- #Lyon and healy harp troubadour ii made in what year how to#
- #Lyon and healy harp troubadour ii made in what year full#
Our own Carl Swanson can give you excellent reviews, from being a harp builder, technician, and a harpist. Also, talk to harp technicians like Tom Bell and Ivan Gardner to see which ones they like best, from working on them and playing them. Sean, I think that checking with retailers who sell all the major brands of large concert grand pedal harps is your best bet. Even on vacations, one of them must “travel” with me. With me, my two harps are like magnets, pulling me toward them with the beautiful memory of how good they felt and sounded to me when I last played them. Anyway, I hope this helps.Great point, Gretchen, “ultimately, your choice comes down to whether or not you like the feel and sound of a particular harp.” It must feel good to you when you are playing it, comfortable on your knees and shoulder, and above all, you must like the sound of it. The harps sound great – I’m sure they’d play them for you over the phone in the case you’d want to seriously contemplate this option and can’t make it to Chicago. That’s not much more than the one you’re looking at, so you may want to consider this. Right now, they have so many used troubadours with great sound quality! If you’re considering $1,660 for the TII, you can get a troubadour 4, or 5, for only $1,900-2,400. But alas, getting back to the Troubadour II… as I mentioned, I’ve been spending lots of time at L&H in Chicago. I’m tuning it freequently with lots of success. I totally get what you mean about the sound quality – my teacher was so impressed that she wanted to buy it if I didn’t – it was made the year I was born. Regarding the one I was considering, after much research, and lots of advice from the Harpcolumn community, I went ahead with the purchase ($950). I’m in Chicago and visit the L&H factory for things often these days (I’m only 10 minutes away!), so let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I’m sorry to hear that your Troubadour I was damaged. It will not be hard to switch to a pedal harp, but when you get one, get the very best one you can.
#Lyon and healy harp troubadour ii made in what year how to#
You can learn your technique on it and how to play musically on a harp. Such a troubador can serve you well for two years or so. Sam Milligan was quite impressed with it. I was not advised to have new levers put on my harp. It is just fine to have nylon strings on it down to middle c, and they are better as the levers will slowly shave down the string, and gut strings will break much sooner, I recall. Just don’t plan on using the levers a lot if they are out of tune. If you have to have a harp to start right away, and there are no others around for that price, go ahead and buy it if it has no cracks or warping. The levers can be regulated, but only so much. My original troubador, fortunately, still stands straight and true, and has gorgeous tone quality, even with the levers up. I think it is perhaps overpriced at $1,000 though I am no expert on it.
#Lyon and healy harp troubadour ii made in what year full#
Due to a full schedule, I do not have the luxury of my teacher weighing in and I do not want to lose this sale to someone else if this is a good choice by delaying longer than necessary. I would be greatly appreciative of any insights I may gain from all of you about whether this would be a good purchase and choice for a beginner like me.
sufficient octave range for learning a variety of musical pieces.etc… I am hoping some more experienced players might weigh in on this for me. Since I am in no position to judge if, and to what degree this will effect 1. I was advised by the L&H factory that the string spacing/tension/sound board probably have slightly different specs than more current models. Since there have been so many model upgrades/changes following this original model, I am concerned that the instrument may/may not be suitable to learn on, for the purposes of later transitioning to a pedal harp. I am considering the purchase of the following harp: Lyon & Healy Troubadour (the very first model they made back in the mid-70s, 1977 I believe, 33 strings, priced around $1,000, black in color, “good condition”-no apparent defects from the pics, original owner who purchased directly from L&H 30 years ago). As this will be my first instrument, I don’t wish to break the bank at this point in time. I have done a good deal of research, but do not have any “real life” experience in selecting a harp/evaluating its sound, feel, and features. I hope to one day move on to a pedal harp, but this will be a consideration a few years down the road. I’m a beginning harpist and am ready to purchase a harp.