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When harpists refer to the Heartland carbon fiber harps as their 'dream harp', they are normally referring to the harp's astonishingly light weight, rich and resonant tone, tuning stability, and durability. Here at Heartland, there is an additional way we are making harpist's dreams come true... At the customer's request, we are now creating harps with custom hand-painted designs. We can create a harp with just about any design one can imagine. This option is available on all models, and is applied over a any color painted finish (not available with Classic Black finish). Depending [...]

As many of you know, last Spring we brought the carbon fiber fabrication of our harps in house. For those of us here at Heartland, it’s hard to believe at this time last year we were in the midst of retrofitting our new building in preparation to begin producing harps. As they say, ‘necessity is the mother of invention’, and that certainly has held true in Heartland’s situation. We are (of course) not the first carbon fiber shop in the world, but we are the first carbon fiber shop dedicated to building the world’s only [...]

Photo: Raw parts for 47-String Starlight Concert Grand pedal harp produced in new carbon fiber fabrication facility.  Our Heartland harp owners truly love their carbon fiber harps! Here at Heartland, our goal is to Refine the Harp Experience for all harpists–offering a variety of harp models that are lightweight, impermeable to the elements, virtually indestructible, and delight both player and audience with a rich and powerful resonant tone. In this effort, we continue to expand and improve our line of harp models, based on harpist’s needs and demands. We are currently working on redesigning the pedal [...]

Photo: Retired Heartland Serenity wood lap harp—pattern for carbon fiber Air Serenity lap harp prototype Patterned after the original Heartland Serenity wood lap harp, this new carbon fiber lap harp will be the ultimate travel harp and/or therapy harp. With a weight of about 3.5 pounds—fully levered—this harp can be taken virtually anywhere. The Air Serenity is also at an attractive price point for harpists looking to add a Heartland carbon fiber harp to their collection. The Air Serenity will possess all the same qualities as our other harp models, including concert string spacing. This lightweight [...]

There are two types of string spacing, equal and concert. Pianos are strung with equal spacing, meaning they are the same distance from center-to-center. Some harps are strung with equal spacing; however, most builders use concert spacing, where the distance is graduated and narrower at the top than in the bass strings. Concert spacing is based on pedal harp spacing of strings, which promotes ease of play. Since there are not harp industry standard guidelines, it is up to the individual builder as to how the strings are spaced. In addition, the nuances of the [...]

String tension refers to the amount of give a string has when engaged by the player. In layman’s terms, how hard is the string to pull? Higher-tension harps mean the strings are harder to pull (less give) and lower-tension harps are easier to pull (more give). String tension varies between different models of harps. There’s no right or wrong with string tension. Higher (or lower) is not better, but depends on the size harp, the maker, and the player’s needs. Pedal harps tend to have higher string tension than most lever harps, due to size [...]