Harp, AKLOT 15 Strings Mahogany Harp 22 Inch Height for Adult Professional Beginner with Tuning Wrench,Black Gig Bag,Strap (NO Spare String, International Standard Strings)

I am a beginner Lyre Harp player and have been playing this lyre for about 6 weeks. I did quite a bit of research and chose this lyre based on price and reviews and have not been disappointed. However, it is important for me to separate my beginner joy of playing the lyre from my satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) of this particular lyre since this is a review of the lyre (not lyre playing). Duh!. As far as this particular lyre is concerned, I give it 5 stars for price, appearance and the accessories that were included and 4 stars for craftsmanship and ease of use. Let me elaborate. I thought the price was very reasonable for a quality beginner instrument that looks very nice. I have it displayed with my guitars and it looks equal in quality. As far as accessories, I would expect a tuner (which is included) but what surprised me was the electronic pickup which provided very good sound quality on my Fender amp. I have also used it with one of the inexpensive mini amps and it works fine. The reason for the 4 stars on craftsmanship is because I have 1 loose peg (meaning it turns much easier than the others and tends to de-tune easier) and 1 peg that is very slightly tilted, which makes it prone to string rattle. Neither of these problems affect my playing measurably and I still consider it a quality instrument, but I thought it appropriate to “ding” it in the area of craftsmanship. As far as “ease of use” I will mention as others have that if you are going to learn 2 handed playing where you are also playing from the “back”of the instrument it will be more difficult to play the low G and A strings on this Lyre due to how it is made. The low G string in particular is very difficult to reach from the back. Knowing all of this and having played it for several weeks (with my granddaughter as well) I would still purchase it and will likely purchase another if my granddaughter continues to enjoy playing it and shows interest. If I could add anything to this this instrument it would be to have the notes “stamped” into the instrument at the pegs (similar to other lyres). This is extremely helpful as a beginner and I actually used a label maker to “tape” the notes above the pegs and will likely eventually stamp them into the wood.

I love it. I've been unable to play my many guitars due to my hands not cooperating. This sounds great. A note for people who might benefit from tuning suggestions: 1. Don't rush to tune it the day you get it. Take it out of the box and let it set out for at least a day to get up to the "room temp" in your house. I got a wood looking stand, which is two pieces that you slot together to make a curved guitar or small instrument stand. Works perfectly on the counter. 2. When you go to tune it the first time, know that it is going to take you about an hour to do it. You want to tune it very carefully, in TINY, less than 1/32 of an inch movements. 3. The tuning it "set for" starts with the largest string, on the left, as a "G" string. So, it's: G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A 4. I put my electric tuner, DEAD CENTER of the thinnest part of the lyre, clamped on right behind the strings. 5. Put your tuning tool on the peg, holding it in your hand like you would the handle of a mug of coffee. Put your THUMB on the peg. 6. You want to tune "up" to your note, not down from past your note. NOTE: The very first time you tune the strings, they will be "falling out of tune" quickly, as they stretch to their full length. This is normal. For THAT reason, when you do your first series of tunings, once you have "hit" the note, don't worry or try to "tune it back down " if you went slightly over the perfect center mark on your tuner, into the high side. Why, because, in this FIRST TUNING session, it's going to relax and drop to the low side of the center mark on your tuner. You will fix all that at the end of tuning all the strings. You might be fixing that for a couple days, until the strings have finished stretching. 7. Start on the heavy, "wound" "G" string on the left. Make TINY, TINY, MOVEMENTS. Squeeze your hand tight on the handle of tool, while your thumb rests on the peg. You will feel imperceptible movement on the peg. You do NOT want to give it a sweeping crank. It doesn't take much, once you are in range, to go way overboard. If you crank away in big movements, it's harder to tune and you could break a string. 8. Once you feel movement, remove the tool and pluck the string to see what the tuner says to you. Put the tool back on and repeat until you get the "G" string tuned. 9. Pluck the next "A" string and tell yourself "This is "A" as you run your finger UP the string to the peg. Doing that sounds stupid, but, if you have ever been on the "wrong peg" for the string you are plucking, and you keep cranking away, because, what you pluck and what you SEE on the tuner is not going to be match right if you are plucking the 3rd string but you are cranking away on the 4th tuning peg. I learned that the hard way while tuning a 12 string guitar. 10. So, tune that "A" string, then the next "B" string, the "C" string, the "D" string, the "E, the "F" and the "G" string. If you have trouble believing your tuner, it helps to pluck the strings you have already tuned, up to the one you are working on, to "Hear" where you are. 11. You are next going to tune the first of the thin, "unwound" strings, which is an "A" string. NOTE: The "unwound", thinner, strings, will break if wound too tightly. So, if you give it a bunch of sweeping cranks, instead of imperceptible movements, that might be your result, as the thinner strings require much LESS of an adjustment before they change notes. 12. After you tune that "A" string, go back to the FIRST, heavy, "G" and gently tune your way back all those strings to that "A" string you just tuned. TINY movements, as it doesnt take much pressure to change a note at that point. NOTE: As you retune the thin strings for the SUBSEQUENT times, it takes even LESS pressure, so, be careful. 13. Tune the "B" and "C" and "D" strings. 14. Go BACK to the first string again, and gently bring all the other strings back into tune, clear up to the "D" string you just tuned. 15. Tune the "E" and "F" string. 16. Go BACK to the first string, AGAIN, and bring them all into tune. BY NOW, YOU WILL NOTICE that you ARE able to get dead center on your tuner screen, without wavering over, as the strings are stretching and holding the notes better. 17. Tune the "G" and "A" strings. 18. Go BACK to the first "G" string and adjust the tuning again. 19. Play the instrument for awhile. Then, go back and adjust the tuning again. 20. Put it away on ata stand or some manner of tablet stand, to keep it at from having the bag or anything else accidentally touching the strings, and, allow it to rest at room temp to continue its "New String" stretching. When you pick it up tomorrow, and, thereafter, you will notice that the strings are staying in tune. Remember to never CRANK on these strings. Just tightening your hand on the handle, while it's on the peg, will cause imperceptible movements. For me, I would rather tune UP to a note than go back and forth, up and down, trying to hit the note perfectly. Always go up. The reason I did this, at length, wss because I read a bunch of comments for people who got discouraged or quit trying to tune their instruments, or, thought their instrument was defective. ( I read those reviews cumulatively across all brands of lyre reviews that I read). So, I though this might help somebody with their decision to try this kind instrument.

I just got done tuning the harp. It took a while, but I'm used to tuning guitars. I used the "insTuner" app suggested in the Manual/Instructions that came with the solid Mahogany 16 sting open Lyre harp. I appreciate the generous spacing of the strings! A beautiful crafted, nice and heavy harp compared to the hollow body Harps, and with the brass strip holding the strings the hardware is better than Most. If You've tuned a six string guitar, Imagine trying to tune a "16 string" guitar without the tuning keys, and Your Directly turning the cord stock with the wrench; this Means the tiniest rotation Makes a big difference. The nice thing about the solid/open body Lyre harp, is once You have it tuned, it plays so beautifully: and, that solid body Makes for a long tuning hold on the notes. The absence of Keys Makes the tuning a bit harder, but also keeps people from detuning it when playing with it; So, I don't Mind the kids playing with it, as they cannot detune the harp as Easily as say the guitars. Arrived unscathed, and I couldn't be happier! Thanks for offering this product!

I love this instrument. It's so beautiful and it sounds amazing! I was pleasantly surprised by the addition of a metal strip at the base of the lyre harp that prevents the strings from resting on the wood. I believe this will significantly improve the durability of the structure. My only complaint is that the edges of the strings tied to the knobs at the top are extremely sharp and easily tears into your skin so I won't recommend this product for a small child. I received a number of knicks and cuts before I realized that I needed to avoid touching the knobs altogether... But apart from the wounds, lol, I'm sooo excited and happy to have this lyre harp!

Resonant, long sustain without muddiness. Nicely spaced strings for ease of playing. The etched note names above each string peg is a nice aid for learning. Includes extra set of strings, tuning wrench, booklet, and a fabric drawstring storage bag. As is normal for stringed instruments, it took several rounds of tuning before the strings held tuning, but that was to be expected. The only thing that would make this lyre better would be a better case instead of the soft fabric bag, but the lyre itself is well made.

It's my 1st string instrment, so I'm a rank noob, but it's awesome so far. You can lightly pick the strings and, so long as you use some rythm and end on a C or a G, it sounds like you did something on purpose. it's harder to play a song properly (almost there after ~3weeks), and really hard to play melody+harmony (working on it), so it's a puzzle I'll be solving for a while. One thing to note (Ha! Sorry) is that there's a definite "break-in" period. 1st time I tuned it, it went out of tune in minutes. 2nd time lasted more minutes, 3rd an hour or so, then a day, and so on. Now it holds a tune much better. Get a tuner with it, though -- one of the little sensors that tells you what note you're playing. Mine was ~$6. Also, there doesn't seem to be any consensus about how to hold it. I hold it w/ my left to play w/ my right, or lay it on my lap, strings sideways, to use both hands. May not be right, but it seems to work.

So I bought this item hoping to learn the lyre. I have multiple instruments and know my way around stringed instruments mostly guitar, mandolin and ukulele. When this item arrived I was ecstatic and immediately went to tune the instrument. I'm knowledgeable on different types of strings so I knew this wouldn't be much of an issue for me. I immediately went to tuning the item because of course when you receive this instrument it is not in tune (as to be expected). The strings were wrapped properly by the manufacturer (which was surprising) so I tuned all the strings to their proper pitches using a piano recording and gave the strings plenty of time to stretch. After a couple of days I would check the notes and retune as needed. I attempted to learn a few melodies and to no surprise the strings would go out of tune which was no big deal, I expected that so I would re-tune them and set the instrument down just to give it a little more time in case the strings were still stretching. However, after a few days of this, it was clear... the tuning heads do not lock into place. With every stringed guitar that I own..when you tune the string..they lock into place. Even the cheap tuning heads that I have will still lock into place. This lyre that I bought, will NOT lock into place. Every time you try to tune it, it will gradually unwind itself. I even went as far as to tuning each individual string an entire whole note above what it should have been and the strings would end up going flat. I did this a few times and managed to get a couple strings to stay in their respective lane, but obviously without the rest of the strings on course..the end result of the harmonics were an abysmal tone that you'd expect from the innermost regions of Hell. What should you expect from such an "affordable" instrument? It is hot garbage..and yes, I watched reviews on this exact item (from youtube) that had great things to say for it being the price it is. TLDR: Save your money. Invest in a true quality instrument. If the tuning heads would have locked in place, I could work around any other imperfections. You get what you pay for and I don't think a week long headache of $60+ is worth it. I give this: negative stars, because the time I wasted already, I'll never get back.

UPDATED MY REVIEW, AGAIN A seam started to split after 4 weeks. There is a seam at the top near the middle A, the tuner pin is placed almost exactly on the seam. My lyre has begun to split. The product description says it is "carved from whole solid mahogany" , but it isn't. I emailed the company but haven't gotten a response, after 2 emails. I ordered a second one and confirmed, it has the same seam, and the seam is more obvious because the two sides of the harp have two different wood grains. The sound of the first harp was lovely, I'm not as impressed with the sound of the second one. ** I have now gotten in touch with Aklot through Amazon and they are working on the problem. The gentleman from Aklot told me I don't have to worry about my Amazon return window, they will resolve the problem for me. Thank goodness, I can't wait to hear back from them. In the meantime I continue to play this lyre and the sound is beautiful. Being new to the instrument, I'm having a hard time adjusting to how to hold the harp. The body is thick, from all angles, so it requires a good grip if playing it upright. A very nice thing about the design though, it can also be played flat in your lap or on a table. A great point about this design when playing upright, most of the strings can be reached from both sides once you've become more accomplished playing the instrument, perhaps a stand would be useful at that point. When trying to decide which harp to choose, I watched many YouTube videos and this 16-string Aklot Bowl Harp was featured in many of them. It gave me the opportunity to hear the lovely sound that it produces and to confirm that it can indeed be played 2-handed from front and back. As with anything new, the first time tuning it was a bit challenging but subsequent tunings have been a breeze. I know from my experience playing the Ukulele, strings take a little time to stretch and settle. I purchased a hard case to protect the harp, you will want to consider doing the same, the included velvet cover is not sufficient. The lyre harp is not difficult to play once you understand how to tune it and you understand the octave range of the instrument and how harp music is notated. You will have a wonderful time learning and playing this instrument. It's everything you want a lyre harp to sound like. I've increased my rating based on his promise and will update further once final resolution is achieved.

Fun for my kiddo

Muito bem acabado, excelente produto. Tudo certo. Assim como qualquer instrumento de madeira com corda, precisa afinar no início diariamente por 1 ou 2 semanas

Muy bonito producto, excelente

Very nice instrument for a starter. Has lovely tone

Tried turning it and one of the strings already broke. Very dissapointed.