Heather Harp Tm, 22 Strings

by Roosebeck

Product Features

• Beautiful instrument imported from craftspeople around the world!
• Perfect for aspiring world musicians!
• Made with authentic materials!

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 36 x 23 x 12 inches ; 15 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 60 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B0009V9WPE
• Item model number: 22 String
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,319 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)
  • #7 in Musical Instruments > Folk & World Instruments > Stringed Instruments > Autoharps

Product Description

The Heather HarpT has 22 DuPont hard nylon strings that range from C3 to C6, and it has 22 sharpening levers. It is approximately 36" high. It has an engraved and inlaid rosewood frame with a birch soundboard for exceptional sound and strength. It includes a tuning tool and one extra string set. The color of the wood may be a little different than the photo.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good starter harp, February 4, 2006

By 

CRJ (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heather Harp Tm, 22 Strings

I own 5 harps. This is the smallest and cheapest I own. It is a really good deal for this price. Most harps are very expensive. A harp of this size from a "good" manufacturer with full sharping levers would be over $1000. This one is made in Pakistan. It sounds fairly nice for the price. I like it as a nice portable harp to carry to classes. And, since it's cheaper, I don't need to worry as much if it gets bumped around during a class. I think it would also be a great harp to learn on, to see if you like it or are good at it before making the commitment to buy a more expensive harp.

At classes, this harp has a really bad reputation, probably due to its inexpensive price and the fact that most people who buy them know nothing about harps.

However, it really is a nice little harp. The string spacing and tension are excellent. I like the way they extended the top to give your hand room to reach the higher strings -- that is difficult in some small harps. This harp has broken fewer strings than some of my really expensive harps. After about 6 years, mine has no cracks or problems of any kind. The harp piller and harmonic curve are both laminated and pretty strong. However, I keep it out of direct sunlight and high heat, and make sure it doesn't dry out too much in our midwestern winters (when most homes get very, very dry and many wood things crack). You would need to do that with any wooden musical instrument. I also know how to take care of it -- like how to push in the tuning pins if they loosen up (which they will do on any Irish-style harp). If you take care of this harp, it will last a long time.

If you do buy it, buy an extra set of strings. And also buy Sylvia Woods book on learning to play the harp and how to correctly care for the harp.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It has its pros and cons, March 20, 2006

By 

D. Lam (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heather Harp Tm, 22 Strings

This was the first harp I bought. For the price it's a very good deal. A decent student classical harp will run thousands of dollars. I'd recommend this harp for a beginner who is planning to play folk harp. I have moved on to a classical lever harp with concert tension, which is much different. This harp's strings are very loose compared to a pedal harp or classical lever harp. Beginners should note that because the strings are so loose, it's difficult to play without some buzzing, so don't be discouraged by that.

I outgrew this harp quickly because of the pieces I wanted to play. It has three full octaves, which is great for most folk pieces, it's difficult to play classical pieces (such as Pachelbel's Canon) given its limited lower range. It's generally recommended to buy a harp with as many strings as you can afford.

All the strings on this harp come with sharpening levers, which is fantastic. However, they're not exact and you may have to fool around with them to get the notes to sound right and this makes accidentals tricky. Many lever harpists tune their harps to E flat and unsharpen B, A and E to flatten when needed. This was not possible with my harp due to the unprecise nature of the levers.

Having said the above, I plan on keeping this harp around. It's great for travelling and is much more portable than my 5'5" harp. It's really quite nice to look at, with a nicely carved soundboard.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Harp for the Price, August 24, 2006

By 

Sparrow (Salisbury Center, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Heather Harp Tm, 22 Strings

Years ago, I bought a more expensive lap harp which was so unstable that after over a year of tuning it daily, it would never hold its tune for more than five minutes. Ultimately, I gave up on it.

I was nervous about buying this very inexpensive harp, but I really wanted to give it another shot. I am so glad that I did!!!! The harp is very well made, and the tuning stability has been great, pretty much from the day that I received it.

My husband, who is a professional musician, has commented several times about how well constructed the harp is, and how great it sounds.

I suspect that I will want to buy a larger harp in the fairly near future due to the somewhat limited range of this one, but I will still love this harp, nonetheless. I will definitely go back to Mid-East for my next harp!!!