W&W Musical Instrument Company, makers of Venus harps, announced in May that the company is shifting its business from building new harps to servicing and maintaining used instruments. The company will continue to produce special-order harps in addition to its maintenance services.
“We will not be building new harps as our mainstay,” said owner Wally Krasicki. “I am going to have used harps for sale and employ a full staff of people who can repair your harp—any kind of harp you have, not just my harps.”
Krasicki said that his company, which has been in business since 1970, is moving out of its longtime location in downtown Chicago. “You can only battle so long and I’ve been battling for a long time,” said Krasicki of his company’s mission of producing affordable harps, which he says has become financially difficult in recent years due to a changing marketplace.
You can read our interview with Krasicki in our September/October 2003 issue of Harp Column.
