let's talk inexpensive harps

[Selta]

Well, it's not inexpensive but this is about the only recent harp thread that I can recall. Here's our baby:

Tuning is quite fun - in other words, takes ages. But the sound is awesome. I love hearing my wife play on it. I muddle around on it and can do some basics, but, still have a lot of fun on it.

 

[bholder]

This thread could use a little Discipline:

 

[bassliner50]

View attachment 4475305

Should be "Welcome to hell. Here are your bagpipes".

 

[dalkowski]

Should be "Welcome to hell. Here are your bagpipes".

I got bagpipe jokes.

 

[Durham52]

The great Alan Stivell playing the Celtic harp. I wore this album out in the mid 70's.

 

[MonetBass]

In college, the symphony had a harp player. She was incredibly cute and owned her own harp. (Think about that.) She knew how to play it well. I dig harp players.

 

[BarfanyShart]

In college, the symphony had a harp player. She was incredibly cute and owned her own harp. (Think about that.) She knew how to play it well. I dig harp players.

Usually a little slimmer than piano players, I guess because they have to lug around a harp.

 

[basshack]

Music Makers do harps of various sizes and also kits to build yourself.

www.harpkit.com

Built a lap sized one for my wife and will do a full sized one at some point.

 

[pcake]

You should look at Rees Harpsicle…
https://harpsicleharps.com/
Affordable, portable, wearable(it comes with strap buttons, and a standard guitar strap will do), but it does feel like it's made from popsicle sticks at times, just don't toss it around like a beat-up P-bass, and it will do fine. You have to add an aftermarket pickup, like a Fishman. My wife has had a couple of them, but then moved up to the Salvi Delta, although that's going into four figures on the price(that's nothing, her Camac Blue electro/acoustic pedal harp was up into five). If she ever gets another mini, it will be a Camac, like wildwoman D H-C is using…


Did you know that there is an actual harp store, on Westwood just north of Pico? Almost under the GC on the corner. That's where she gets all her maintenance done. There's all sorts of unexpected things that can be attempted with the instrument, from looping and other effects…


…to avant-garde weirdness…


Now, my sweetie may not have played with Steve Vai, but she did play on this track, although it ended up being buried in the mix as a certain someone didn't want his piano part to be outshined…

But we traveled halfway across the world for her to participate in this, which was a lot more interesting…

wow!!!!!

harpsicles are a bright for me - they hurt my "bad" ear. i got a fireside kit (story in next post) and a roosebeck (used to be mid-east) with full sharping levers, which i know isn't the best quality harp, but i wanted full sharping levers. both are under 3 feet tall and weigh under 12 pounds - the fireside is 4 pounds plus paint.

Any chance of a quick sound clip of you playing the lure harp? Never seen one before; looks cool!

i'll try and record it - it's a bit twangy due to the shallow body and steel strings.

I took a semester of harp in college as an elective - best .5 credit hour ever! (I played Greensleeves for the final)

I think I'm going to look into some of these options - thanks for the thread!

check out the fireside harp kit or the waring harp kit. i've been very impressed with the mellow pretty tone of the fireside and for under $250 shipped, it's the one to beat.

I play one gig where a woman sometimes plays a harp. To get the thing there, she has a HUGE SUV (it doesn't fit in a normal car). The thing costs more than the SUV - probably several times more. Seeing "inexpensive harps" in the thread title gave me a chuckle.

my harps have all been healthily under $600. they don't have the wonderful rich tone of a large harp, but on the other hand, i can put one in a vw using one hand AND they fit in our small guitar and bass filled condo

Yeah, well, Zeena(see above)has been doing that sort of thing for decades, as well as Deborah(and my better half), plus a few others. As far back as January, '18, I saw Laura Somogyi(also, see above)demoing boxes in the EQD booth at NAMM.

laura somogyi - any relation to luthier ervin somogyi?

I want one! I always wanted to try celtic harp but they are not cheap and apparently are difficult to master. On Amazon, you say...

you could get a fireside harp kit from backyard for $169 plus shipping. even though their back is cardboard (which you paint), they have quite a nice sound with more sustain than a rosewood roosebeck. or there's always the aklot, $159 on amazon although only 15 strings, but if you can live with that, they're well liked.

Well, it's not inexpensive but this is about the only recent harp thread that I can recall. Here's our baby:
View attachment 4475604

View attachment 4475605

Tuning is quite fun - in other words, takes ages. But the sound is awesome. I love hearing my wife play on it. I muddle around on it and can do some basics, but, still have a lot of fun on it.

i've been tuning and finally fine-tuing the lyre harp for a week, and it's only got 16 strings. the new harp (well, now it's harpS, but that's another story) each have a mere 22 strings.

Music Makers do harps of various sizes and also kits to build yourself.

www.harpkit.com

Built a lap sized one for my wife and will do a full sized one at some point.

i think music makers has stopped offering regular kits - they're focusing on the ovalish reverie harp now.

did you make her the limerick harp?

 

[BarfanyShart]

In college, the symphony had a harp player. She was incredibly cute and owned her own harp. (Think about that.) She knew how to play it well. I dig harp players.

Also, owning your own harp will usually get you a free ride to college, so that may end up being a good deal for the parents.

 

[pcake]

here's the story of how i went from no harps to 2 in a matter of days.

when asking around regarding my harp preferences - mellow rather than bright sound, lightweight, quietish, under $600 - a number of people on a harp forum and elsewhere recommended the fireside harp kit. i was interested, but unsure, and since getting the shipping price required going through almost the entire buying process, that's what i did. i didn't complete the purchase at that time.

after spending several days agonizing about harps, researching, watching youtube videos, talking to harp students and players - i went the safe route and ordered the harp i had owned previously but in walnut, which is a mellow sounding wood to my ear. the new version has fully functional sharping levers (the old one, not so much), and my previous one had a very mellow tone. so i ordered that.

then 2 days ago, my husband comes in with the mail. there was a box that looked like a box for a large uke or tiny guitar. "what's that" i asked. he told me it was the harp i ordered. since i knew that harp hadn't even shipped yet, and the box was smaller than the harp, i asked what the return address label said. it said fireside harps llc.

but... but... i hadn't actually ordered the fireside.

through a glitch, their system showed my order as being paid when i went to check the shipping price, so it was shipped to me. since i'm tapped for this month (i did just buy a harp), the owner is letting me pay him after the holidays, which does work for my budget, although it means i made a purchase by accident.

so that's the story.

it appears that GAS no longer needs me to make purchases - it makes them for me.

 

[Johnny StingRay]

That's OK. I've been playing bass since 1976 and still have a lot to learn. I have no desire to start learning a completely new instrument. Being of Scottish ancestry, I appreciate those who play the harp……and pipes as well……..but, I'll stick to bass and let the experts handle the harp and pipes.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

Too many strings for me.. Sorry, couldn't help.

 

[Relsom]

Not inexpensive I'll bet. But this gives me chills every time I watch it....

 

[steve_rolfeca]

I improvised a small zither/harp for my first wife to use for music education with kindergarten and first graders.

Very simple, made out of plywood, with leftover cheap guitar tuners to tension the strings. More or less an autoharp but without the buttons, and fewer strings.

The Harpsicles look interesting to me. My friend Tony Karol builds amazing harp guitars, but they start at close to $10K, so not something I'm ever going to own...

www.karol-guitars.com

 

[Joe Nerve]

I just bought my wife one of these for here birthday!

Roosebeck Minstrel Harp

It sounds beautiful. She's learning how to play it. Been watching some instructional videos myself online and learned that stringed instrument players generally have a hard time with harps because the fingerpicking technique is way different. To be honest, the correct technique kinda frustrates me , so I'm leaving all the harp playing duties to her. She's getting there, but has a ways to go.

Oh yeah... it cost a little over $600. Not inexpensive, but inexpensive for a harp with 29 strings.

 

[WRM]

GAS just cost me $1962 (my birth year) - Deluxe w/case/pickups/strings/music...

I'll pay for it next month when I get my bonus!

Love TB.

 

[pcake]

I just bought my wife one of these for here birthday!

Roosebeck Minstrel Harp

View attachment 4476155

It sounds beautiful. She's learning how to play it. Been watching some instructional videos myself online and learned that stringed instrument players generally have a hard time with harps because the fingerpicking technique is way different. To be honest, the correct technique kinda frustrates me , so I'm leaving all the harp playing duties to her. She's getting there, but has a ways to go.

Oh yeah... it cost a little over $600. Not inexpensive, but inexpensive for a harp with 29 strings.

good for you - what an excellent gift!

my up-and-coming roosebeck is very similar but it's walnut and a size down, so 22 strings. cost $500 shipped, so an excellent price for a harp with levers. how does she like the sharping levers? does she find them smooth and fairly effective?

the technique doesn't frustrate me because i refuse to use it LOL

the harp that's due to arrive on friday -

 

[Bunk McNulty]

Somebody's gotta do it.

 

[dkelley]

I'm so jaded by rock bands that I fully expected to see a thread about hohner harmonicas

harmonicas are great, but harps they are not.

but it's been my entire life that folks have called them harps, so who am I to complain.

Anyway, great thread, learning a lot here, thanks for this!