Hi, Roger and all.
I met Harold in the mid-1970's and owned three of his instruments.
Wayne is correct in the details. There is still web evidence of
Westover Harps in Holyoke, MA, but I suspect it's old and obsolete.
It's about 10 miles south of me, so I really should take a drive and
check it out. I owned a small "medieval" harp, a 5-string tenor
vielle, and a custom made orpharion.
Harold's goal was to provide affordable instruments for the "hippie"
early music crowd (having been one of them, I use the term
affectionately), so his construction practices were hardly historical.
He was, at least when I met him, quite fond of 1/8" aircraft plywood.
That said, his instruments were sturdy, serviceable, and didn't sound
half bad, and were a godsend for aspiring amateur musicians with
limited funds. If I remember correctly the Waverly Consort made several
recordings using a variety of Westover instruments.
If I can offer an anecdote, I got the harp by giving a friend a ride
to pick up an instrument. When he found out I was also a musician, he
offered me the small harp for $150. I demurred, being a lute player.
He kept lowering the price until, at $40, I couldn't refuse. I got
much joy from it until it met its fate when a cat knocked it from a
high shelf. I still have the pieces, pretending I'll fix it sometime.
However one took one's chances trying to move him away from his known
areas. I specified that my orpharion should have a solid spruce top,
and when I picked it up was dismayed to find it was, indeed solid; a
quite solid full 1/4 inch thick. The harp and Vielle, though, his
standard instruments, worked quite well. An aside, visits to his
workshop were always quite pleasant and chatty, I remember him with
fondness.
His construction techniques may well have evolved along with the rest
of us into the 1980's I can't remember when he died, but your lute
(I assume it's the one recently offered on ebay) must have been made
fairly late in his career.
Anyway, that's what I know.
Best to all, and keep playing.
Chris.
On Tue, May 10, 2016 at 6:38 AM, Wayne <[1][email protected]>
wrote:
I believe Harold Westover was a retired Unitarian minister in
Walpole NH. He made harps, and other medieval instruments. You
could try looking on the archives of the folk harp list. He had
helpers who went on to make instruments on their own, including one
who made two of my wife's harps. There were articles written about
him in the local papers.
Wayne
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Roger Landes <[2][email protected]>
> Subject: [LUTE] Harold Westover Medieval Lute
> Date: May 10, 2016 at 12:03:39 AM EDT
> To: [3][email protected]
>
> I recently purchased a 5 course Medieval lute made in 1987 by
Harold
> Westover of New Hampshire. A google search brought up a couple of
> messages on this forum about his work. Anyone here know anything
about
> Westover and/or the instruments he built?
> Cheers,
> --
> Roger Landes
> [1][4]http://www.rogerlandes.com
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