Customer Reviews

First Act Discovery FG500 Lap Harp

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It appears that this instrument has been redesigned by First Act and is a little improved over the past. I bought one to do some experimenting in pentatonics with - it's perfect for experimenting with fretless zither (it's a fretless zither, not a hognosed psaltery) tunings.

Don't expect it (or any other musical instrument) to come to you in tune - actually, stringed instruments should be shipped with the tension off the strings (out of tune). But this thing is a bear to tune up and I have a degree in music. I don't see how any 6 year old is going to have a lot of fun with it without help from mom and dad or a teacher.

Construction is durable and eight strings gives you one full octave and the song sheets work great if you tune it according to instructions. The strings are very sturdy and will tolerate a lot of movement in both directions from the intended key. That means, if you know about such things, you can use this little critter to teach modal and pentatonic scales. The strings on the one I bought are singles to the tone - not doubles as someone mentioned in another review. It's likely they've updated that too.

Because of the durable build - the tone quality isn't so hot. Best tone quality comes from very delicate strings and an incredibly thin top. That's not a recipe for a good toy. So this one meets the needs for a toy - it's much better than plastic with nylon strings.

For $20 this IS NOT a concert grade professional instrument. $20 won't buy you concert grade professional strings for it. It's a cheap toy that functions as intended. Anyone that is disappointed they didn't get a professional quality harp for $20 might want to buy a clue. A clue - those professional zithers and harps don't tune themselves either. Part of the educational/learning function of this toy is "how to tune a string."

If you want a real one, they're out there. They start up in the $100's not $20 and they won't last but a couple days in the hands of child.

I bought this for my son for xmas. I was very dissappointed in it. Usually I love First Act instruments. But this one was seriously out of tune when we opened the package. After trying to tune it myself with their tool I took it to my local music store for them to tune. No matter what she did the instrument wouldn't stay in tune. She finally gave up trying to tune it to the notes they said it was supposed to be tuned to and just generally tuned it so at least it was in tune to itself. By the next day it was out of tune yet again. I was really disappointed and have since started looking for a better quality lap harp..which in case you decided to look else where, is also called a hog nosed psaltery.

This is unbelievably poorly designed. It uses a single string to span two notes making it impossible to tune and keep in tune. You can get a better sound out of some wooden mixing spoons and 99 cent buckets from the hardware store. It's such a waste, I don't even want to give it away.

The First Act Discovery FG500 Lap Harp comes with 10 printed cards of marked notes for nursery rhymes and some other songs that are not most desired choice for play. The chords are too simplified to make the lap harp a desireable instrument for even a child. The recommendation would be to package or make available a CD or book like other First Act instruments with varing degrees of difficulty. That is the feature that I enjoy the most of First Act--their instructive CDs and books. The instrument is of good quality with a tuning key and pick.

This is a great lap harp. Easy to tune and sound is terrific.
Perhaps you negative ones do not know how to tune and use it properly.
My 4 year old granddaughter can play is perfectly!!

I'm really surprised to see some of the negative comments here -- my husband and I are both musicians, and we're very happy with this little instrument. It's solidly crafted, easy to play, and has a reasonably pleasing sound for a kid's toy. It's true that you'll need to tune it, but that took all of ten minutes sitting by a keyboard the first time we did it.

I think previous reviewers are right to say there's been a redesign; I don't know which model is newer, but what we have is the sort of rounded triangle shape shown in the picture here rather than the more guitar body-like shape I see on FirstAct's own website. This version has eight strings rather than ten. The interior storage slot is a nice little feature -- it's easy to keep the pick and song cards together with the instrument.

Our four-year-old daughter was *thrilled* to receive this, and enjoys making up her own tunes; she hasn't quite gotten the hang of following along with the enclosed song cards yet, but is still a little bit young for them (the box says 6 and up). Overall, I'd say this is a great choice for getting a young child started on a stringed instrument.

This is a fun little instrument. I like the music sheets it came with and how they fit under the strings. My main issue with this lap harp is that we have to tune it ALL THE TIME.

It was completely out of tune when we got it. That would have been okay as they sent a wrench to tune it. But when I tried to tune it, first a string broke. When I tried to replace it the tuning key peg wouldn't hold any tension. It's impossible to play even the simplist of tunes. Very poor quality workmanship. Don't waste your money here.

A gift for my neice to learn to see music notes and to play a lap harp. City child isn't accustomed to rustic, rural music and should be. She loved it and it jump started love for music. She know plays the piano and another orchestra instrument. It was a great spring-board intro to music.

I work for a non-profit discovery museum. We used this instruments as part of a changing space. With school tours coming in, we had hundreds of kids playing with this harp per day. While it is true that tuning it is a bit tough (I did eventually learn to keep it in tune with itself as well), the instrument survived nearly three full months of hands-on play--probably thousands of kids battered this harp. The string never had to be replaced, the wood never cracked. (And we did have a cracked ukulele, maracas, drums that were punctured, etc.)If you have a rowdy kid and anyone handy with a little musical ability (for tuning) I would absolutely suggest the First Act Harp. We rave about it here.