I just bought a Merlin Harp and am very happy with it. It is brand new, so the sound is changing from one day to the next right now. But overall it has a beautiful Bass and Mid-Range. I'll wait and see what happens with the top notes over time. This harp is very light weight to travel with and ultra-comfortable on the shoulder while playing. It seems to resonate so beautifully and really fills my house with lovely sound.
Aesthetically, it is much more beautiful in real life than the photo shows on the R-Harps website. Also, I think it has an amazing sound for the price compared to other lever harps. I tried many different brands of Harps. I thought I would love the Dusty Strings Harp, but was not as impressed as I wanted to be when I heard several of their models in real life. A lot of people around me own Triplett Harps. I rented one for a while and didn't care much for it. It was clearly well made, but the sound just didn't appeal to me personally, for some reason. In fact, I bought the Merlin Harp sight-unseen. Why, you may ask would I do such a thing? Well, it is because someone played it over the phone for me. And the Merlin sounded better over the phone than other lever harps did in person. From that moment on I was sold. And when I recieved it, it did not dissapoint me.
After a lot of searching I am happy to say that the Merlin was just what I was looking for. It has a clean, precise sound.and is a very well-made, high quality instrument. Cheap tuners need not apply. If you have a Merlin Harp, and cannot tune by ear: I reccommend a good quality tuner. I am using a Peterson Stobo-Flip with great results.
Last thoughts: The string tension is light, so I find this a very easy Harp to Play. I can just sit there for hours without stopping it is so enjoyable. My husband is getting mad because I spend so much time with the Harp now.
Hope this helps for anyone considering purchasing a Merlin.
