How to Buy a Harp

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Briawna Howard, and I'm here at Summerhays Music in Salt Lake City, Utah to talk a little bit about how to buy a harp. As a professional harpist and harp teacher buying a harp can seem like an intimidating prospect at first. Hopefully we can talk about a couple of things that will make it a little bit easier. There are several types of harps. There are mainly pedal harps and lever harps. Pedal harps are much bigger that's like the one that you see next to me here. And they have seven pedals attached. These are needed for things like concert playing or symphony or orchestra playing. They are also quite a bit more expensive, more complicated, and harder to move. So for that reason many people choose to start out with buying a lever harp. A lever harp is much smaller, less expensive, and easier to transport, and easier to tune and regulate. Lever harps range anywhere from two to seven thousand dollars. And pedal harps usually start around nine thousand dollars, and go all the way up to forty. Of course, buying a new harp will always ensure that you have something that has a good quality, and usually a good warranty with it as well. However, it can be very cost effective to look at used harps as well. When looking at used harps be sure that you are buying from a reputable source. Contacting local harps teachers or harp performers in your area can be a good resource to start out with. When you look for a harp check for several things. First on the sound board make sure that there are no cracks or dings as that can represent misuse in the harp. One other thing to check on is the neck of the harp. You are going to want to face the harp from the opposite end that you see me facing at now, and look head on. Make sure that the neck of the harp is not swayed or bowed to one side of the other. As that can represent harsh weather conditions or just a harp that hasn't aged appropriately."