Many of you will know Alec Anness from Cambridgeshire. He is a luthier and furniture restorer. I had the good fortune to be able to buy one of
his autoharps. In fact it was one he had already made and is a Raven Plus and not his basic model. Those of you who were at the Suffolk weekend will have seen it and maybe, even played it.
I just wanted to put something into Notes to say how pleased I am with this instrument and to recommend Alec if you should be thinking
of having a luthier made harp, either chromatic or diatonic. It has helped encourage me to continue trying to play this wonderful instrument. I cannot recommend Alec more highly. We had a fantastic time talking about music, harps, hammered dulcimers (which he also makes). Alec made Dave and me feel so welcome and nothing was too much trouble. He knows the instrument so well.
Everything on the harp (other than some of the woods he uses) comes from the UK. The fine tuners, strings and even the metal parts for the wrenches are made locally to Alec's specification. A truly British made instrument that is as good, and some may say, better than some of the ones bought from the States. I would love one of his Diatonic harps too!!
Thank you Alec.
This is taken from a short article by Anne Cole in UKA Autoharp Notes (spring 2016). Since writing the article she has purchased a second harp, a G/D diatonic.
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