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Electric harps

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 36 total)
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  • #70942
    unknown-user
    Participant

    I was looking into purchasing an electric harp, and I wanted to ask for advice on the different brands if anyone had a preference? I think I’ve narrowed it down to 3…

    Silhouette Electric Lever Harp – Lyon and Healy (33 strings, 16 pounds/7kg)

    Electro 36 – Camac (32 strings, 11.02 pounds/5kg)

    DHC Blue Light – Camac (36 strings, 28.66 pounds/13kg)

    I own a Lyon and Healy 85 Petite and love it dearly. I’ve never played a Camac harp but having heard others perform with them I know they have beautiful sound. So my real questions are…

    Has anyone played these harps?

    Do you have a preference?

    Is it worth the extra weight for the extra strings on the Electro 36?

    Is it worth the fewer strings and lesser weight on the DHC Blue light?

    Is the Silhouette from Lyon and Healy as good as the Camac harps?

    If you can answer one question or just share your opinion I’d really appreciate it, thank you for reading!

    — Natalie

    P.S. Oh and I’ve been playing harp for awhile so I’m not a beginner, this won’t be my first harp. And I’m interested in playing 60’s music, in which case I’d “rock out” on an electric so this won’t be for formal events. 🙂

    P.S.S. Annnnnd I wouldn’t be buying this immediately I’m a high school student so I’d have to save up I just wanted to have a price to shoot for a goal over the next year or so to know which harp exactly I’d like to get.

    P.S.S. Sorry I talk so much. Thank you if you’ve read all this, I’d really love to hear back from you!

    #70943
    unknown-user
    Participant

    Electro 36 – Camac (32 strings, 11.02 pounds/5kg)

    DHC Blue Light – Camac (36 strings, 28.66 pounds/13kg)

    Oops I totally messed up on my little chart, below I corrected it!

    Electro 36 – Camac (36 strings, 28.66 pounds/13 kg)

    DHC Blue Light (32 strings, 11.02 pounds/ 5 kg.)

    Sorry about that, the DHC Light is obviously the lighter and smaller of the two Camac harps and the Electro 36 has 36 strings not 32…. I need to pay more attention to my typing! :O

    #70944
    Tacye
    Participant

    Between those it really depends on if you want to strap the harp on and prance around or have it on a stand.

    #70945
    unknown-user
    Participant

    Hmmm if I had to be tied down by a stand at that point I’d probably just want a pedal harp…

    Most of the songs I play don’t use the full range of 40 strings on my pedal harp so a smaller range probably wouldn’t be much a problem, but thank you that’s a wonderful idea I’ll experiment! 🙂

    That would be amazing if they made the DHC with more strings, electric harps are so interesting I’d love to see some new models.

    Have you played any of these harps?

    Thanks for the reply!

    — Natalie

    #70946
    Jerusha Amado
    Participant

    The Silhouette and DHC Light both offer harnesses for body wear and also tripod stands.

    #70947
    unknown-user
    Participant

    I was leaning toward these two over the Electro36!

    Have you worn the body harness? My father has a device for holding his camera (we have a family owned media business) and it has a body harness. It used to kill his back until we got it adjusted just right, then he said the weight was distributed over his back.

    — Natalie

    #70948
    dawn-penland
    Participant

    I own the Silhouette. I love it but it’s too heavy for me to strap on. I bought it second hand so it’s not under warranty and the high E is broken. It’s an electrical problem and it’s not the pickup. I need to ship it to L&H to fix. It’s 2 or 3 years old. Sounds like you want to strap it on so I think you’d be happy with the Camac. You could ask Deborah Henson-Conant about the Camac. I just saw her in concert, she asked everyone to follow her on Facebook and Twitter. My sister says she likes my Silhouette better than my Ogden or 85E. It’s really fun to play but I usually play my 85E. I’ve never liked to move the levers on the Silhouette. I think the Camac looks easier watching Deborah.

    #70949
    jessica-wolff
    Participant

    My harp has 33 strings and that suits me just fine. As long as it has the low C, and it does.

    #70950
    Jerusha Amado
    Participant

    Hi Natalie,

    I don’t wear the harp; I use the tripod stand, which is great.

    #70951
    tony-morosco
    Participant

    I have a Camac 30 string electroharp.

    I have played on a Silhouette and I have held Deborah’s Blue Light and heard it played.

    In terms of “better”, they are all good. The Silhouette sounds different from the Camac harps, and the camac harps all have a similar sound to one another. So if you want to go with the Camac vs the L&H is a matter of preference for the tone.

    The Silhouette is lighter then my harp, which I personally find too heavy to strap on even at only 30 strings, although Deborah didn’t seem to have much problem when she was using the same harp.

    It would have been nice to have the extra strings, and if I knew then what I know now I would have gone for them. But honestly, if the only option was the 30 strings then I would have gotten the same harp I picked.

    Now I would choose the Blue Light. It sounds just as good, and is so much lighter that it is no contest to me. If they made a larger version that would be perfection in my mind.

    I would still probably go for the Blue Light now even without the extra strings. The weight is more of an issue for me than the lack of strings. A little creative arranging and almost anything that can be played on the 36 string can be reworked to be playable on the BL.

    #70952
    unknown-user
    Participant

    Cool, thanks for the reply!

    I wanted to hear from others about the Silhouette, I felt kind of biased towards the DHC Light because of watching Deborah. Glad I’m not the only one who thinks she makes it look easy. 😉

    How was Deborah in concert? I’ve never seen her live, but even from clips I’ve seen on youtube she sounds amazing!

    — Natalie

    #70953
    unknown-user
    Participant

    I owned a small lap harp for years, my teacher taught me how to adjust music to suit my tiny instrument. 😉

    — Natalie

    #70954
    unknown-user
    Participant

    Oh thank you for pointing out the levers! I’ve used loveland and old robinson levers, but never camac. They look the best and easiest, but I never could tell since I never had a chance to try them!

    I usually like bright sounding harps like Dusty Strings, so I’ve been leaning towards the Camac. Thanks so much for the input!

    — Natalie

    #70955
    unknown-user
    Participant

    Great, thank you so much for the reply! I agree with everything you’ve said, I think if I chose now I would choose the DHC Light. I have a petite pedal harp so if I did get an electric it would be for fun so missing a few strings wouldn’t be a big deal.

    — Natalie

    #70956
    Jerusha Amado
    Participant

    Hi Natalie,

    If you love Dusties, then I think that you’ll be very happy with the DHC Light.

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