~ Chinese Harp Info

The Knock-off Gucci Harp

~ Chinese Folk Harps (People's Republic of China & Taiwan)

Right up front the Editor (Stephen Vardy) needs to say that he has not seen nor touched a Chinese made Folk harp. Stephen has seen pictures on eBay from a bankruptcy sale and have talked to a few knowledgeable harpists who have had some limited experience with these relatively rare imports. So this page is not a review in the strictest sense - more of a web review of various online postings by folk and lever harpists plus dealers who have physically touched and played them.

The Republic of China's folk harp's sound have been characterised as thin but clean. Very little is known about these harps, construction or longevity - yes harps do die as the relatively high string tension tears poor construction and cheaper materials apart quite quickly. Some have questioned the lack of adequate bracing missing internally on the Chinese knock-off harps which were in the original copied design.

Be cautious about the "Linden" wood in the soundboards. Linden is the same as basswood, which is very light and flexible, but not particularly strong. A nice carving wood, but unless it's cross-plyed and made thicker, may not be particularly suitable as a soundboard.

A number of harpists have noted that the soundboards are too thick and therefore have the "thin" sound as mentioned above. One USA retailer returned 5 Chinese harps for soundboard failures on new harps where the SB's were literally ripped off the harps.

The Chinese folk harps are manufactured (ie they come from a factory) unlike the Pakistani Harp-Shaped Objects that are essentially a cottage industry item being mostly cobbled together in different individual's backyard sheds in Pakistan. (The Editor is unsure if the Chinese factory manufacture in this case is any more advantageous and is considering calling these Chinese Harp-Shaped Exploding Objects). Time will tell if the factories eventually get it right. Making a light-weight nice sounding harp is both a complex and unforgiving exercise in physics and materials science.

Some harp dealers in the USA were offered three demo models of the Breton Brand Chinese harps - the Rose, Lotus and Jasmine - to try out and possibly sell. Some of the dealers returned their demo harps for ethical reasons. The Rose was apparently a copy of the Eire lap harp. The Lotus and Jasmine were definitely knock-offs borrowed without permission from other maker's models.

The ethical issue of these Chinese harps was compounded by the counterfeit Loveland levers used on the Breton harps. Robert Bunker of the USA designed and manufactures the true Loveland lever. He basically revolutionized the lever harp world with the first lever that really worked well. It is difficult and expensive to enforce copyright in China so Robert's levers have been knocked-off there without any recourse on his part. In fairness, Breton does not manufacture these levers as they buy them directly from another company in China who sells the knock-off levers to all and sundry...

(Editor's Note: The distribution of some or all of these Breton models appears to be discontinued in the USA. It is apparent that most American retailers have stopped the experiment of stocking these Chinese harps.)

Buyers may find some harp dealers that do continue to sell the Breton Brand harps in the USA but do not be surprised if they are only offered without levers. The harping community is small and is generally respectful of its own. It will cost between CAD$25 and $35 per lever for the Buyer to have levers installed post-purchase locally by a harp professional thereby negating any original purchase price savings over a North American harp.

There are also folk harps being built in Taiwan, Republic of China (not the People's Republic) by a company called Tenon Industrial Co who have three models from 36 to 40 strings. These are similar to the Aoyama lever harps in looks but sound very very tinny. They are relatively cheap to buy but the company only wholesales in very large quantities so they are very rare in North America.

West Coast Harps' harpmaker/suppliers Ray and Sue Mooers of Dusty Strings introduced their Ravenna harp models in direct competition with these Chinese imports. Their primary concern was to come up with a design which would result in a quality harp that was well built American-made instrument at a price competitive with a comparable range of Chinese manufactured harps. They has done so very successfully. Heartland Harps, Blevins, Triplett and Lyon & Healy have all been been introducing more economical harp models too.

~ Chinese Pedal Harps

There are Chinese full-sized Western looking pedal harps being built in Shanghai and Beijing. The original technicians were trained by Russian artisans who taught the Chinese how to make these harps. When the Russians left years ago, the Chinese continued and still continue to make them today. They are beautifully carved with dragons andflowers etc but the woods do not withstand Canadian weather well and the necks warp quite considerably. These harps are still used widely in China by classical pedal harpists.

Read about the Pakistani and Orphan harps too....

Thank you for reading - Stephen