Electric Harps
The thing that makes a harp an "electric harp" is the presence of a pickup on each and every string of the harp.
An alternative approach has been to attach one or more transducers inside the soundbox of your harp, but as they say, results will vary. The most likely problem with internal transducers is that you will have a resonance peak, that is, a particular note that jumps out louder than all the rest. This is the natural resonating point of your harp's body. Also, depending on exactly where you place the transducer inside the harp, you may have lots of bass but weak treble, good melody but weak bass, etc. Worst of all, you are susceptible to feedback, where the soundbox vibrates in response to the soundwaves coming from your loudspeakers, and this gets amplified, making a rapidly escalating roar that is very unpleasant.
Placing a pickup against each string guarantees an even response and avoids all of the above problems. With a normal acoustic harp, a lot of what's happening is not heard, since the surface area of each string is so tiny. Our ears cannot detect the weak direct radiations of the strings. You might hear it, but your audience doesn't. By amplifying each string we can all hear everything.
A solid body harp, like a solid body guitar, can be amplified as much as you desire, up to the limits of your electronic gear (amplifier, loudspeakers, effects boxes, etc.). Why then would we bother with a traditional acoustic setup? As I have said elsewhere, the strings carry the sound of the entire harp, and the strings sound most harplike when attached to a good sounding, resonant harp.
Acoustic/Electric harps
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First of all, we build a great sounding harp. Secondly, we add pickups on each string, pickups that are designed specifically for harps. The blend is sent through an onboard preamplifier to make it compatible with any sound equipment. The resulting harp is as loud as you want it to be, and that amplified sound is warm and harplike. The pickups respond to your slightest variation in touch, and transmit the blended sound of the entire harp frame, yet do not capture harp noises (tuning wrench, accidental bumps). And, it will never feed back. The essence of harp sound has always been in the strings. Now we can hear it. What can't this harp do? It is not a MIDI harp, it does not send digital information to your computer or to a sound module. But if you want to plug in and make beautiful harp music, that everyone can hear, this harp will do it for you. Note: Any acoustic harp can be fitted with the Kortier Harp Pickups to make them Acoustic/Electric. If you play in public, and sometimes need to be amplified, this is the way to go.
Acoustic/Electric 34 string Harp $4100 Acoustic/Electric 36 string Harp $4600 Acoustic/Electric 40 string Harp $5100 Prices includes case, tuning wrench, shipping, and extra set of strings.
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