Camac Petite Harpe a Leviers

[amyfinck]

Hi all!

I am currently looking for a new lever harp, and I came across a camac “Petite Harpe a Leviers”. It looks very similar to the mademoiselle, but it has 38 strings that are nylon. I can’t seem to find anything about it online. Does anyone have any experience with this harp? It’s priced at $3750 USD, would this be a reasonable price?

Thanks in advance!

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[wil-weten]

Hi Ami, this is a Camac PH38. It has 38 strings, the lowest being an A two and a bit octaves lower than middle C. The highest note is a C.

I owned a Camac PH38 one for many years. Mine was strung with pedal gut. It could also be bought or restrung with nylon. The harp on the picture has white plastic levers. These are rather stiff and not easy to flip while playing. The modern Camac metal levers are much better.

I guess this a harp dating from the nineties, but you could ask for its number (it’s in the inside of the harp) and mail Camac about the year of building.

Frankly, I think the harp is way overprized. I’ve got no idea prices in the US, but in Europe, depending on how well it has aged, this harp would sell from somewhere between 1000 to 1500 euro’s. Yes, also when converted to American dollars that’s less than half the current seller wants for it.

[amyfinck]

Thank you so much! I was definitely unsure about the plastic levers. I’m actually in canada, so it’s $4600 canadian 🙁 Oh well!

[wil-weten]

The plastic levers are rather sturdy, so that’s not the problem. But they can’t be adapted easily when they are a bit out of tune. Fortunately, as the soundboard is rather thick, the soundbox hardly gets a belly, so the need for adaptation is less than with more modern harps.
The levers work rather silently, just like the modern metal Camac levers or the L&H Performance levers, and unlike the Salvi levers, which give a slight click-sound when operated.
If you want to flip levers while playing, you may prefer to find a harp with modern levers. And I would definitely like to have levers that operate silently.

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