> >Has anyone built a small harp "Leprechaun jr." from the Robinson
> plans? How
> >does it sound ?Is it comfortable to play?
Eileen,
Despite Lauren's unfortunate experience on having her Leprechan Jr. bolt
off to parts unknown looking for gold and a taste for Whiskey I've
generally found them to be good little harps.
For those of you who arn't interested in this - go ahead and delete now.
There are a lot of pros and cons on this little harp. The good side:
You get 28 strings on a small harp -- it really is a bit large to truly
be called a "Lap harp" unless you're a very big person. It's incredibly
light and easy to tote around. The use of zither pins cuts some of the
cost of the instrument and the entire thing is rather inexpensive to
build. It's fun to play and if you're careful with the construction and
use a different stringing schedule than the one supplied with the harp
it can have a really nice tone.
Cons: String spacing is very narrow, like the ancient wire harps. If
you have large hands, forget this one. If you have small hands or are
starting a child on harp, it's absolutely perfect. If you build it with
a stool you get about the same sense of proportion with a seven year old
behind it as you would with an adult behind a large 36 string folk harp.
If you build it without the stool (as I did) to use as a "lap harp", it
is a real pain in the butt to hang on to since the back is rounded and
has an alarming tendency to want to shoot out from between your knees,
so it takes a bit of getting used to. Another feature of the round back
is construction. If you build the jig to make the round back, you've
now spent more money constructing the jig then you would have to make
the back. Also throw away any idea of nice 90 degree angles. If this
is the first harp you want to make, and you want to stick to the plans,
forget it. Buy a good kit. There are no instructions, just plans and
you need to at least know how a harp goes together and have some
experience in woodworking to construct it. Another disadvantage to this
harp is no levers. There is not enough space between the strings or on
the neck to put them on. (Unless some of the newly designed levers are
narrower). You may be able to manage levers on the C's and F's but it's
not easy.
Depending on the care with which you build it it can either sound great
or like a cigar box. Good luck!!!
Robin