as Biagio put it before, after a few years, most people decide they want another harp and sell their first one.
