Roosebeck Minstrel Harp 29-String w/Chelby Levers

The harp arrived one day earlier than its projected date. It arrived by UPS, and fortunately, the driver knocked on my door. I would not want a purchase of this magnitude to just sit on my porch. It was packaged well, wrapped in plastic, with styrofoam around it, in a box. At first, I thought it was missing the tuning wrench and extra strings. I looked in the box, and they were not there. I did find them tucked away inside the harp’s soundboard. It came with a tuning wrench AND a hex wrench for the levers. I read in the ensoul site for Roosebeck that if the harp is sold by Roosebeck, it will come with a hex wrench for the levers’ adjustment. This harp is definitely legitimately a Roosebeck. One of the levers arrived broken in half. I’ll have to contact the seller about it. It’s definitely not something to return the harp about. I’m sure that something can be done about that. Also, even though the page says it’s 29 strings and 24 levers, it is a full 29 levers… just to set that matter straight. And the sound… it is heavenly! Even though I just received it… I have read that it is a good idea to not tune a harp the first day you get it. The harp needs to settle inside its new environment. I just got the harp today, so I will probably tune it tomorrow. Tuning the C strings first, the the F strings, and then the strings in between… but even out of tune as it is (it has had some tuning before it arrived… it’s in relative tune, somewhat). I tried out a few of the Chelby levers… they do raise the pitch about a semi-tone. That’s how it sounds to my ears, but I will check again after I tune it. This is going to be like a little diary on my purchase, because I plan to write some updates and post a video with the actual sound of this harp as soon as I can. Roosebeck has not had good reviews in the past, but they seem to have really improved their harps. We shall see how this one holds up. For now, it is a treasure. I also bought a gig bag, sold here on Amazon by the same seller. Get the one that’s for the Minstrel Harp, which is this harp. It fits perfectly. For some reason, Amazon suggests the gig bag for the Heather Harp, but I doubt that one will fit the Minstrel Harp. Get a gig bag for your harp. It will protect it much more, and you can also carry it around if you need to take it somewhere. The harp is not light… it weighs 14 pounds.
Stay tuned for more installments about my harp. I adore it! I researched all kinds of harps and finally settled on this one, and I’m very happy that I did.
Update:
I contacted the seller, and they replied right away about the broken lever. They sent me a replacement lever immediately. Thank you!
I must say, this harp is exceptional. I did not tune it for the first 24 hours, as recommended for a new harp. It’s best to let the strings settle into their new environment before stressing the strings by tuning them. When I tuned them, I let them sit at tuning about 5% lower than A440, just to be sure that they would not be stressed, and kept them there for a day or two. The new I tuned them at A440, reaching dead center of what each one should be. As excepted, I did have to re-tune every day, sometimes twice a day, to keep them in tune. Then they started to slip slightly flat, but all relative to each other, so if I was just playing a scale or a song, it would still sound in tune. It was about 1% off. However, now, I have literally NOT tuned this harp for 5 days, still checking all the strings with my tuner every day, and they have remained at 100% tuning, with only a few strings slipping, maybe 1%… I find this amazing, considering this is a new harp! I received this harp on December 4, and it is now December 17! That’s not even 2 weeks! In addition, I have tested all the levers. They raise each string a semi-tone, as they should.
For any bad reputation that Roosebeck has had out there, please remember, they have apparently VASTLY improved their harps! The Chelby levers are obviously working well, whereas in the past, they did not. For a beginner level instrument, this harp is excellent!