Which Harpiscle do you recommend?

[Laura Bunch]

I agree. I sold my Harpsicle not long after getting it. Your teacher might have an instrument to rent or good information about buying a new or 2nd hand instrument that will meet your needs.

[Eileen Korby]

Thanks, but I don’t have a teacher. I’m getting advice here, from all of you.

[nightthunder]

Christy Lyn suggests getting just as many levers as you can. As you start expanding out in your music you will find those levers come in handy. You can tune strings to the accidentals but if a natural is called for you can’t stop playing and re-tune that string. Don’t know if harpsicles come with a stand but they can be more challenging to learn on as you hold them and there is more to focus on. A floor harp is recommended. However, it is a personal choice. Christy Lyn has many videos on choosing a harp which have a lot of information and what to consider when first starting out with a harp. Would suggest watching; it is very helpful. I am not familiar with the Harpsicle as far as playing one but I’m guessing there are a number of folks who will be able to comment on the pros and cons for beginners. Have fun and good luck with your search.

[Victoria Johnson]

Here is a short video with harp teacher Kathryn Lillich explaining turning to Eb: https://youtu.be/T_1fSlq54Ms You can see what keys you can play in when you tune your harp to Eb with a full set of levers. She also mentioned that some keys such as F# major and C# major are not as common as Eb major and Bb major, which may help you determine which levers to get in your Harpsicle. You can always work around the limitation of your harp and play music only in the keys that you have access to. Getting a full set of level for a 26 string harp is probably a a bit of an overkill in my opinion. Levers are not cheap and it can add to the cost quickly. If you are finding yourself playing music in a wide range of keys and maybe even with accidentals, I imagine you would want a full size full harp with a full set of lever at that point. If this is your first harp and you are just getting a harp to see if this is your instrument, getting a smaller harp with limited levers is probably the most economic way to go. It might be harder to resell a harp that does not have a full set of lever though when you do want to trade up. Just my 2 cents. 🙂

[Eileen Korby]

Thank you!

[Theresa Camil]

I have a Fullsicle as I was able to afford it. You should purchase whatever your budget allows

[Michelle du Toit]

My first harp was a flatsicle (only has some levers) that my teacher sold to me. I love it dearly but my journey has led me to join our Church worship team within 5 months of playing and for that I already needed more levers to play all the keys that the songs are in. My flatsicle was amazing for learning the basics and many of the courses by Christy Lyn but I outgrew it pretty fast. Happy to share it sold fast too so it’s a good investment. It’s worth looking into getting a second-hand harp as your first – as it might pick up bumps and scratches as you learn how to use it.

My new harp is a Saul 29 Aoyama and I love that the spacing of between the strings are slightly wider like most professional harps. Lucky it wasn’t too much of a learning curve to go from Harpsicle to a bit wider spacing but string width is something else to consider. Both harps have the same string tension too. I hope that helps. Good luck!