I've just been experimenting with some bits and pieces in the house in trying to get a cupped harp sound. Elegant it ain't but it kinda works ok. It's very comfortable to hold and does away with that juggling a slippery mic and harp in one hand. You could double up on the balloons for an even more secure clamp for the harp but I was cutting back on costs in the demo below;)
I haven't tried playing it along with a guitar yet, but you could slip the mic on a suitablly adjustable stand and play harp and guitar. It does pick up vocals if you sing close to the harp, but it's not very loud. I'm using a small 5w guitar amp so it doesn't produce a dirty sound.
Cool. I keep seeing all these creative solutions... Maybe SPAH needs to have a Makers booth or something so that people can show off/tinker with all the inventions out there and pool knowledge. I've got one project I'm working on myself with a friend. I'd share it, but I'm not sure if I'm paying my friend for the work or if we are partners...
@ Devon Tom. I found this one in my garage and it has no make on it. We had an Electrolux a few years ago so it could be from that but I can't find it on a quick search on the net. Our new make is not so suitable as it has a plastic divider down the middle. I might just have got lucky with this one.
Here is me utilizing Grey Owl's cupped harp device for rack harp playing.i didnt use the balloon part, but used a hacksaw to make the lip lower so I could play with the harp sticking out the top. Was really happy with the results.
Awesome ideas! The best hands-free tone I have heard in person was Hamilton Loomis. Very similar idea. He used a shop vac attachment with some kind of stripping inside to make the fit tighter. This sat on top of a shaker mic on a straight mic stand. The mic ran into a POD amp modeler set to a 57 bassman sound and direct to the PA. This was one of the oldschool PODs that were really crap but it sounded good with the harp. I think he said that he discovered it by accident because he carried the POD as an emergency backup to his guitar amp and one day he had to use it for the harp and it sounded good enough that he just stopped carrying a harp amp.
He would just stick the harp in the attachment and walk up to it when he needed to play it. It just sat at the front of the stage off to the side of his vocal mic.
