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Ada, thanks for sharing this information. What ‘other light tension harps’ were you thinking of when comparing the L&H Drake to them?
Hi Ada, I completely agree with charles-nix.
Also, the sound of a recording also depends on the way the harp is recorded and perhaps edit a bit afterwards and also on the acoustics of the room the harps is played in.I don’t know the L&H Troubadour II, but the highest notes of all L&H lever harps I have ever tried sounded fuller than all other lever harps I managed to lay my hands on.
You may like to know that on all harps I played on, the higher strings need to be played with more force than the lower strings and that it will take some time to learn and let them sound great.You may like to know that Blevins harps are no longer made by Mr. Dwight Blevins himself as he retired in 2018. Blevins harps are being built under new ownership now. For more information, have a look at: https://www.blevinsharps.com/#:~:text=Since%20Blevins%20Harp’s%20humble%20beginning,and%20purchased%20the%20Blevins%20brand.
In edition to my earlier post: All (or perhaps, practically all) music notation programs can work with pieces made with any other music notation program by using the xml (or mxl)format.
So, can could make a draft, export it into xml and have somebody else who uses a different music notation program to further revise it.I use the completely free open source program MuseScore. Nowadays it has grown into a very versatile program. There’s an active community helping out with any question one might have. I usually just google my question and I find a helpful answer.
MuseScore works on a lot of platforms, including Mac.
As to the learning curve, like all music notation programs, it takes its time to learn the details, but there’s a nice and short introduction to get you started. You will learn the rest bit by bit on the go.
As to pedals and pedal diagrams, I just play the lever harp, so I’ve got no experience with that.
As to pedals: yes you can put them in.
And yes, to pedal diagrams. Google: “pedal diagram musescore 3” and it shows you some information.
And yes to: Bowing indications for string instruments
And yes to Phrasing lines?
As to auto correction, I can’t imagine MuseScore teasing me with autocorrection.
I refrained from putting links in this post, as the automated software of Harpcolumn often deletes my post when I do that (or when I try to edit a post). I mentioned this quite a few times to their admin and in the end just gave up.
Hi Adla, thanks for sharing a bit more information. This sounds really good: in over a month of having a new harp no string breakage, and levers functioning smoothly and in tune.
I’m sorry the photo didn’t attach properly. By ththe way, though you can theoretically edit a reply, many of us have the experience that this may result in an automatic deletion of the post. So, often it may be better to use CTRL A, CTRL C before updating in order to be able to restore a post in case it gets deleted. Or, you could simply write an additional post.
Hi Adla,
Congratulations with your 27 string Saffron. I hope you will be very happy with it for many years to come.I’m glad to hear you had a positive experience until now. Reviews like yours are important for starting harpers who need a nicely priced harp.
Would you like to share some picture of it?
Would you like to tell something about the feeling of the strings (like, does the tension feel more or less even over the whole range? Could you perhaps compare the string tension with that of another harp?)
Are the levers functioning properly (in tune and without much noise)?
I guess you got this harp very recently, so there’s probably not much to say about string breakage, but if you had any broken strings, where did they break (near the eyelets, the bridge pins or somewhere in the middle of the strings)?
In addition to my post above: when you want to compare harps, it’s not only important to hear harps in the same room, but also played by the same harper. In the same room, because every room has its own acoustics and by the same harper, as each harper produces her own unique sound (produces by the way she plays the strings).
Hi interested, as you live in the USA, you may like to have a look at thomannmusic dot com
They sell Lyon & Healy Harps as well as Salvi harps. L&H and Salvi are reputable harp manufactures. Don’t even look at the other harps, those are Paki ones which won’t make you happy.
As to the L&H Harps:
the 34 string Ogden costs: $3,179
the 36 string Troubadour VI costst $4,469
The 40 string Prelude costst $5,255
All the L&H lever harps are strung with pedal gut strings.As to Salvi Harps: 34 string levers harps start from
$2,275 (the Salvi Mia) and the 40 string Salvi Ana starts at:
$5,159
Yes, all these harps do have a solid soundboard. With the exception of the Salvi Gaia they are strung with lever gut strings. The Salvi Gaia has pedal gut strings.You will probably find sound clips of these harps at this website, otherwise have a look at the shop in Germany at Thomann dot de
You may also have a look at youtube and find some comparison clips where a few harps are played in the same room. It’s important that they are played in the same room, because that helps comparing the harps. E.g. have a look at: https://youtu.be/6iPLzipq4kQIn Europe Thomann is known as a large music instruments company with a great customer service. Where I live, I get stuff above a rather low amount of money delivered free. Also I get it to try it out for a month, while I can send it back within the first two weeks, free of charge. I don’t know how these things work in the USA, but you could find that out on the site.
@ Balfour, all I can say about that Camac single-action pedal harp, is that it was relatively cheap and that if one had Camac PH38 lever harp it could be rebuilt into this single-action pedal harp for a nice price.
The shop where I bought my Camac PH38 somewhere during the nineties, said that the mechanism of the Salvi pedal harps worked easier. By the way, both harp models have been discontinued.As this post doesn’t come through, perhaps because of the link, I will just send it again with the link made unusable…
Frankly, I would call ‘that place’ in Ontario again and explain that surely, you will gladly come in person to look, but you need to know first which harps of which age they have in stock as you live hours away.
I guess you just got someone on the line who didn’t exactly understand your situation.I just googled and found one shop at Ontaria and looked at ontarioharp . ca/ classified-ads/ harp-sales (I won’t post the link as the software on this forum sometimes automatically removes postings with links). Anyway, it looks like they only have got a Camac Electro-Acoustic pedal harp.
By the way, I’m a great fan of Camac harps.Did you also have a look for places where they rent out used harps? This might be a nice opportunity for you to find out whether a pedal harp is what you really want and how many strings you really need, etc. Often you might get a really nice price if you decided after half a year or perhaps a whole year to buy the harp you rented. Especially as two years ago, you were looking for a harp not as heavy as a (lever) Salvi Ana…
By the way, in this thread you may find valuable information on searching for a used harp in Canada: harpcolumn . com/ forums/ topic/ buying-a-used-pedal-harp-in-canada/
As an afterthought. I read some of your earlier posts. In one of them you say that your “[….] Salvi Ana and it is too heavy to carry to gigs or exams.”
Well, I’m afraid that even the smalled double action pedal harp will be even heavier than the Salvi Ana…You may find some single action pedal harps which may be significantly lighter in weight, but then their string tension is usually lighter as well and then you wouldn’t get the kind of full and rich sound which only pedal tension gut can provide you with. The former Camac 38 single action harp did have pedal gut tension strings though).
I think these are red flags. The main question being, what exactly do you think you agreed on? And did you have the agreement in writing (e.g. by email?)
You don’t know whether it’s a “good little pedal harp” until you’ve inspected and played it for yourself. It may have some problems which were not visible on the photos, like a need for an expensive overhaul. Also, every harp is different, so you really want to hear this harp in person before you buy.
I am not impressed by the fact she says she is a professional musician. Everyone that is making some money out of an activity may regard herself as professional. It has nothing to do with knowledge or competence. Also the fact that she has a website doesn’t impress me at all.
Every professional harpist knows that all harps are different, that used harps can have problems which may be pricey to fix and that no one should buy a harp unseen…
This harpist is willing to drive 1.5 hours (and 1.5 hours back?) to a place where you can see the harp. This may or may not be a place where she would go to anyway for another reason (like visiting friends or family).
I wonder whether she thinks that this driving is costing her time and time is money. This is a bullshit argument. She wants to sell a harp and you want to buy one. And perhaps or perhaps not you like the harp enough to buy it for the price she wants for it. You simply both invest in time and if all works out well, she sells the harp and you buy it for the price you can agree on. It may be that you like the harp, but find the money asked too high for the price asked if the harp looks like it needs an expensive overhaul….. If you can’t agree on your buying of the harp, such is life.
She may have tried perhaps even longer than you to search for a little pedal harp to sell her little pedal harp… In these Covid-times a lot of people don’t like to meet strangers who might infect them. So, I would really think twice before giving in to her extremely strange proposal. Or better, no hair on my head would think of paying before buying.
Now, I could imagine she wanted to see some money in order to be sure that you are a serious, potential buyer. But I myself would never send money beforehand. You did and I do hope it was only a minor amount and that you would get it back if at the place you agreed to meet, you didn’t like the harp as much as you thought.
There’s one thing that I would do if I had a harp to sell (and which is rather usual where I live) that is ask who the buyer’s teacher is and then contact that teacher. That way I would be sure whether I had to do with a person seriously looking for a harp or not.
As to whether she wouldn’t accept a certified cheque, I am not sure why she would refuse. The funny thing is that she doesn’t seem to trust you at all while she expects you to trust her blindly. Where I live, I could pin a great amount of money if I agreed on this with my bank beforehand. I have no clue about these kinds of thing in the USA.
In short, yes, I see several red flags. I am sorry.
Hi Autumn Moon, I’ve got my Excalibur now for about 2.5 years and I am still happy with her. I like her tension being between celtic and pedal. I wonder though that when you feel the tension of the Isolde being ‘a bit floppy’ you might prefer a pedal string tension. As there is also a Classical Isolde Classic with pedal gut tension carbon strings, you may like to try that one too. If you want pedal gut tension and a warmer sound, you may like to try the Camac Korrigan. If you for some reason don’t want (pedal) gut on the Korrigan, you may exchange it for (pedal tension) nylgut.
I hope you can find a way to try out these harps before you buy, as they sound rather different from each other (and also, even harps of the same model all sound a bit different).
O dear, it happened again… I just adapted the link to Hedwig’s theme in my message of several weeks back and now that whole post has dissappeared…
So, @ Elizabeth, here comes a working link to Hedwig’s theme on a chromatic harp played by Christine Palethorpe; https://youtu.be/8H_3ZFsTUn0
@ Elizabeth, I just adapted the link and do hope it will work now.
@ Saul, a rather high tensioned chromatic harp needs a lot of muffling. This has to do with the fact that contrary to a pedal of lever harp when only the strings that fit the key of the piece resonate along with the strings played, when playing a relatively high tension strung chromatic harp, so much more strings tend to resonate along with the strings played.
