Good luck, then, Gudrun. It may or may not be possible to fix your harp to the point where it performs the way you have a right to expect. Hopefully a little tweaking of the sharping levers is all that's needed.

Of course, you do not NEED the levers - if you must play in different keys you can always just retune the particular strings. That is much more hassle than simply flipping a lever, but it's do-able. Rather than spending a lot of time trying to adjust it, maybe just either leave that lever down all the time or even remove it completely.

Something else you might consider to improve the tone would be to change the strings. Many of the MidEast Mfctr harps I've seen are strung with very light gauge strings, and often only one or two different gauges. This means especially in the lower octaves the strings feel "sloppy loose" and may sound twangy. Beware, though, that the structure of the harp may not withstand the extra tension.

My first harp was a little 19-string of similar heritage (although mine had no levers, and in fact did not have any bridge pins either.) One of the first things I did was replace the strings, using about 4 different sizes. This let me get firmer and more even tension through the string range (although still much lower tension than most folk harps). Made it much more comfortable to play, got rid of the "twang" in the bass notes, and increased the volume a fair amount. Unfortunately, after a couple of years the soundboard started cracking and pulling away from the body

Speaking of bridge pins, your harp DOES have them, doesn't it? The extra little pins below the tuning pins that hold the strings all in an even line no matter how much the string is wound onto the tuning peg? If there are no bridge pins, then levers are pretty much useless.

A quick web search turned up at least one harpmaker in NZ Keith Harrison with small harps starting at NZ$575.

If you want to shop around for other harp makers, here is a List of most harpmakers in the world There are several in Australia, so perhaps the cost of shipping would not be quite as bad.

Unfortunately, most well-made harps are probably going to be quite a bit more expensive than the "ornamental" ones produced to look good but without the care required to make consistently good sounding instruments. Unfortunately, decent folk harps typically cost around $1000 to $5000 US - they are not like guitars where you can go to most any pawn shop and find a playable instrument for $50.

I hope you can get your harp to where it behaves itself well enough that you can enjoy playing it. That is really the most important thing - if it allows you to make music, makes you happy, and does not frustrate you because of limitations or problems with the instrument, then it's good enough! But if you find you are not getting the sound quality that you expect, or it just doesn't "feel good" to play it, remember it might not be your technique - it could be the instrument.

Good luck!

Val