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Home Forums Harps and Accessories Need help finding a harp on a budget!

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 33 total)
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  • #68763
    Karen Johns
    Participant

    Well good for you :-) I like the gothic look of that harp, with

    #68764
    Natalya Zarraga
    Participant

    Yeah, but this harp seems to have different levers. If you look at the eBay page and the pictures you’ll see what I mean: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150432860671&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_1937wt_1165. Hopefully that link works.

    I’m not really sure what kind they are, but they do kind of look like Camacs. I know Lovelands have that plastic handle and those don’t look like they’re made of plastic. Hmm.

    Oh, and yeah, it’s G to G. I kind of wish it was F to F like the Sara harp, but I can definitely manage. I’ve already started imagining how I would arrange some pieces for it, haha. Speaking of which, is it even possible to get one extra low note (like an F) on the harp via tuning or something? I’m not sure what my options would be there.

    And thanks, Karen. I love the look of it too. 🙂

    #68765

    Congrats.

    #68766
    kathy-chanik
    Participant

    I think those are the Loveland levers in the gold color-not sure if they’re the long handle ones or the short handle ones.

    #68767

    I think you’re right Kathy.

    #68768
    jessica-wolff
    Participant

    I’m looking around myself. Anything would be an improvement over the string-chewing levers I have on my antiquated Troubadour–but if I find something, and it has Loveland rather than Camac or Truitt, what is the practical difference between the long-handled and short-handled Lovelands? For instance, if you’re really short and don’t have much of a reach? Does the R Harps Merlin come with long-handled or short-handled Lovelands?

    #68769
    harpglo-jean
    Participant

    I was told by an employee at Sylvia Woods’ Harp Center that Loveland, no longer manufactures the short black (plastic) levers, only the longer ones…I have the short ones, (which work just fine), on my 9-year old Triplett harp, however, I prefer the longer ones, which are on two of my Dusty Harps.

    #68770
    Jerusha Amado
    Participant

    Gloria,

    What is the length of the short and of the long Loveland levers?

    #68771
    harpglo-jean
    Participant

    Hi Jerusha,

    I just measured the levers.

    #68772
    Jerusha Amado
    Participant

    Gloria,

    Thanks!

    #68773
    Leigh Griffith
    Participant

    Hi,

    Yep, definitely keep an eye on that pillar/neck join even with the brace, although that one looks pretty sturdy. I personally know of three Lorraines up here (Maine/New Brunswick) that have failed at that joint. It is the main reason I went with a different harp even though the size and tone of the Lorraine felt and sounded really great to me.

    Leigh

    #68774
    Natalya Zarraga
    Participant

    So, my harp arrived today, and I’ve been positively ecstatic about it. It looks and sounds beautiful! I’m in love with it; I took tons of pictures and brought it up to pitch. I also bought Sylvia Woods’ “Teach Yourself to Play the Folk Harp” book and am already working hard. However, there has been one unfortunate occurrence.

    My highest C string broke a few minutes ago, and now I’m paranoid about the other ones breaking in that area. I’m thinking the temperature change or something might have caused it to break. Is it normal for that to happen when a harp is shipped a long distance (it was shipped from Montana over a week)? I usually keep my AC between 65-70 degrees because Miami has very muggy weather, but I worry that this could affect my harp. Does that have anything to do with it, or am I just worrying too much? I’m about to tackle replacing my first string. Scary.

    #68775
    Karen Johns
    Participant

    I’m sure it’s just due to the climate change. Montana is much drier than Florida, and it was your thinnest string. Sounds perfectly normal to me.

    You may want to check your relative humidity though- harps like to be at around 50%. This is more for the preservation of the soundboard than the strings. Your A/C will dry things out, so I would just check to see.

    #68776
    Natalya Zarraga
    Participant

    I figured it was the climate change… No other strings have broken, so that’s good. And now I’m really frustrated because I’ve been trying for hours to replace this C string. I’ve been doing research and following the videos on the Harp Center website. It took me a while to get the knot right, and then some more time to get it on the tuning pin correctly. I first left too much slack and started over. I left a little less slack, and then when I tried to tune the string so I would get it to wind around the pin, it broke! And now I have no another string to replace it with except for the other ones in the pack, so I’m kind of at my wit’s end here. This is even harder than I thought it would be. 🙁

    #68777
    Natalya Zarraga
    Participant

    On second thought, I looked at the Lorraine stringing chart, since the C (the one that broke), B, and A strings have the same diameter, would it be possible to use one of those until I get another replacement for the C string? Or is better to just go without the C string for a while?

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 33 total)
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