About our instruments

he harp we use is an unusual model, called Gothic or Renaissance-harp. This type of harp was developed around 1500 and was used regularly for only 200 years or so. Minstrels used it for singing to, holding it with one hand and playing chords with the other. Our harp has 26 gut strings (3 1/2 octaves), which we tune one note higher than regular. Therefor, Eddie's red strings are D-notes and the black ones are G's.

Like most harps, the Gothic harp has no half-notes (it's a diatonic instrument). It's like having only the white keys from a piano. We mainly tune the harp in the key of G.
The first harp Eddie got was built in Scotland in 1981. Since Eddie mainly taught himself how to play, he holds the harp resting on the 'wrong' shoulder. He doesn't use his nails. To amplify and record the harp, we ended up using a simple small condenser microphone, positioned in front of the bottom soundhole.
In 2000, Lies Muller and Tamara from the 'Atelier voor Muziek en Ambacht' in Utrecht built us a beautiful copy.
More info on Gothic harps I found on the website of Alison Vardy and here.

Margôt in Ootmarsum Margôt plays a Takamine C-14 acoustic guitar with a standard build-in pickup, using heavy (0.013- 0.056) steel strings. For further information about this guitar, check the Takamine website.