Review of Stoney End "Esabelle" cross strung harp

[@Beautysblush1]

Adam you play so beautifully. I found this video to be very informative! I really appreciate it!

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Thanks Tami, although I'm still trying to come to grips with this one. The cross strung harp is a great option for somebody who is coming from being a pianist. If you are starting out from scratch, it could be a little frustrating and a lever harp may be the way to go.

[@Beautysblush1]

Adam B Harris Thank you Adam. I do play Piano. Yes, I am still considering a level harp too.

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Tami Toppen You are in a more fortunate position than me because you can more or less easily visit some of the places that sell these instruments and see (and more importantly hear) what you like. I would recommend a cross harp over a pedal harp unless you wanted to play in an orchestra (pedal harp is louder) or if you wanted to play some of the repertoire specifically written for pedal harp (of which there is lots).

[@Beautysblush1]

Adam B Harris Adam I would be playing the harp in a large church on a stage with extremely high ceilings. I would want one that would be best for this. Possibly other instruments like guitar and piano would be playing with me at times. Ease of playing during performance is appreciated also. Unfortunately I do not think there are any places that sell harps near me. I really do like what I hear of the Stoney Harps and the price seems very good. I appreciate all the info you are sharing. It helps a lot!

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Tami Toppen If you are ever playing with a piano, you might need a little amplifier to help you out a bit. Something your church would probably have. Any of the instruments you are looking at would be fine. I seem to recall that Stoney End has some sort of payment plan option too you might want to look into.

[@MartynCookHarp]

Hi Adam Congrats on the new harp... really good video and love the words and comments that flash up! Your arrangements on non chromatic harp are really beautiful and make me smile with appreciation at the way you use available notes to create such pleasing harmonies... Really looking forward to seeing some posts with the cross strung. Cheers, M

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Actually I sold this a couple of years ago. The only reason I bought it in the first place was to see if I could deal with the fingering system. I ended up getting Brandden Lassels to build a bigger one for me. I have it with me, but can't really play it as my elderly mother who I am caring for cannot stand the sound of it (or any music in general). How is your prototype coming along?

[@MartynCookHarp]

Adam B Harris I’ve finished... will put up a clip this weekend.

[@Aeiouuoiea777]

Excellent video!

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Thank you, I have since sold the harp to buy a larger one of the same type.

[@VeronicaWhite27]

Very resonant AND pretty.

[@AlphaOrchestra]

really informative and a beautiful harp indeed.

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Thank you, have checked out a few clips on your channel - you do really good work.

[@AlphaOrchestra]

Cheers. Im really glad.

[@dhog41]

Music can save the world....If only it were that simple....Beautiful instrument.

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Thats quite pl Carol, a nice little harp that I frequently use for working out bits and pieces.

[@dianamccandless7094]

A Fabulous explanation, thanks!

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

No problems Diana, highly recommended if you want to try this sort of thing.

[@paullyle3461]

Great review Adam thanks for sharing🕸️❤️🖤⭐

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Glad you liked it mate. It was a lovely little harp, I have since sold it and bought a larger cross strung. Have played on a couple of other Stoney End instruments and they were both nice.

[@dsanw]

a wonderful instrument and a great demo ! Thank you for the video and best wishes! Uli

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Glad you liked the demo, it was unrehearsed so I needed to make a lot of cuts in there in places where I was talking more rubbish than usual.

[@therealzilch]

Very nicely done and informative review- thanks. I'm a harp builder in Austria who's trying to get as much information as possible before starting to build my own. cheers from sunny Vienna, Scott

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Thanks Scott, these instruments are not easy to build because of all the extra tension (hate to think about how much tension would be on a Welsh triple). After I decided I was comfortable with the fingering, I commissioned a well respected Australian harp luthier to make me a 61 string instrument. It was beautiful and sounded great but I had problems with the neck cracking and had to send it back to be fixed under warranty. I visited Vienna some 38 years ago now and yes I seem to remember it was sunny!

[@therealzilch]

Thank you, Adam. Yes, I realize that I will have to take care with the tension. But my design is quite different from a normal harp- the strings run parallel to the bellies, so it's more like a lyre, or rather a double lyre. I think it will work- we'll see. But one thing I'm wondering about- and I expect I'll just have to try playing for myself- is what the optimal crossing angle is. Too small, and you have to reach too far from the crossover point to pluck without hitting the wrong string. Too large, and your hand is sort of wedged in. At least that's what I imagine. Have you tried harps with different crossover angles? cheers from sunny Vienna, Scott p.s.- if you're interested, I have some clips up on Soundcloud, both on my gut/metal double psaltery (diatonic), and my single lyre (just). Here's an example: soundcloud.com/scott-wallace-189088488/truckin

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

I know exactly the type of thing you mean, I play a carbon fibre lyre made by Hayden Harps in Canada. Would be very interested in your build so keep in touch after you've reached the prototype stage. While there obviously isn't a strict ruling on the subject , there seems to be two angle systems in use, which I've heard called Pleyel and "American", the American being the more acute. I haven't tried the Pleyel. On a lyre the angle would need to be very acute. Quite an exercise trying to work out a compromise of angle and string spacing I imagine. Can't get any sound out of that soundcloud page at the moment but will keep trying.

[@therealzilch]

Thanks Adam, I will definitely keep in touch. I think I can manage to keep string spacing reasonable and fairly equal by having the strings not cross in the middle, but around 1/3 to 1/4 of the length along, where they don't vibrate as much. I'm in the middle of building a large (2.8 meter) lyre as a test bed for strings. We'll see. Thanks again for the great video and information. Cheers from sunny Vienna, Scott

[@RicardoMottagu1tarra]

Muy buen sonido.

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Thanks Ricardo

[@gutsandgrittv5076]

I learned so much in just six minutes!! 😆. Thank you 😊

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

I'm glad you liked the video. I bought this harp because the idea of cross strung appealed to me but I didn't know that I could cope with the layout. I found that I was fine with that and have since sold this lovely little harp and replaced it with a large cross strung.

[@andziawolska5078]

super....dziekuje...

[@VeronicaWhite27]

Well, right now I'm working with an inexpensive cross-strung I got on e-bay. Not such a round pot belly (actually, totally flat). The manufacturer didn't put any label on the inside. So, I can't tell you who made it. It's a caitlin. It will hold me till the one I ordered from Argent Fox is finished. I'm still tuning and re-tuning till the strings finish stretching.

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

if it's a Caitlin it will be an EMS (early music shop) harp made by an independent contractor in Pakistan. Nasty. Probably no amount of tuning will get it sounding right. You will like your new harp much more, but then you already knew that.

[@VeronicaWhite27]

Yes. And there is more to be said about my harp journey. But, I feel I am on the right track now.

[@VeronicaWhite27]

I really appreciate you having this conversation with me, Thank you.

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Veronica White That's quite ok, we are all here to help one another (or should be). It took me 3 harps to get to cross strung. Now that I am relatively comfortable with the fingering I am going to order a larger one when finances allow, hopefully in a couple of weeks time provided I don't have any further incidents.

[@VeronicaWhite27]

Let's hope for the best. How long were you playing your other harps?

[@johnprice3341]

Do a glissando

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Certainly not the instrument's strength, but it's not a big feature of my playing anyway. I have since sold this one and graduated to a 61 string model. Good fun and you can do most things.

[@johnprice3341]

Adam B Harris I guess it sounds out of key unless you are in C. I never liked piano glissandos in other keys

[@Harpiano]

Thank you so much for your review. Can it be in suitcase for airplane?

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Yes you could do that, but if you are after something you can have in onboard luggage try Hadyn Harps. They make small carbon fibre harps.

[@Harpiano]

Adam B Harris Thank you for responding. I’ll check that they have cross strung harp! :)

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

@@Harpiano I know he has double strung not sure he does cross strung yet.

[@Harpiano]

@@AdamBHarrisHarpist Thank you so much for letting me know that. The carbon-fiber string is so interesting and that size can fit onboard luggage. I put this on my option for travel harp. Thanks.

[@VeronicaWhite27]

Actually, I am learning, but I'm not finding a cross-strung teacher anywhere in the NE of the US. Not even the east coast period. So I went to a pedal harpist. After she saw the harp and the spacing of the strings, she seemed to feel that finger tips were best, as opposed to the fleshy part of the top joint of the finger (which is what she uses). It almost felt like the Paruguayan style I've seen.

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Its unfortunate that even though these things have been around for hundreds of years, its all relatively new and I'm sure it would be hard to find a teacher. (I didn't think it would be quite that hard though). After reading your message, I sat down and played the harp for 15 minutes, alternating between nails and finger pads I don't think its any big deal, just a different way of vibrating the string. Bear in mind that most harp teaching methodology comes from the pedal harp tradition where playing with nails is undesirable because of the higher tension of the string. I just see it as getting a different sound, like a classical guitarist would player closer to the bridge or closer to the neck to access different sound qualities. If you ever go on to playing wire strung harp you will find that you need to play with your nails (although a few of them don't do that either - for every rule and exception).

[@VeronicaWhite27]

I was wondering, do you find that you have to relearn glissades and arpeggio individually now that you're playing cross-strung? If not, what's the technique I should try.

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

I'm relearning them as I need them. At the moment I am only using the harp for recording tunes. (you can hear some on soundclick). Glisses I'm not that keen on anyway and you are certainly limited with a 5/7 cross harp to pretty much a black note gliss and a white not e gliss. With arpeggios/chord shapes I will check out what feels comfortable first and then compare it to what it says in the reference book I have by Harper Tasche and then make some sort of decision as to what fingering I'm going to use.

[@VeronicaWhite27]

Yeah, regretfully, that's what I thought. I have Harper's jazz book. I'll look and see what I can get from that. Which one were you referring to?

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Its just called How to Play the Cross Strung Harp. Has scale arpeggio and chord exercises in each key together with a sample tune in that key. Suggested fingering for everything. A good book, probably a bit overwhelming for a rank beginner but good for someone that already has a musical background. He seems to be the main guy that is waving the flag for these instruments.

[@harpforest]

I see that the 7/5 Esabelle has 5 black strings against 7 uncolored strings. My 6/6 Esabelle has C and C# in red while it has F and F# in blue. The rest are uncolored. Most other 7/5 cross-strung harps that I have seen also have C and C# in red and F and F# in black or blue. Most European 6/6 harps have C in red and F in black but C# and F# are not colored.

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

+HarpForest Interesting, I didn't realise you were playing a 6/6.Although I generally don't look at the strings I would say after having played it for sometime I would prefer colourless strings to black as the black are harder to see. I don't think black strings would make much sense on a 6/6. I've got a five octave 5/7 on order from Harps and Harps at the moment. Hopefully it will turn up early next year some time.

[@harpforest]

+Adam B Harris Best luck on your new cross strung harp!

[@VeronicaWhite27]

Hi Adam. How have you been?

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

I've been ok but the tour van isn't very well. Which is a worry because its getting near summer touring time here. How's the harping going?

[@Tadek59]

Beautiful instrument :-)

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

It sure is Tadeusz, thanks again for putting it around.

[@VeronicaWhite27]

I just cut my nails, then I saw your video. You play with your nails?

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Sometimes. Probably mostly, I don't really take a lot of notice. I generally don't change the strings on my instruments until they break. As a result, the strings tend to sound a little dull and I've gotten into the habit of using my nails to get a little more life out of it. I can play the "normal" way though and generally do when I am making a recording otherwise it tends to sound too toppy. The Esabelle is the same size as the lap harp that I usually use for street work so I lapsed into playing that way I guess. If you are learning to play the harp I would recommend you learn the conventional way first but in the end its like all musical instruments, there are no rules just guidelines and recommended practices.

[@sandrateager]

Lovely share as always! I really enjoyed that! =)

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

My friend the cat, thank you - hopefully I will be able to do something good with it soon.

[@sandrateager]

Adam B Harris Best of Luck to you! =^o^=

[@VeronicaWhite27]

Greetings! from the past --- lol

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

Hi Veronica!