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Lyon & Healy Lever Harps: Pedal or Lever Strings?

by | Jul 18, 2014 | Harp Strings, Lever Harp | 2 comments

Lever Harp Lineup at Lyon & Healy WestI was talking with a colleague over at harp.com, Lyon & Healy’s partner website for strings, accessories, and all things harp, and he told me that his customers frequently experience confusion over what type of strings to buy for their Lyon & Healy lever harp. Bow Brand, which produces strings for Lyon & Healy and harp.com, produces both pedal and lever harp strings.  The confusing thing is that many models of Lyon & Healy lever harp are designed to take pedal harp strings.

Lyon & Healy’s three current models of lever harp, the Troubadour, Prelude, and Ogden, are all string with pedal harp strings. The same is true of the Folk Harp, which is no longer produced, but there are still lots of them being played. Since Lyon & Healy is a pedal harp maker, they have long designed most models of lever harp they produce to have the same spacing, tension, and feel as their pedal harps. This eases the transition for a student who begins on lever harp and then progresses to a pedal harp once she has decided she’s crazy enough to stay with the harp. In esssence, these models of lever harp function as “starter” pedal harps as far as tension, sound, and feel are concerned.

Other models of Lyon & Healy lever harp were designed for the player who intends to stay with the lever harp. The Lyric and Shamrock are two examples. Both of these are strung with Bow Brand lever strings. The electric Silhouette is also strung with lever harp strings.

You don’t need to keep all of this information in your head if you generally order through harp.com. The site includes a form where you can select your model of harp and get a list of the appropriate strings. The problem arises, according to my friend who handles harp.com orders and shipping, is that many customers are confused when their order arrives and they find they’ve received a set of pedal harp strings for their lever harp. If you own an Ogden, Prelude, Troubadour, or Folk Harp, don’t send that order back! You’ve got exactly what you need.

A note about those lever harps that do use pedal harp string names: depending on size, part of the first octave may be missing. 34 string harps such as the Lyon & Healy Ogden go up to first octave A. 36 string Troubadours go up to first C. I mentioned earlier that the highest complete octave on a pedal harp is the first, and strings above it are in the zero octave. On some lever harps, the highest complete octave is the second, not the first. More confusion, especially considering that many people own smaller harps when they are new to the harp. For this reason, we’ve also created string charts for common lever harp models, and you can find those here.

On a smaller lever harp, the highest complete octave may be the second, not the first.

2 Comments

  1. Eliza

    Interesting. Do you know if the same is the case for other harp-makers? I have a Camac pedal harp and would like to get a lever harp. On their website it does categorise the harp strings into lever/pedal harps …

    Reply
    • Steve Moss

      I don’t know. I can try to find out but Camac is currently closed for their summer vacation until mid-August. My guess is that their lever harps are mostly or all strung with lever harp strings. I believe they market their lever harps primarily to the folk and Celtic player unlike L&H which is geared more toward students who may eventually advance to pedal harp.

      Reply

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