We're less than a month away from the 25th annual Somerset Folk Harp Festival! We look forward to Somerset every year, and we're especially delighted to be a part of this impressive quarter century milestone. The festival brings together harp players of all experience levels, world-class presenters and performers with a range of specialties, and a room full of harps and harp-related accessories to browse. It's a rare opportunity to see the whole range of Dusty harp models in one place and to compare them side by side with the instruments made by other talented harp-builders. There are even a couple of blind "harp tasting" events where you can listen to the same tune played on a lineup of mystery harps and form opinions about the sound without knowing what brand they are or what they look like.
We often like to showcase a couple of unique harps that can only be seen at Somerset, and this year we're particularly excited to introduce you to two of them.
Of the five hardwoods we use in our FH harp line, sapele is sometimes overlooked next to its flashier siblings, but it has a fantastic voice that blends all the best tonal characteristics of the other wood species. We found a really unique sapele board and decided to make a flashy FH36S and give it some well-deserved time in the spotlight. The wild and swirly grain is pure woodsy magic and the deep, smooth, and warm sound has knocked our socks off!
Price: $7420 (includes Camac levers, custom tuning wrench, and deluxe padded case)
Meet our one-of-a-kind Orphan Harp - a multicolored beauty lovingly created from an assortment of rescued parts in walnut, bubinga, and figured cherry.
She's shy and still discovering her voice, but ready to bring music and joy to the right home. Come meet her in person; she might just be your perfect match!
Price: $6220 (includes Camac levers, custom tuning wrench, removable stand, and deluxe padded case)
Here's the list of all sixteen Dusty harps you can see and play at Somerset:
All of these harps are available for sale at the festival, and you may even see one or two of them on stage in workshops and concerts.
Please note: Since we ship everything across the country from Seattle, and since our primary goal is to provide a full array of models and woods for folks to try in person, we prefer to keep all the harps in the booth until the end of the festival. This means that if you buy a harp (or a Musician's Stool), it will be available for you to pick up on the last day of the festival. We know it's really hard to wait when you're over the moon about a new harp, but it's really appreciated by your fellow festival attendees!
This video by our friends at Learning the Harp explains it all!
The harps have been built, tuned, tested, inspected, and carefully packed onto two pallets that will be loaded on a truck today and sent off across the country. The humans will follow by plane in a couple of weeks. We look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones!
