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Camac Janet
Hello,
In the quest of my future 34-strings harp, I’m seriously thinking about buying the Janet by Camac. I tried it a little bit, I love her look and sound (maybe thanks to the walnut wood). But I just did a few arpeggios and chords, I didn’t dare playing an actual piece in the middle of the showroom haha… Does anyone here have this one or played on it? I’d like to have some feedback about the narrower strings spacing, because I hardly noticed it 😅 Do we really feel it when we play? Does it change the technique a lot? Also, it sounds perfect for Celtic music (it was specially made for this repertoire), but what if I want to play a little more ‘classical’ music? Would this particular folk tone sound weird associated with a cello and a flute for example?
I’m very curious to have any feedbacks, because I have the feeling that we don’t see this model a lot ok youtube etc (except Janet Harbison of course, as the Janet was made by/for her!), and I wonder why because I had a personal crush 🥰
Thanks in advance!
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10 Replies
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Hi @Claire ! I think it really comes down to a personal preference. All my harps have different string spacing and I play on all of them regularly. I do notice that my hands have the tendency to bump into neighbouring strings if the string spacing is too narrow (I had the problem with a Harpsicle harp that I tried), so I would probably never buy a Harpsicle harp. If you had the opportunity to try the Janet and you thought the string spacing is alright for you, that’s all it matters!
In terms of sound, I also think that is a personal preference! I know many classical pedal harpist who preferred the warm Lyon & Healy sound. My first harp is a Dusty Strings Crescendo and its sound is so different than a Lyon & Healy pedal harp. I play all kinds of music on it including classical, and I think they sounded great on the Crescendo! If you liked the sound of the Janet, odds are you will enjoy it no matter the type of music you play on it. There is a sample of Bach’s cell suite played on the Janet in this video, have you checked it out? https://youtu.be/8HqC1Xx0EjY?t=102 I am not sure how different the different Camac harp models would sound. I generally associate Camac harps to a “Camac sound” (which I notice in not just their lever harps but also their pedal harps) that is bright and crisp, which I love. If the Janet is anything like the Excalibur, here are two videos from Josh playing classical music on his Excalibur:
At the end of the day, the harp that you love is the one that is going to sound best to you! I purchased my Crescendo sight unseen. I had a harp crush over it after doing some harp online research and listened to many sound samples. I have had the harps for a few years now and I am still in love with it despite having added more harps to my harp family since. Trust your instinct and go with the harp that resonates with you. 🙂
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Thanks Victoria, it’s good to know that you can switch easily between different string spacing! When i tried the Janet, I didn’t even noticed this, but I didn’t play an actual piece, just chords and arpeggios. I have to go back and play a few real music. But the seller made a quick demonstration of actual playing and I had the “wow” effect (and it convinced my that Janet has a more powerful sound than Aziliz).
The sound preference is definitely personal, yes! I know I loved this sound, I was just wondering about how it would match with other instruments. Anyway, I’ve read that this one match very well with the voice, and as it’s my long-term goal to sing and play together, that’s a good point. The seller at Camac advised me to add a pickup when I want to play with louder instruments, to avoid “forcing” on the strings, so i’ll certainly do it. And yes I checked the “demo” video you posted, it’s true that Bach sounds good too, though we can hear it’s so perfect for the Irish tunes!
I already heard about this “Camac sound”, but having tried several Camac harps the same day in the same room, I was surprised by the variety of different sounds. I didn’t tried the Excalibur, but I compared Hermine, Aziliz (2 differents ones), Janet and Telenn (beautiful, but I’m not ready to deal with gut strings!). I also tried the new small Odyssey and definitely prefer my Bardic which had a fuller sound. But it’s right they all have in common a rich sound.
Anyway, I love your last advise: “trust your instinct”. Thanks 🙂
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Also, the same day I went in another shop to try some Salvi and Dusty Strings. I liked the sound of the Ravenna 34 a lot (very different from Camac), but was quite disappointed by the design, which is very personal too of course. It could be a detail, but it’s also important to love how your harp looks like, right?
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Hi Titia, thanks for your reply. I don’t worry about the height of a 34 strings, as for the moment I had a 27 strings one with legs and I just managed to find the right stool after a long time 😂
I liked the Janet because she’s a little taller than other 34-strings harps that I tried.
But you’re right about the fact that I have to play longer than a few arpeggios to really test if I’m comfortable with the harp. When I went to the showroom, I wasn’t prepared for this (I initially just went to have my small hapr revised) and didn’t have any memorized piece to play at that moment. I’m working on that right now!
I didn’t tried the Excalibur because I sticked to the 34-strings harps, I don’t think 38 will be useful for me before several years (or maybe never) regarding the repertoire I want to play. But I tried the Telenn because I basically love the tone of gut strings, but really can’t afford this for the moment. I compared the Janet with the Aziliz, which are 2 “concert” harps, and I prefered the sound of Janet, which is very surprisingly warm for nylon strings. I was thinking about chosing a harp with fluorocarbon ones because I liked the sound of these, but the Janet’s specific manufaturing make nylon sound very different.
Maybe I’ll have the chance to compare 2 versions of this model soon, so I’ll be do a real choise, which is awesome! Just waiting for their new one to arrive at the showroom. I can’t wait 🙂
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Oh, thanks you for this good advise, I’d never have thought about this point. Didn’t know there can be so much difference between 2 harps. I still don’t manage any muffling technique so this is not a detail… Though I’ll have to learn this anyway. But I’ll be careful about this too and will prepare some piece with true bass notes 😉
I still have some time since I’m waiting for news from Camac about their new harp to arrive, so I’ll be able to chose between a “used” one (actually it’s not a second hand but it has been exposed in the shop for a while and has a small knock – so small that it doesn’t lower the price a lot) and the one coming directly from the manufacturer. So exciting 🤩
…Yeah it sounds like I’ve already made my choice, but I still have to go back and play, paying attention at everything you advised me. Thanks again!
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Yes yes, actually the shop manager already played me the same short piece on Janet and Aziliz when I was hesitating between these 2 ones regarding the sound projection, I sat in front of each one and he played on all the range of each harp, that was very cool to compare! That confirmed my choice because the Janet is more powerful despite its warmer sound (I thought it would be the contrary, that the so renowned Aziliz would be louder than the very Irish sound of the Janet, but it was the contrary!
Anyway, It will be totally fine to ask some bass demonstration to the seller again.
And I just got the confirmation that they receive the new one tomorrow, so I’ll be able to go on Saturday morning and make my final choice, yay! 🤩
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Hi @titia.stultitia , yeah, sorry I had a very busy week-end, because just after going to Camac on Saturday I had some rehearsals with my choir because we did 2 concerts Saturday and Sunday 😉
But YES, I finally bought the Janet! I prefered the medium sound of the “used” one (the one which was already in the showroom), the seller thought the new one had a more interesting sound in higher strings but I hardly heard the difference, and medium/low register was more important for me… Plus I found more comfortable to buy a harp which already stay in tune haha (lazy reason, I know). I also prefered how the wood looked on this one, and it doesn’t have the silver plate on the top of the column, which I like better too. The seller (actually the showroom manager, very kind and helpful) took time to play each one on several registers so that I can compare from the listener point of view too, that was perfect.
This time I noticed the narrower string spacing as I paid attention to this, but the difference is very subtile, so I think it will be fine.
I didn’t tried any other harp again because I really had a crush on this one, and the seller told me it was meaningless to think too much haha, sometimes you know that this one has to be your harp, and that’s all 😉
I have to go pick it up in a few days, I’ll post the good news with a picture on the Harp Grove activity feed 🙂
Thanks again Titia and @victoria.johnson for your feedbacks!
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@Claire Your dream harp! That’s a smart decision to choose the “used” one. It has already developed its full voice. I bet you can’t wait to pick it up later this week. So happy for you.
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Yes, I can’t wait, it is so exciting! I’ll welcome Janet at home this Friday, so happy!
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Thanks Titia! I hope being able to share some video recording soon, it’s been a while, so the new harp will be a perfect reason to do it again 😉
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